Sangakkara feels shorter versions of game has made Test cricket more exciting

Abu Dhabi [UAE], January 11 (ANI): Amid the rising popularity of the Abu Dhabi T10 League, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) president and former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara feels the influence of the shortest format has made Test cricket more exciting.
Sangakkara said after the inclusion of the short forms of the game, captains have become more attacking in their intent in the longest format of the game and batsmen are seen trying new shots in Test cricket.
"It was a very exciting finish (the third Test against India and Australia) with (Hanuma) Vihari and R Ashwin holding Aussies at-bay in that final session and going with a draw. Cricket is for everyone, people who have been brought up watching Test matches the real Test five day format, the courage, physically, mentally, your technique is broken down, is analysed in the format," said Sangakkara while replying to a query from ANI.
"But then again you have a larger section of people now since the advent of T20 cricket and success of IPL and other franchise leagues that have been attracted to newer format who don't have the intimate connection with the heritage and the history and culture of Test cricket," the mentor of Team Abu Dhabi said.
"And the world is also changing, the newer generation is a little bit more focused on instant gratification or short-term gratification and is wonderful to see cricket hasn't remained an old man's game or the game just for the purist but it is continuously growing across various formats and feeding that passion and appetite for the entertainment sports across the world," he added.
The former Sri Lankan skipper said the only thing which needs to be seen is that newer formats shouldn't be coming at the cost of Test cricket. The wicket-keeper batsman also explained the influence of the shortest format on Test cricket.
"The only thing we have to be careful about it is not at the cost of any format and is in someway beneficial for the longevity of the format like Test cricket. You can see from the old days of scoring from one and half of two runs which was considered exciting and if anyone scored 3 runs per over it was unheard and was a legendary thing to have it," said Sangakkara.
"Now the influence of shorter versions has made Test cricket more exciting. New shots have been drawn in new scoring rates have brought in, captains are more attacking, newer shots are displayed it has done a lot of actually good," he added.
Sangakkara will seen mentoring Team Abu Dhabi in the upcoming season of Abu Dhabi T10 League slated to begin from January 28. (ANI)