T20 will not survive if Tests are not taken care of, states Sir Richard Hadlee

New Zealand’s greatest ever pace bowler Richard Hadlee has gone on record claiming that he is not a fan of T20 Cricket. In the past, many cricketing legends have qualms in asserting that the shortest format will not survive if Tests are not taken care of and the former is the latest to join the bandwagon. The latter has always embraced and welcomed modernity in cricket but giving T20 the prime position hasn’t gone down well with him. Hadlee suggested that Test cricket must be “preserved” and all three formats of the game can exist together if a balance is maintained.

"Test cricket must be preserved. It's the foundation on which the game is based. So we must look after the five-day game. Certainly with emergence of T20 cricket which is a revolution in the game, all three formats need to live together. They can co-exist but I hate to see that T20 cricket will dominate world cricket," said Hadlee as quoted by Times of India.

In recent years, T20 cricket has been played in abundance with the growth of domestic leagues all around the globe. Hadlee, the owner of 431 Test wickets and 3124 runs from only 86 Tests feels worried about the survival of the game where the former envisage the game will only survive through T20 cricket. But the former speedster has admitted that T20 has produced more skilful players even though they might not be better cricketers.

“Probably too much T20 cricket is played around the world. But I hope that the game doesn't try to just survive through T20 cricket because T20 cricket is not real cricket, real cricket is Test cricket. I am not saying they are better players but they are certainly more skilful. Because of different formats that they play, they have to adapt to different situations particularly in T20 which is a high-risk game anyway with all the trick shots that they play," he added.