Despite being the home of cricket, England has despicably failed to reach the final of the World Test Championship. If that has made Ben Stokes triggered or in general, the England Test captain seemed vexed with the entire format of the World Test Championship that continues for two years. Speaking to the press conference prior to the Test series against India, he expressed his confusion on the relevance of the World Test Championship. Was Test cricket different before? And most importantly, how can a particular Test match be the ultimatum for a team that stood valiant for the last two years! When asked about his views on if Test was dying or if WTC rejuvenated the format, Stokes, himself being a Test disciple, said, “There was nothing wrong with Test cricket before. You ask all the players which is the best format, and they will say, Test cricket. And now we’ve got the WTC. That’s what it is all about now. There was nothing wrong with Test cricket before WTC started.” Read also: ENG vs IND 2025: England Announce Playing XI for 1st Test, Chris Woakes Returns Does Ben Stokes hate WTC championship? Stokes added that he is not exactly a fan of the WTC championship. 20 years back or now, winning a five-match or a three-match Test series has been equally important in all ages. And for Stokes, he is not compromising with the idea. He added, “Because every series is massive. Whether it’s a three-match series, a two-match series, a five-match series, they mean the exact same now as what they meant 20 years ago. You want to win it. We never needed a WTC to put more onus on Test cricket, because I’ve always put Test cricket at the top. And I’m sure if you ask everyone else who loves Test cricket, they’ll say the same." Notably, both England and India are going through a transition phase. The playing XI England announced has much less experience compared to the young Indian team. Even though the Indian team, deprived of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, might look like easy flesh to Stokes, he acknowledged that the face-off will indeed be competitive. For India, heading to Leeds on June 20, they have much to prove. With a young captain and a controversial head coach who has suffered a disgraceful defeat in the Border-Gavaskar series, they are up to break the England jinx after 2007. And for the Ben Stokes-led England, they will have to try for another time that Bazball was not a fluke.