IPL 2022 | ‘Why would someone play five-day cricket… ?’ - Yuvraj Singh

In the last few weeks, the former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh has been vocal about his thoughts on Indian cricket, his personal career, and the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

In the latest interaction, the southpaw has reckoned that the reach of Test cricket is curtailed, and the people want to watch T20 cricket, which is the shortest format of the game. His remarks are undoubtedly different from the other former cricketers, who feel Test Cricket has the edge over the other formats of the game.

"Test cricket is dying. People want to watch T20 cricket; people want to play T20 cricket," Yuvraj said on Sports18's programme Home of Heroes.

The former batter asks why any cricketer would be willing to play a five-day match for 5 Lakhs when he can earn 50 Lakhs by playing a T20 game. It was aimed at an uncapped player who is earning 7-10 Crores in the IPL. 

"Why would someone play five-day cricket and get five lakh rupees and today play T20 cricket and get 50 lakh? Players who have not made it to international cricket are getting 7-10 crores," he explained.

Most of the Test-playing nations have been organizing their franchise-based T20 league because it has seen record footfall, and its popularity is on a rising trajectory. Recently, Cricket South Africa formulated the plan for the six-team T20 league. 

The former all-rounder also thinks it might be a struggle for the ODI format to succeed in the long-term, as the T20 format has taken over everything. 

"ODI cricket will also struggle to find mind space. You watch a T20 game and then watch a 50-over game – it looks like a Test match now. After 20 overs, they are like, there are 30 overs to bat. So, definitely, T20 is taking over everything," concluded Yuvraj.