‘India took Test cricket seriously under Virat Kohli’- Graeme Smith

Graeme Smith and Virat Kohli- Source (Twitter)

Under the able leadership of Virat Kohli, India rose to the top and achieved new heights as a nation in Test cricket. They blazed away everywhere they played except in South Africa and helped in building a system that helped India create a strong pipeline of players. Former South Africa skipper, Graeme Smith identified that and has praised India for taking Test cricket seriously.

Speaking on Sky Sports, the 41-year-old said that, given the state of things, only five or six nations will continue to play the Test format of the game. He doesn’t see the game growing if immediate changes are not made for the future.

“I think it’s fantastic especially under Virat Kohli that India took Test cricket seriously. They lead the way with that. But as long as we’ve got competitive teams, you’re not going to have 10, 11, 12, 13, or 14 competitive teams. You might only be down to five or six nations that play Test cricket at this level," the former South Africa captain said. 

For four weeks of an entire year, the priority will be the CSA T20 League: Graeme Smith

A lot of discussions were doing the rounds on social media about whether it was correct for South Africa to pull out of a three-match ODI series against Australia and giving preference to the newly introduced CSA T20 League. Speaking on the same, South African said, 

“People also look at those three ODIs wrong. Yes, South Africa hasn’t handled ODI cricket as well and it should never be in this position. But for South Africa to be in Australia out of their key part of the summer financially is a huge stress for them. It’s like asking England not to play during your summer. The commitment that South African cricket made to go for the three Test matches is good for the game. It’s something that won’t happen often,” said Smith.

Giving more clarity to the context, the 41-year-old added, “For four weeks of an entire year, the priority will be the league. I feel that if we hadn’t done this South African cricket could have probably lost eight to ten players to this UAE league.”