Dwindling interest bothers Sangakkara
Colombo, July 11: Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara has urged world cricket chiefs to win back fans to Test and one-day games with a balanced international calendar that gives equal opportunities to all teams.
Sangakkara said global viewership of the sport had dwindled over the past year, despite a packed schedule of Tests, one-dayers and Twenty20 cricket.
“I am told about 40 percent of viewership has dropped for Tests,” Sangakkara said. “It has dropped for one-dayers and T20 too.”
According to Sangakkara the rise of Twenty20 cricket has made the one day and Tests look like the boring siblings of the game.
Sangakkara, 32, welcomed suggestions for jazzing up Test cricket through night games or a world championship, which could attract viewers and sponsors.
“We can’t just ignore the consumers. Ultimately it’s sponsorship that generates revenue for the boards,” he said. He called for more Test matches to be fairly distributed in the Future Tours Programme (FTP) that is being prepared by the International Cricket Council to govern cricket from 2012.
He lamented the lack of Test matches for his team, which would have played just two matches against the West Indies this year had India not agreed to a hastily arranged three-Test series against Sri Lanka starting on Sunday.
“All sides should have an equal opportunity to play Tests. We are lucky India are touring us, but the opportunity for Sri Lankans to fulfill their Test dreams are getting more and more limited,” ,” Sangakkara said.
Sri Lanka have not played a Test series outside South Asia since the 2007 Australia tour. They have not been to South Africa for a Test tour since 2002.
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