Traditional 5 day concept of test cricket format won’t work in IPL but the modified yet productive format will work. The main objective here is to make people find their enthusiasm back at test matches, players groomed to play longer format and successfully make the highest cricket form to sustain in this modern world.

This is where the future of cricket lies

I already explained the reasons for the need of test cricket in IPL and possibilities in my previous article. So, we will shoot off straight to the format i am proposing.

Total no. of days: 5
Maximum no. of overs/day: 60 (60 * 5 =300 overs/match)
No. of sessions/day: 2
No. of overs/session: 30
Allowed no. of inns/team: 2
Maximum no. of overs allowed to play per team: 150 overs

All ICC rules and laws of cricket followed by default.

Only 150 overs for a team?

Yes, a team is allowed to play maximum of 150 overs in a match. This rule is aimed at providing a definite result in the match. Actually 150 overs is distributed across two innings, though not equally. (i.e) if X team gets bowled out/declares after playing 80 overs in 1st innings, then X team can play maximum of 70 overs in their 2nd innings. Only overs are carried over, not wickets. Each team still has 10 wickets in hand at start of their new innings.

Point system:

Point system is been the much of talk nowadays in both domestic and international level of test cricket. We will inherit the English county cricket point system module for better and more exciting cricket to be played. There will be never a draw match in our format because if a match ends in draw, then we either play 6 over match or bowl out to decide the winner.

Straight forward Win = 8pts/no. of innings played by the winning team ( ex: if X team played two innings and won the match, then they will get 8/2=4pts)
Win by decider (after match is drawn) = 3pts
Lose by decider (after match is drawn) = 2pts

Bonus points for teams includes,

• (Overall run-rate of a match by a team / 2) pts added to both teams.
• An outright win (innings victory/ by 9 or more wickets win) = 3pts.
• An outright loss (innings loss/ by 9 or more wickets loss) = (-)3pts
• More than 120 runs or run-rate > 4 / session by a batting team (minimum of 12 overs) = 2pts for batting team.
• Wickets taken more than 5/session by a bowling team= 2pts for bowling team.
• For scores more than 250 and also for next every 100 runs (i.e. 350, 450,…) scored by batting team = 1pt for batting team (i.e. 250 runs = 1pt, 350 runs=2pts…).
• Wickets taken more than 5 and also for next every wicket (i.e. 6, 7,..,10)= 1pt for bowling team (i.e. 5wkts = 1pt, 6 wkts=2pts…).
• Bowling out a team = 2pts for bowling team.
• Batting team declaring after playing minimum of 50 overs and 300 runs in 1st innings = 2pts for batting team.
• Winner of the each day* of test matches = 1pt.
• A team with most number of winning day* = 2pts.
• A team with most number of sessions won in match* = 1pt.

*A day winner – A team will be declared as winner of the day depending on the points it got on that particular day.

*A session winner – A team which gets more points in a session of play.

This point system will not only encourage team to go for win but also will give the fans to shout about which team heads at the end of each day in the test match.

Rain interruption? VJD method will be used for scores projection, over deduction and etc., If necessary, the bonus point will undergo some changes in minimum overs and runs need to be scored when rain interruption are longer.

A day of test match at one T20 match time:

At present a IPL t20 match takes roughly 4 hours to completely the full quota of 40 overs/match. We can complete per day of test match in 4 hours surely.

Allotted time for each over to complete = 3mins.
60 overs * 3 mins = 180 mins.
Session break = 20-30 mins.

The remaining 30 minutes can be for innings change, batsmen dismissal and other reasons. So, all in all we can complete a day in 4 hours (or 4hrs and 30mins at maximum).  Now, the viewers or the fans at stadium can’t complain about time a test match takes per day.

if you say, “IPL t20 matches are played only after 4pm but test matches are played on morning. So, its not possible for me to watch or go to stadium by bunking my work/school.” The answer is Night test matches.

We can have a IPL test match starting from 6pm and close at 10.30 pm(time can be adjusted). Only 1 test match per day is possible. If we want two test matches, then one must be played as day (starting from 2pm) and other as night. But i think with effective scheduling, we can manage with 1 T20 and 1 test match per day or even only 1 test match per day with T20 matches taking place on non-test match days.

Number of IPL matches:

The home and away concept need to be done away like i said in previous article. We can complete the IPL in same number of days as of now (i.e. 60 days). Assuming the current number of IPL teams (9 teams),

No. of T20 matches per team = 8 (i.e. Each team will play against each other once).
No . of test matches per team = 3* (Randomly drawn fixtures).

* – No. of test matches can be increased from 3 depending on effective scheduling.

The point system for T20 matches remains the same as it now in IPL. Both T20 and test match points will be added together while listing the teams in points table. The team with most points will be crowned as IPL champions. If the number of IPL teams increases more than 10 in future, then we can have teams in two different groups and knockouts(semi’s and final) at the end to decide the champion.

Off-course this proposed format may or may not be perfect. So, I am more than welcome to debate on this proposal. With more people support, we can definitely send this proposal to BCCI. So, lets decide the future!

Tags: BCCI, day night matches, ICC, India, Indian Premier League, T20 matches, Test Cricket