India showing the middle finger to a series decider a big danger to Test cricket

At first there was denial followed by acceptance and, now, powerless acquiescence. When the Indian Premier League (IPL) was formed a dozen years ago its ascent to the powerful position it commands at the top of the game was foreseen by many and dreaded by some. Or vice-versa.

Quite how strong the IPL’s stranglehold is remains underappreciated by the majority of the world’s cricket lovers, but it won’t be for much longer. The numbers tell a story, but only to the financially literate.

The biennial Ashes, under threat of relocation or postponement, is worth about $200m to Cricket Australia. The

IPL is worth almost four times that much — every year.

New Zealand supporters have seen the more direct influence of the tournament for several years as the Black Caps try to avoid scheduling international fixtures during the IPL window and, if impossible, complete them without their IPL contracted players — which was a whole team on the recent tour to Bangladesh and the abandoned one to Pakistan.

England’s players and supporters were horrified by the cancellation of the fifth Test against India just a couple of hours before the start because the Indian squad, all of whom had tested negative, feared a Covid-19 outbreak that would have delayed their participation

in the IPL. The cancellation cost the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) about £40m, but enabled the players to get to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in plenty of time to quarantine ahead of the opening matches of the rescheduled tournament.

History records the laments of cricket writers for more than a century suggesting that Test cricket was in need of reinvigoration lest it die. It’s one of the reasons England hosted Australia and SA for an ill-fated Test Triangular series in 1911 (it rained most of the time).

Mostly, the fears were unfounded and Test cricket today, when it is played, is healthier and more entertaining than ever before.

But India unapologetically walking away from a series decider waving a defiant middle finger — in order to conclude their domestic T20 series — spells more trouble for Test cricket than anything before.

It is not hard to see the fiveday game acquiring “novelty exhibition” status in years to come — apart from the Ashes, perhaps. Especially with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) expanding the current IPL from eight to 10 teams and planning to launch a second “season”, possibly in the US.

There are more than enough facts to confirm the way the world game is being shaped by the financial power and demands of the IPL without the need for conspiracy theory. But the sudden, shock cancellation of New Zealand’s tour of Pakistan has also been attributed to the BCCI, which was furious with the Pakistan Cricket Board for launching the domestic Kashmir Premier League two months ago in what was perceived to be a direct provocation to India in the disputed border territory.

If the security threat that prompted the Black Caps to flee Rawalpindi is traced back to India, or indeed anything to do with Indian cricket, then the “power games” would have ramped up to unprecedentedly dangerous heights, and moral lows.

But there is one final measure of the way the IPL has changed cricket.

For the first time since the tournament began, the Federation of International Cricketers Associations (Fica), which conducted a detailed questionnaire among professional players, has ascertained that the overwhelming ambition among its members is not to play Test cricket, or even to represent their country. It is to earn an IPL contract.

“It’s a great feeling to get the opportunity to go to an IPL, it’s something I’ve dreamed of as a young kid growing up, although I did wonder if it would ever happen or not,” said one of the league’s newest members, Proteas batsman Aiden Markram, who was signed by the Punjab Kings while on tour in Sri Lanka.

“To have that opportunity now, to learn as much as I can, is something I’m extremely excited about,” Markram said.

“I tried not to think too much about it while we were still in Sri Lanka, but now I’m really looking forward to spending time with the team and getting to know the players and, ultimately, just learning as much as I can.

“It’s also really exciting that the World Cup follows the IPL straightaway so it gives us a chance to acclimatise to conditions and learn as much as possible. It is a humbling opportunity and one that

I’m extremely grateful for,” he said.

The IPL has made many millionaires and there is still a great deal of cash on offer, but it would be incorrect to assume that money is all it is about.

The pre-Covid-19 crowds in India provided an atmosphere unmatched anywhere else in the sport, while playing with and against many of the best cricketers in the world is a strong draw.

The game really has changed forever.