ICC Test Championship meaningless without Indo-Pak matches, feels Waqar Younis
Waqar Younis feels that the ICC World Test Championship, the first cycle of which kicked off in 2019, is meaningless without India and Pakistan matches. The last time India and Pakistan played a Test series was way back in the 2007/08 season, with H2H clashes curtailed due to political tension.
Legendary Pakistani bowler Waqar Younis has made a scathing remark on the ICC Test Championship, attesting that the championship does not make any sense without the presence of India-Pakistan encounters. The World Test Championship was brought in to bring more context to bilateral Test series which featured nine top-ranked Test teams, who have to play six bilateral Test series against mutually chosen opponents with the top two nations with most points at the end of the league clashing in the final in England in June 2021.
Since the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, India hasn't toured Pakistan, and the two neighbours have also not played a full Test bilateral series since 2007 due to strained political and diplomatic relations.
"I know it is a difficult situation between Pakistan and India even at government to government level but I think the ICC needed to play a more proactive role in this championship. The ICC should have intervened and done something because to me having a test championship without Pakistan and India Test matches makes no sense," said Waqar Younis, as quoted by Cricket Next.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani legend, who represented Pakistan in 87 Tests and 262 One Day Internationals in his international career that spanned from 1989 to 2003, also recalled his Test debut against arch-rivals India back in 1989 where a 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar had also made his debut at the highest level. The speedster further went on to praise the wealth of pace talent coming through in India.
"It's always been like this that is why making my test debut against India is something I don't forget. If you see India has really worked hard in this area and they are now producing bowlers regularly who bowl in the 140 plus, In the past it was not like this. But things have changed. (Jasprit) Bumrah, (Mohammed) Shami, Ishant (Sharma) they have taken India to the top. That is why India is doing so well in Test and other formats now.," he added.
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