DHAKA: Anurag Thakur, President of Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI), has spoken out against the ‘two-tier’ Test system.

He said neither he nor his board supports the proposed idea, reports cricketcountry.com on Wednesday (August 3).

Stating “a need to protect smaller nation’s interests”, Thakur takes on the proposed idea of ICC, whose chairman is former BCCI President Shashank Manohar.

Cricket’s governing body in its annual conference in June proposed an idea of ‘two-tier’ Test system - with seven nations in tier one, and five, including two new Test nations, in the second tier - to make the format more interesting and appealing.

But their idea saw public disapproval from Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).

BCB vice-president Mahbubul Anam earlier said, “We believe that more we play against competitive sides, the better we will get”.

“If we did not play against better-standard sides in ODIs, we would not have come this far. We were given a reality check when we were promoted to the highest level. I feel that if we go backwards, our cricket will regress,” he added.

BDST: 1749 HRS, AUG 03, 2016
SR