Ex-India coach Ravi Shastri wants promotion-relegation Test system after blockbuster game in Melbourne

Former India coach Ravi Shastri advocated a two-tier structure in Tests with relegation and promotion to ensure the survival of the longest format of the game.

His comments follow the blockbuster fourth Test between India and Australia that drew a record 373,691 spectators to the Melbourne Cricket Ground over five enthralling days.

Shastri said that he could not remember “a bigger advertisement for Test cricket” that that in Melbourne and that it proved the beauty of a five-day contest in an era of ever-increasing T20 franchise cricket.

“To break crowd records that have stood for nearly a century… is testimony to the fact that when the best teams play, the toughest and best format of the game is still alive and thriving,” Shastri wrote in a column for The Australian.

“It was also a sound reminder to the ICC (International Cricket Council) that the best should play the best for Test cricket to survive. I will say that there’s too much of a clutter otherwise.

“This match further emphasises why we need a two-tier system with the top 6-8 teams and then include promotion and demotion. You will not get these kinds of crowds if you don’t have two proper teams playing.”

The ICC has been contemplating a two-tier system for years to keep the format competitive but the plans have never got off the ground.

A proposal for a de facto premier league featuring the top seven sides was on the agenda of the world governing body in 2016. It was scrapped after the powerful Indian board led a backlash.

While India stand to gain from playing more matches against teams such as England and Australia, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said at the time the cost to smaller cricketing nations was too great.

“However, if you don’t create a two-tier system, you’ll continue to have unmatched teams up against each other and then it’s very unlikely they’ll be able to take a game into the fifth day. Then there’ll always be talk of four-day Tests,” Shastri added.

Australia won the fourth Test, in Melbourne, by 184 runs deep into day five to take a 2-1 lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and heads to Sydney for the final match starting January 3.