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THE first step towards a world Test championship takes substance at Eden Gardens here today with the opening game in the Asian regional triangular tournament when India meet Pakistan.

It is the brainchild of the controversial Indian president of the International Cricket Council, Jagmohan Dalmiya, and the organisers have modelled points scoring on the English county championship.

India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka meet each other twice in the next month, with the winners meeting in the final in Dhaka. A win yields 12 points and a maximum of four batting and bowling bonus points are awarded for scoring 350 runs or taking nine or 10 wickets in the first 100 overs. The same rules will decide the winners if the final game is drawn.

Dalmiya considers that if this pilot venture is successful, he will be able to argue a case to the ICC that the system should be used as the basis of a proper championship between the nine Test-playing nations.

In this, he has the support of both captains here and many powerful emissaries in the cricketing world of the sub-continent.

Mohammad Azharuddin, India's captain, believed that the present trend in Test cricket, where most games are now ending in results, lends itself to the search for finding ``a true world champion. It will also be an extra injection of interest for the millions who follow the sport.''

Pakistan's captain, Wasim Akram, said: ``It is an exciting prospect and having the goal of a champion at the end will make the quality of matches better.''

Sunil Gavaskar, a member of the technical committee who have drawn up the rules for the Asian competition, is putting his considerable authority behind the wider project.

The former Indian batsman said: ``I'm sure a world championship is now only a matter of when and not if. What remains is for the various countries to sort out their schedules. Personally, I think it could take place every two years, between the one-day World Cup.''

Gavaskar's own hunch was that it could first be staged in 2005, following the one-day cup to be held in South Africa in 2003.

He added: ``I'm only sorry that when I was a player this Asian tournament could never have happened. Then the various countries were so far apart politically there was no real possibility.''

The technical committee have had to decide on such matters of uniformity as the make of ball and the boundary width. Starting hours of play will, however, vary because of the difference in time zones between the three countries.

The tournament will be treading ground rarely seen before in the game. The only previous triangular tournament was held in England in 1912, with Australia and South Africa the other teams.

Neutral umpires are standing in all Tests, a system previously used only once in a Pakistan-India series, and all from outside the sub-continent.

The Dhaka final will also be notable for the fact that a Test is to be staged on neutral territory, as in the 1912 competition.

Remaining fixtures - Feb 24-28: Sri Lanka-India, Colombo. March 4-8: Pakistan-Sri Lanka, Lahore. March 12-16: final, Dhaka.