At a time when the cricketing fraternity is divided over top teams playing day-night Tests, former Sri Lanka batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan is against the idea of playing Test cricket under lights.
The 43-year-old was also not in favour of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) introduction of jersey numbers in Test cricket.
"I don’t think you should play Day-Night. Test cricket should be played only in daylight and in full whites, without numbers on the back. That’s a personal view. We should keep it simple. It’s the main format," Dilshan said on the sidelines of the Road Safety World Series on Thursday.
“I feel Test cricket should be played in the traditional way, just like the gentleman’s game,” he said.
He also believes that Test cricket has ‘definitely been impacted’ with the advent of T20s.
“Early on in my career, we used to play a lot of one-dayers besides Test cricket. Some countries have now reduced number of Test matches to make way for more T20 and ODIs, so it has affected Tests, but ICC should push Test cricket more,” Dilshan, who played 87 Tests for Sri Lanka, said.
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“If you ask any cricketer - even now - and they will say they love to play Test cricket the most. That’s where the real talent is tested. More spectators are attracted towards T20 and one-days. Around 2005, it was feared people were moving away from cricket grounds, but then the World T20 and the IPL happened and it changed,” Dilshan said.
Talking about the current situation of Sri Lankan cricket, the former captain said: “We have a lot of young talent coming through. In the last series against Pakistan, we played a lot of good cricket. Lot of young guys played really well. Hopefully we can keep improving till the 2023 World Cup. With the experience of the likes of Lasith and Angelo, a lot of youngsters are coming through and fingers crossed, they can do a better job than what we did in 2011.”
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