ICC board members will discuss the issue during the quarterly meeting in September but sources said they are agreed the championship won't be a round-robin one. Instead, the ICC wants only the top four Test teams to feature in the tournament, which will start with the virtual semifinals.
A round-robin format is out of the question since completing the tournament will take close to three months, consuming the entire English summer.
According to IS Bindra - who has been principal advisor with the ICC in the past - the world governing body is hoping the matches in the championship will get over in five days. In case they do not do so, there could be a provision for an extra sixth day.
"If the winner of this Test championship is going to be decided on the basis of first-innings lead, it will kill the tournament. ICC will have to devise a way to take the Tests to the sixth day to decide a winner," Bindra, who is also the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) president, told TOI from London.
An ICC insider said: "We are going to get suggestions from the cricket committee and then the board members are going to take the final call. It's too early to comment on the exact format." The ICC will also start aggressively promoting the Test championship during the Ashes this year.
Currently, India are ranked third in Tests after South Africa and England, followed by Australia at four.
Times View: Here's how to ensure exciting results
The idea of a world Test championship is well worth taking forward. However, given that it will consist of just two semifinals and a final, it is absolutely essential that the championship is structured in such a way that it ensures a result in every game. There can be nothing more pointless for the fans than to watch five days of cricket and then have the game ending in a draw and having to be decided by contrived yardsticks.
The Ranji Trophy method of drawn games being awarded as a win to the team with the first innings lead, for instance, makes for the most excruciatingly boring cricket, as both teams focus foremost on not getting bowled out till they have amassed a huge total.
Here is what we propose: Make each game a contest in which both sides are given 225 overs each to be used as they please between their two innings. Why 225? A normal Test match in which there are no weather interruptions is expected to witness at least 90 overs of cricket each day and is scheduled to last five days, which makes for about 450 overs, if you ignore time lost during innings breaks.
Half of that is 225. Under what we are proposing, a team could decide to use, say, 150 of its 225 overs in the first innings if it believes the pitch is best suited for batting first. Conversely if put in on a seaming track, it could decide to restrict its first innings and use up more of the 225 overs when the wicket is more placid. These possibilities will also introduce a new element of tactical finesse in the championship.
Of course, if a team does not last out 225 overs in its two innings put together, it forfeits the rest. Alternately, the rules could stipulate that in such a situation, the other team will get the remaining overs added on to its quota as a reward for having bowled out the opposition twice, which ultimately is what Test cricket is all about. Why not simply have timeless Tests?
Well, if the Tests are played on flat tracks, you could see both teams literally grinding away for days on end. We would still get a result, but if it is achieved over 9-10 days, it would drive away fans from Tests rather than attracting them to the format, which is the purpose of the Test championship.
In any case, the purpose of these innovations should not be forgotten. That is to ensure there is a result and a fair one at that. That also needs two other factors to be right. The first is a pitch that gives both batsmen and bowlers a reasonable chance of success if they are good and within bowlers gives both the faster men and the spinners an equal chance. The second is that we must make allowances for weather intervening. We would suggest at least two reserve days be set aside for this.
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