Virender Sehwag compares 5-day Tests with baby diapers in typically witty Pataudi Lecture

Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag delivered the 7th Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi Lecture at the BCCI Awards on Sunday evening in Mumbai. The 'Nawab of Najafgarh' dismissed the idea of 4-day Tests and seconded the idea of five-day Tests remaining as they are.

Sehwag joined the likes of current Indian captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri in supporting the conventional format over ICC’s proposal to reduce it to four days in a bid to make the format more attractive and lucrative.

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Virender Sehwag said that while he has always been supportive of change, five-day Tests for him continue to be a 'romance' and shouldn't be altered with. The former opener admitted that the T-20 game appealed to him as he captained India in their first ever T-20I in 2006 in South Africa and was part of India’s World T-20 winning team in 2007.

Yet, in his trademark witty style, the former Indian cricketer claimed that innovations like names on jerseys and pink ball Tests were fine but overall, five-day Tests were like a 'diaper' which should only be changed when it's finished and cannot be used anymore.

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Sehwag added that Test cricket was a 143-year-old fit person and it had a soul. In Hindi, he went on say, ‘Char din ki sirf chandni hi hoti hai....Test cricket nahin’ which loosely translates to four days belongs to being on the moon, not Test cricket. He also entertained all the guests at the function with other interesting revelations such as Tiger Pataudi's advice changing his fortunes in Test cricket as an opening batsman, which is one of the reasons Sehwag agreed to deliver the lecture.

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BCCI backs Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri over 5-day Tests

Virat Kohli along with Team India head coach Ravi Shastri have both made it clear that they do not want traditional five-day Tests to be turned into ‘four-day’ ones. According to reports, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is also in support of the Indian skipper and coach.

Quite recently, a BCCI official spoke with a leading Indian news agency, stating that Kohli and Shastri are not the only ones who are opposing the ‘four-day’ Test proposal of ICC. He pointed out that England captain Joe Root and South Africa captain Faf du Plessis also made their opinions clear on the matter.

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IMAGE COURTESY: BCCI TWITTER