India, led by Rohit Sharma, finished the four-match Test series against Australia with a 2-1 advantage. After the fourth Test ended in a draw, the thrilling match came to an end on Monday. Since both teams have now qualified for the World Test Championship final at the Oval, the series proved to be very important. Australia won the third Test to qualify for the major competition, and Sri Lanka’s first Test against New Zealand was lost, clearing the way for India to qualify. The summit confrontation will take place in June of this year because both WTC finalists have been realized.
Brad Hogg, a former all-rounder for Australia, objected to the ICC’s decision to hold the WTC final in June because he believed it would cause Test cricket fans to lose interest. The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League will take place before the WTC final.
“What are the ICC doing? The main games have all finished and now we have got to wait for 3 months for the WTC Final. That is not good for the fans out there. ICC, wake up, please. All of the momentum, the excitement by then will have dissipated. By the time the WTC Final comes along after the IPL, everyone has had enough of cricket and they probably would not be interested in the final,” said Brad Hogg on his YouTube channel.
“Around 21st May, there will be six teams who will be possibly out of IPL play-off contention and so whichever players are available, we will try and find time to get them to UK early as possible and get some time and we will monitor as much as possible,” he added.