Kevin Pietersen predicts only five teams will play Test cricket by 2026; leaves out New Zealand surprisingly

There has been a lot of interest in Test cricket in India in the last few years. Several surveys have shown more and more people have engaged with Test cricket and some part of the credit has to be given to the success of the current Indian team in the format. Even though this upsurge has happened in India, some other countries have found it difficult to make the five-day cricket more lucrative and get more people to watch it. 

Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen gave his opinion on this matter. According to the veteran batsman, there could be a time soon in the future when there will be only a few teams taking interest in Test cricket. The former batsman even predicted a year when we could see that happening. But, the Twitter fans were a bit surprised with the prediction made by the cricketer. 

According to him, by the year 2026, only England, Australia, and India will be the only Test-playing nations. He also added that South Africa and Pakistan might also be among them. 

Twitter slams Kevin Pietersen for not including the World Test Champions

“This is painful to tweet but I think this is slowly happening… In 2026 there will only be a few Test Match cricketing nations. ENGLAND INDIA AUSTRALIA Possibly SOUTH AFRICA & PAKISTAN,” Pietersen wrote on Twitter. Fans on Twitter were a bit surprised that Pietersen completely ignored the current World Test Champions, New Zealand. 

This is painful to tweet but I think this is slowly happening…
In 2026 there will only be a few Test Match cricketing nations.
ENGLAND
INDIA
AUSTRALIA
Possibly SOUTH AFRICA & PAKISTAN.
👀

— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) September 4, 2021

The New Zealand team has prioritized Test cricket and has performed well in the format. After finishing second on the World Test Championship 2019-21 table, Kane Williamson and co. ended up defeating India in the final in Southampton in June, lifting the inaugural trophy. Most of the fans questioned Pietersen for not choosing New Zealand. 

What Pietersen said might not be entirely untrue. England, Australia, India are three teams who play more Test cricket than any other team. But, this can be reasoned with the fact that these three countries, often regarded as the ‘Big Three’ of International cricket have sufficient revenue streams, which keeps them afloat even if they miss out playing some white-ball cricket. 

On top of that, these three teams are currently the only teams who engage in a Test series of more than 3 matches. For instance, in the WTC 2021-23, India plays five matches with England, while they will play Australia for four matches and the Ashes has been of five matches for the last two decades.