India series as big as Ashes: ECB Chief Richard Gould on blockbuster Test summer

London: The upcoming five-match Test rubber between India and England is commercially as important as the Ashes, feels the ECB’s chief executive Richard Gould, who is banking on the series to recapture the imagination of English fans after an underwhelming international summer in 2024.

Last year, the country’s sports fans were hooked on the Paris Olympics and the Euro, Europe’s biggest international football tournament. Empty seats at Lord’s, after England’s series win over Sri Lanka, did not paint a pretty picture as far as cricket was concerned.

This time, however, Gould is optimistic of a bumper summer thanks to the widely-followed Indian team.

“We know how big it is. It is a huge summer,” Gould was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

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“Last summer, there were all sorts of things happening all over the place, weren’t there? “I think that is one of the great things about a five-Test series: it is a proper long read; it’s something that people can get really into. There will be subplots and sub-subplots. There will be all sorts of issues over that six-week period,” Gould added.

Big names such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin may have retired from Test cricket in the last six months but India’s off-field dominance of the game makes any series against them comparable to the Ashes.

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“Certainly, in terms of commercial importance,” Gould said.

The series marks the beginning of a new cycle for both India and England in the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC).

India have not won a Test series in England since 2007, and the last time they toured in 2021-22, they drew 2-2.

The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) top executive is also buoyed by the resurgence of the five-match Test series in recent times.

“There’s been lots of discussion about short formats, but Test cricket is doing quite a resurgence in its own way,” he said.

“Particularly with the five-Test series: we’re seeing more of those than we have done for a long time.” As far as hosting future finals of the WTC is concerned, Gould said England holds an advantage over other strong contenders like India as it can fill venues even for title clashes involving neutral teams.

“The WTC, for us, is not the be-all and end-all. Because we also enjoy the Ashes and we will enjoy the India series,” Gould said, speaking before last week’s final between Australia and South Africa at Lord’s.

Last week’s WTC final was the third in a row staged in England, and later this summer the ICC is likely to confirm that England will retain hosting rights despite interest from India.

“We don’t think that we’ve got any absolute right to be the continual host of the WTC (final), but there are advantages to having it here. Irrespective of who gets into the final, we will sell it out… We’re probably the only member nation within the ICC that could deliver that.

“We recognise that perhaps others would like to take it around the world at some point… But the worry is if you move it, end up with two neutral teams, and don’t get a crowd, the whole thing could devalue and deflate pretty quickly.”