Jay Shah (Source: AFP Photos)
Cricket as a game has to keep expanding and bringing something new as it endeavours to reach uncharted geographical locations, and the new format might be the right mix of traditional cricket and the modern-era slam-bang version that might bring in new eyes.
The Test Twenty format that was announced last year in October 2025 has now brought its first real innovation. The Test Twenty, on May 14, 2026, announced its parity rule, officially becoming the world's first major cricket ecosystem designed around true mixed-gender participation.
What is the Test Twenty format?
The goal of the Test Twenty is to combine the excitement of T20 with the strategic sophistication of Test cricket. Some of the greatest players in international cricket have endorsed the new format; Harbhajan Singh, AB de Villiers, Sir Clive Lloyd, and Matthew Hayden are all on the advisory board.
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The new format is the ideal fusion of T20 and Test cricket. Test twenty matches consist of two innings of 20 overs each, totaling 80 overs.
This guarantees that you will appreciate the essence of tests in a single day. The concept will guarantee fast-paced, broadcast-friendly play with the conventional results of victory, defeat, tie, or draw.
How Test Twenty cricket will be played?
The Test Twenty is designed especially for boys and girls of ages between 13 and 19 and will see a match of 80 overs per game, with two innings of 20 overs per side.
Scores are carried over into each inning, just like in a Test match. Matches can result in a win, loss, tie, or draw; in a draw, the team batting last must hold onto at least five wickets until the final ball. There will also be a super over if the game is a draw.
Each side will get one power play per game, according to the format's website. Whether to take it in the first or second innings is up to the captain. Only two fielders will be permitted outside the 30-yard circle throughout the four overs of the power play.
A true mixed-gender cricketing format
Test Twenty has done more than just incorporate women into an already-existing framework. The building itself has been rebuilt. According to a press release, the announcement represents a turning point for sports worldwide as well as for cricket.
Male and female athletes compete under the same franchise structure for the same points table, badge, owners, and, eventually, the same championship outcome in the first-ever completely designed cricket ecosystem.
Each Test Twenty team will be based on two equally important teams: a men's team and a women's team. These teams will compete together for the same outcome rather than separately for importance. Without the participation of both genders on the pitch during a game, no team can win.
The Parity Rule maintains the integrity, safety, and high standards of both sides of the game while establishing a framework in which both genders function as equal stakeholders within the same competitive ecosystem.
Legends backing the new cricketing format
Cricketing legends like AB de Villiers, Harbhajan Singh, Matthew Hayden, and Sir Clive Lloyd have backed the new Test Twenty format and its mixed-gender design.
The first season of Test Twenty was to begin in January 2026. It is to have six teams, from Dubai, London, and the USA and three from India.
Applicants will be able to enter through the tournament's AI Discovery Engine, which will select names to make up a 1000-person player pool. 300 players from that pool will move on to the Global Auction Pool, where teams will select players for the first season. Eight Indian players and eight foreign players will make up each franchise's 16-player roster.
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