Ravi Shastri calls for fewer Twenty20 internationals to ease cricket's scheduling problems

Ravi Shastri has called for a reduction in the amount of international Twenty20 cricket as the sport grapples with its scheduling crisis.

Ben Stokes' decision to retire from one-day international cricket on Monday at the age of 31, citing the "unsustainable" workload by playing in all three formats, followed the decision by South Africa, earlier this month, to pull out of a one-day series in Australia to ensure their players would be available for their new domestic T20 competition.

The latest Future Tours Programme, which maps out international cricket across all formats for the next four years, is shortly to be signed off, with England due to play a total of 306 days cricket around the world - the most of any nation.

Shastri, the former India head coach and now an influential pundit, told Telegraph Sport's Vaughany and Tuffers podcast that the international schedule was in need of a complete overhaul and that bilateral T20 series should be heavily reduced to create space in the calendar.

“I would be a little careful of the number of bilateral splits, especially in T20 cricket,” he said. “There's a lot of franchise cricket which can be encouraged, whichever country it's in -  India, West Indies, or Pakistan. You play less bilaterals and then you get together for the World Cups. So the emphasis on ICC World Cup events becomes paramount. Then people look forward to them.”

Shastri also called for the creation of two divisions of Test cricket in a bid to safeguard the future of the longest format.

“I think two tiers are needed, otherwise Test cricket will die in 10 years time,” he added. “You need six teams at the top, and then six teams in the second and then you qualify. And those top six play against each other more