Free Press Journal
Independent
Test Twenty™️, Cricket's Fourth Format, Begins In Sri Lanka
Mumbai and Colombo, 16 October 2026: On 14 November, young cricketers from around the world will walk out at the SSC in Colombo. For the first time, a toss will decide two things, not one: which team bats first, and whether the girls or the boys play first. Girls play girls. Boys play boys. Whoever bats in the morning, their runs carry into the night, and only the combined score wins. Her runs will decide his match. His will decide hers. In the game's history this has never been done before.Cricket has had three formats in nearly 150 years: Test cricket, the one-day game and T20. On 14 November, it will have its fourth.Test Twenty will play its first season at the Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 14 to 29 November 2026, with 30 November held as a reserve day. 160 young cricketers, aged 13 to 21, to be drafted from around the world into 4 continental teams, will fly to Colombo to play the first tournament in which a girls' XI and a boys' XI play for the same team, and their runs combine into one result.Why Sri LankaNo country watches its schoolboys like Sri Lanka. The Royal-Thomian, first played in 1879, held its 147th edition at the SSC this March, and every year the island stops for its Big Matches. A nation of 22 million gave the world Sanath, Murali, Sangakkara and Mahela. In 2006, at the SSC, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene batted together for 624 runs, still the highest partnership in the history of Test cricket.For a century, Sri Lanka has built a culture of youth cricket that no other country can match. From November, it becomes the founding home of the world's youth format.80 overs. 2 balls. Nothing resets.Every Test Twenty™️ match is played in a single day. Each team bats twice. The first 40 overs are played in whites, with the red ball, in daylight. The last 40 are played in colour, with the white ball, under the SSC floodlights. It is the first time the red ball and the white ball will be used in the same match. Scores carry forward from the first half to the second. A run scored in the afternoon is still alive at night. One result, by nightfall.Her runs. His match. His runs. Her match.Each of the 4 continental teams fields a squad of 40: 20 girls and 20 boys. In every match, girls play girls and boys play boys. Then their scores combine on one scoreboard, and only the combined total wins.A toss decides who bats first. Under the Parity Rule™️, what she scores by day decides whether he wins under lights. What he scores under lights decides whether she won. The next day, the toss may turn it round.The girls' game is not a curtain-raiser. It is half the result.It changes the dugout too. Girls and boys sit side by side, all day, under one crest, watching every ball the other XI faces, because every run they score is a run their own side needs.In nearly 150 years of the game, a girl's runs have never counted in a boy's match. From 14 November, in Colombo, they will decide it.From thousands to 160Before a ball was bowled, thousands of young cricketers from 5 continents put their names forward. The best of them rose through trials on the ground and online over the last 300 days. From those, the Global Selection Committee has chosen the finest. It is chaired by Rajkumar Sharma, one of India's most celebrated coaches, and the man who found Virat Kohli as a boy and shaped him into a champion.Later this month, the Players Draft names the final 160: 80 girls and 80 boys. The founding batch of Test Twenty™️.The tournament opens with a ceremony on 14 November and ends with the Final on 29 November. Every match will be broadcast live on Sony Sports Network, with the world feed made available to broadcasters and streaming platforms in markets around the world.The people behind itWith an advisory board of AB de Villiers, Matthew Hayden and Sir Clive Lloyd, a Global Selection Committee chaired by Rajkumar Sharma, and operations led by Mike Fordham, Test Twenty has people who have played, coached, and run cricket at the highest level standing behind its youngest players. Commercial strategy is led by co-founder Rohit Maroo.Gaurav Bahirvani, Founder of Test Twenty™️ and the author of the Parity Rule™️, said:"A year ago this week, I introduced Test Twenty to the world with AB, Matthew, Sir Clive, Mike and Rohit beside me. It was an idea on paper, and a promise to young cricketers everywhere: a format of their own, a tournament of their own, and an ecosystem built around them. On 14 November, that promise walks out for the first time, at the SSC in Colombo. Parity is not only in the rules or the way our game is played. It is in the broadcast. Some nights, it will be the girls under the floodlights, in primetime, in front of the world. Other nights, the boys. Every night, one scoreboard.We found the right home for it. Sri Lanka fills a stadium for a 'schoolboy' match. No country on earth loves its young cricketers the way this island does. From our very first meeting, the leadership at Sri Lanka Cricket has been very supportive and encouraging. Then the President and Committee of the SSC warmly opened their doors to our young cricketers from every corner of the world. We are deeply grateful to them all.For the first time in the history of the game, girls and boys will win together, or lose together. That moment now belongs to Sri Lanka. We are all going to Colombo."
8 hours ago
