ICC Test Championship pointless without India-Pakistan contests, says Waqar Younis

New Delhi: Earlier this week, soon after their board meeting in Auckland, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced their plan to launch a nine-team Test league and a 13-team ODI league in order to bring context and meaning to bilateral cricket.

However, former Pakistan captain and coach Waqar Younis feels that the proposed Test Championship will have no meaning if India and Pakistan do not play each other.

"Test Championship is a good idea. They have to probably think hard how to go about it because with Pakistan not playing India, that is not going to the help the whole thing. If these two countries play each other it will not only help the Test Championship but also help the relations between the two countries," Younis told Gulf News. 

"You cannot really call this a Test championship if the top two teams are not playing against each other. How can you consider the others as champions or as No. 1 and No. 2 without these two teams not playing against each other as they are the two top teams."

Referring to India’s objection to playing in Pakistan as well as in the UAE, Younis said,"If India want to play Pakistan, they can even play them in England or in Australia. It doesn’t matter where you play though the UAE is home for Pakistan."

"If ICC can bring everyone on board and play each other, people will get interested. There should be a point system where teams can go up and down over two years and then you will know exactly which team is the best," he said.

The ICC Test Championship requires each of the top nine Test nations to play six series each in a two-year cycle with the top two teams facing off in the final. 

The teams will play three away and as many home series in this period but the championship does not ensure that India and Pakistan will be playing each other.