Is the ICC Test Championship a failure?

Tests are dying. Not enough people are watching it at the ground, and the television ratings are also taking a hit.

In an attempt to bring more interest back to the oldest and most prestigious form of the game, the International Cricket Council (ICC) designed the World Test Championship. 

A two-year-long tournament where the top nine ranked Test-playing nations would play against each other in six series - three at home and three away - and the two with the highest number of points would face each other in the final at Lord's.

But with the coronavirus pandemic halting all sports, including cricket, all around the world, it gives us a moment to take a look back at how the tournament has gone so far. 

India well on top

Team India, who up until recently were at the top of the ICC Test rankings before being rather inconspicuously overtaken by Australia, have been dominating the tournament.

They are on top of the table as a result with 360 points, with Australia a distant second at 296 points.

India started off by winning the two-match Test series against West Indies in the Caribbean before they returned home and decimated South Africa in a three-match series. 

After that, it was more smooth sailing as India won their two games against Bangladesh by an innings.

The tour of New Zealand was going to be their first big challenge and India were eventually handed their first defeats as the Kiwis won both games in favourable conditions. 

Two more mouth-watering clashes remain for India as they are scheduled to visit Australia later this year for four Tests and then they play their first-ever five-match Test series, against England in England in 2021.

But the way they have gone, a few wins in the remaining games should all but guarantee them a spot in the final. 

They are the team to beat in world cricket and their dominance so far has not been a surprise.

Virat Kohli and co have played cricket of the highest order and anytime India plays, there are eyes on the TV and people on the ground. 

Bangladesh get more games

The Tigers, who have been starved of Test cricket started off their ICC Test Championship journey against India in India.

Arguably the toughest opposition and in a two-match Test series, where the second Test was the first-ever 'Pink ball' Test in the sub-continent. 

The day-night Test was a big affair in Kolkata with a packed Eden Gardens but Bangladesh could not deliver a performance worthy of a Test status team and lost within three days.

Both games exposed the visitors and their lack of Test match readiness badly and their second assignment would come against Pakistan in Pakistan.

Things did not get any easier as they were handed another innings defeat - three in three games played in the tournament - before the Covid-19 stopped everything. 

There is still one more Test left to be played against Pakistan and later this year, the Aussies were supposed to visit but that has been postponed due to the pandemic. 

Bangladesh are scheduled to play three Tests in Sri Lanka then and after that, they face New Zealand in two tests at home. 

One would expect the results to be better for the Tigers in those games given the conditions and the opposition. 

Their last series in the tournament would be a three-match Test series against West Indies at home in 2021.

So this would ensure Bangladesh play regular Test cricket against the likes of India and Australia, two teams that they hardly play Tests against and would give them more exposure against the toughest of opponents to take their game to the next level.

Although the gap between Bangladesh and some of the top teams is massive, one would expect that to dissipate if they played more and the Test Championship would be the perfect platform to do that.

The latest update of the ICC Test rankings has Bangladesh below newcomers Afghanistan and don't paint a bright picture for the Tigers but this break could help them regroup and rejuvenate and do better moving forward.  

The Ashes demeaned 

The oldest and arguably most prestigious rivalry in cricket, 'The Ashes' kicked off the ICC Test Championship last year. 

It was one of the best, most competitive, and most dramatic Ashes after the classic in 2005, which England won.

This time, however, it was drawn 2-2, and as Australia had won the Ashes in Australia, they retained. 

With Australia leading the series, 0-1 after two Tests, they were on course for a win but Ben Stokes played one of the greatest innings' of all time to help England win by one wicket.

However, as per the rules of the ICC Test Championship, each series has 120 points max, and that means the more Tests you have in a series, the fewer points you gain per Test won.

That in a way not only devalues the very roots of cricket but also does not encourage teams to play four or five-match Test series.

Whether the top-ranked teams want to play more and longer Test series against each other moving forward remains to be seen.

But this has brought a fair share of criticism from different corners of the cricketing fraternity and this rule could be tweaked in upcoming editions of the tournament. 

Teams like Bangladesh hardly play three-match Test series and this does not help matters for them either as the incentive from a points perspective simply isn't there. 

The ICC Test Championship has moved things in the right direction in many ways.

Whether it is a failure or a success is still down to how it finishes, once the pandemic is over.

One certainly would not expect fans to be flocking to cricket grounds before 2021, at the earliest, and the financial impact will be felt.

Another aspect is to see how the ICC re-schedules all the postponed games once things return to normal.  

However, there is still a lot of work left to be done to ensure that Test cricket is truly globalised and it becomes an attraction all over the world.