“We play the sport over 5 days, we break every now and then for food, we rub the ball on our trousers…” This is the amusing manner in which former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff tried to explain the sport called cricket to a famous American singer and actress!

Well, Test cricket is genuinely one of the most endearing sports in modern-day civilisation. A Test match can ideally last up to 5 days and turns out to be the ultimate test of a cricketer’s skill, endurance, technique and temperament.

The first ever Test match was played way back in March 1877 between Australia and England. Since then, the sport has undergone many changes, improvements and modifications in laws and playing conditions, but the basic fabric and tenet of the game remains the same – it tests the ability of the players to the maximum extent possible.

For a batsman, Test cricket is about endurance, generating a robust strike rate, the ability to tire out the bowlers and exploring batting techniques against all forms of bowlers. To a bowler, on the other hand, Test cricket will be about stamina, tactics and the ability to intimidate batsmen trying to attack or settle down. For both, Test cricket provides the opportunity to experiment and hone their skills with minimal costs, unlike limited overs cricket where every ball and mistake comes with a price. 

Impact of limited overs tourneys on Test cricket

Test cricket, long held as the barometer of cricketing skills and competence, was always confronted by the popularity of one-day internationals (ODI), which, with its 50 over-per-side format, gave an enthralling one-day experience for the audience as opposed to 5 days played out to largely empty pavilions.

While Test cricket evolved into a domain for seasoned cricketers to return to the nets, engage in longer and real-time exposure and improve their techniques and game, the game progressed over empty stands with a focus purely on the game than the audience so much so that Test matches were not even telecast live by Doordarshan until the advent of the stand-alone sports channels.

ODIs, on the other hand, became the bulwark for cricket boards to fill up their coffers, generate support among the populace for the game and also nurture future generations of players in the country. The reason for cricket gaining a huge support base in the country, which had hockey as its designated national sport, could be the popularity of ODI matches. Credit is also due to Doordarshan for popularising the game through its live telecast of ODI matches, which became a national obsession after Kapil’s Devil’s lifted the ODI World Cup in 1983.

However, Test cricket remained the primary choice of players of yore, be it Don Bradman, Gary Sobers, Ian Botham, Sunil Gavaskar, Vivan Richards, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, to name a few. Gavaskar’s statistics in itself explain this fascination for Test cricket in the bygone era. In 125 Test matches and 214 innings, he scored 34 centuries and 10,122 runs as opposed to just one ODI century (at the far end of his career) and 4966 runs in 108 matches. Similarly, Rahul Dravid scored 36 centuries in 164 Tests (286 innings) as opposed to just 12 centuries in 344 ODIs.

While Don was of the pre-ODI era, Ian Botham is another example of the Test cricket legends who had 14 centuries in 102 Test matches (161 innings) as opposed to zero centuries despite playing 116 ODIs. Though Tendulkar was an exception with an extraordinary record (51 in Tests and 49 in ODI), another of his contemporaries, Lara had 34 centuries in 131 Tests (232 innings) as 19 centuries in 299 ODIs. Mohammed Azharuddin is another example of that era with 22 centuries in 99 matches (147 innings) to just 7 centuries out of a whopping 334 ODI matches. 

The number of centuries certainly cannot be treated as the ideal benchmark to reflect upon the glory days of Test cricket. However, these statistics, when compared to the era when ODIs gained the front foot in world cricket and the ODI World Cup became the flagship championship for the game, well before the advent of the T-20 format, show how legendary batsmen valued Test cricket more than their one-day outings, and how they valued staying out in the field and longer innings as more significant than their strike rates of ODI listings.   

Thus, the advent of ODIs and the game being popularised by live television could have been the beginning of Test cricket losing prominence and relevance in the cricketing scheme of things. Put differently, if Test cricket can be likened to parallel cinema, to draw an analogy from cinema, ODIs were like mainstream, mass movies that kept the audience thoroughly hooked; T-20s elevated this experience further akin to edge-of-seat thriller movies. 

Well before the Indian Premier League (IPL), hosted by the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), opened up and made T-20 the most popular sport and mass entertainer in the country, the Indian Cricket League was founded by the Zee Group and heralded by Kapil Dev in 2007 to popularise the game. However, with BCCI making a late start into this format and banning ICL players, the parallel league was doomed though the T-20 format flourished with the grand success of the IPL series.

The instant popularity of IPL was such that it not only led to the proliferation of similar leagues in other cricketing nations but also eclipsed the appeal for ODI matches as was evident from the diminished number of ODI series during the IPL’s heralding years. However, the impact on Test cricket was far greater and almost sounded the death knell for the longer format.

The popularity of T20 cricket in this century has been so immense that many of the teams started reducing their commitment to Tests due to a variety of reasons. Many of the cricket-playing nations, especially those with lesser financial resources, started to move to T20 cricket with plenty of domestic T20 league cricket being promoted.

Nonetheless, the point to note however is that there has been a positive impact of T20 cricket on the Tests format. The scoring rate has increased in a substantial way resulting in matches moving forward at a faster rate and more results (win/loss) than draws becoming the norm.

T-20s bring in the moolah but one cannot overall the erosion of cricketing skills as is evident from the struggles mainstream Indian batsmen, like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and K.L. Rahul for instance, have been facing from the series outings, after the T-20 world cup, be it in Sri Lanka or the home series against New Zealand.

Despite T-20’s popularity and the continuing mass appeal of ODIs, the longer format remains the pivot of measuring cricketing standards. It is, after all, the domestic tournaments like Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy that are primary testing grounds for wannabe talents aspiring to join the national teams, and also for the established players to return back to refresh their skills and technique.

So let us come back to the perennial question: “Is Test cricket a dying sport?”

The year of rejuvenation for Test cricket

The year started with one of the brightest fast bowling prospects – Shemar Joseph of the West Indies, despite an injured foot, bowling West Indies to a first Test win in Australia in 27 years. It was an extremely tight game at Gabba, Brisbane in late January.

The win and the manner in which it was achieved was celebrated across the cricketing world – the endearing image of Australian legend Adam Gilchrist hugging another great former West Indian skipper Brian Lara in the Fox Sports commentary box while Ian Smith was describing the moment, was indeed a delight to watch for fans of Test cricket.

The sport continues to thrill and throw up many such instances across the world.

The England team tour to India this year in late January to early March was one of the most-watched Test series in recent times. The scoreline of 4-1 in India’s favour does not actually reflect the closeness of the contests in the entire series, with the possible exception of the 5th Test.

The first Test in Hyderabad saw nail-biting moments as seen in the limited over formats. After the home team took a 190-run lead, England were 5 down at 160 in their 2nd innings but went on to set a target of 230 for India. Despite a meagre total, the visitors managed to win the game by 28 runs, which could be remembered as one of the remarkable turnarounds in Test cricket of recent times.

In the second test at Vizag, there were multiple ‘wow’ moments: Bumrah’s magic against English batsmen, England threatening to chase down 397 in the second innings, and a brilliant attack by Indian bowlers which changed the course and enabled the Indian victory. Further again, in the fourth game at Ranchi, India prevailed by paving the way for a 4-1 series win.

The tour produced quite exciting cricket with games being in balance till at least day 4 in most of the games.

Bangladesh visiting Pakistan in October 2024 and winning both Test matches was another epochal moment as the former had never won a Test match in Pakistan before.

Sri Lanka, despite an avalanche of political and economic issues back home and below-average performance in recent times, put on display an exemplary performance by winning a Test in England. Though England won the series, Pathum Nissanka’s century stood out in the Lankan’s winning game and underlined the emergence of new Test talents.

Similarly, South Africa winning a Test on Asian soil in 2014 and subsequently, the series against Bangladesh 2-0 were among other incredible Test cricket stories of 2024. Yet, the most fascinating, and even worrisome, was New Zealand's clean sweep against India on Indian soil ending a long winning streak of the home team since Alastair Cook’s England team in 2012.

New Zealand breaches the fortress: How many of the cricket fans and pundits would have thought that the New Zealand team would win a Test, let alone win a full Test series on Indian soil? I bet even the Kiwis would not have expected this clean sweep.

In October 2024, New Zealand cricket reached its pinnacle in Tests by beating India in India in series for the first time. First, they had a win for the first time in 36 years on Indian soil by winning the Bangalore Test through their pacers. Then, winning the second Test in Pune, they swept the series, with spin bowling ably supported by an all-round performance by the whole team.

The golden run of the Kiwis did not end there as they completed a clean sweep of the tour with another win in Mumbai with the match lasting only 3 days. This is an unprecedented win for New Zealand – winning 3 consecutive test matches and a series. Quite significantly, for the first time in 91 years of Indian cricket, the home team suffered a whitewash at home in a series involving 3 or more Tests.

This gigantic result can be gauged by the fact that the home team India has not lost a series at home for 12 years. The fortress was breached finally after a long time, though the cracks were evident in February-March 2023 itself when the Australian team was on the cusp of a series win, as also the previous two visits by England (2021 and 2024) when they came close to conquest but failed.

The ravaging defeat shook up the Indian cricket establishment so badly that the administrators began to notice the warnings that were sounded when all stakes were placed on the T-20 and its commercial spin-offs. The BCCI administrators have begun to realise the fatigue experienced by the frontline Indian players who have shuttled from series to series within the country and abroad, with few days to rest even after major tourneys like IPL and the T-20 World Cup.  

On the other hand, India’s test mainstays, including Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are ageing and fast reaching retirement thresholds even as the designated younger talents including K.L. Rahul, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, etc., have not evoked much confidence yet. For a national side that boasted the best-ever bench strength, the line-up turned up to be more of pinch-hitters and fast scorers emerging out of the IPL factory.

Hence, we see IPL finds like Yashasvi Jaiswal directly making it to the Test side after an exemplary time-out in the T-20 outing. Other than Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sarfaraz Khan, the Indian selectors are struggling to find replacements for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli or reliable anchors to stay the longer course on the field. Such is the drought that there is talk of bringing back Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, even though both the veterans failed to deliver in numerous series in the 2022-2023 period despite the opportunities to play pivotal roles.

While the onset of T-20 players into the Test domain is blamed for the ‘aggressive’ approach– as opposed to the traditional ‘tiring out the bowlers’ approach – seen as a novelty in Test cricket, it is also a fact that this approach has led to conclusive results in Test matches instead of meaningless games invariably leading to draws. 

The sordid scene in the batting side is replicated even in the bowling department where all the stakes are placed on Jasprit Bumrah as the sole workhorse. With Mohammed Shami out of reckoning for long due to injury and recuperation, neither could Mohammed Siraj nor any of the other aspirants, including Shardul Thakur, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana or Prasidh Krishna, impress so far. The desperation is evident from the fact that the selectors have included Rana and Krishna along with Nitish Kumar Reddy in the squad for the Border-Gavaskar trophy in Australia hoping any of them will show the sparkle as a long-term contributor.

It is reported that Shami may make it to Australia though without clarity on his fitness to endure in the tough tropical conditions there. Needless to emphasize, the quest for next-generation pace bowlers to replace the Shami-Bumrah generation, for all formats, seems to be drawing a nought so far.

What lies ahead for the format? 

Last year (2023) saw a remarkable Ashes series in England where Australia won the first two Tests and then England came back to win the remaining two to even the score, with Australia retaining the urn. The action at Ashes seems to have inspired the rejuvenation of Test cricket that we have witnessed this year.

Test cricket, without doubt, is here to stay and will be so for the near future. Following up on the winning cruise in India, the Kiwis will play 3 Tests in their home series vs England in the end months of 2024 – which, in fact, marks a departure from the usual practice of New Zealand’s cricket board curtailing home tests to 2 matches. The spectacular win in India seems to have renewed hopes and interest in this format.

It is unfortunate, however, that the South Africa board sees it differently. The Proteas, for that part, prefer fewer Tests and more domestic T20 competitions, probably driven by a financial crunch and an urge to raise resources.

The onus of sustaining the rejuvenation of Test cricket, therefore, would largely rest with the Big 3 – England, Australia and India. The new-found emphasis on Test series could embody the fact that these cash-rich cricket bodies will continue to promote the format, and possibly help the smaller boards as well in this endeavour. The fact that the BCCI has allowed the Afghanistan team to use cricketing facilities in India to play Test cricket against non-India teams, is itself a major step in this direction.

Test cricket needs the likes of Pat Cummins and Jasprit Bumrah running in and outfoxing the opposition batsmen, some genuinely thrilling batsmen like Travis Head, and smart and innovative captains like Cummins and Ben Stokes. The format currently lacks good wrist spinners – the era of greats like Shane Warne and Anil Kumble seems long gone, and those like Ravichandran Ashwin reaching their twilight years.

Reproducing the words of the late Richie Benaud, unarguably the best reader the game has seen, he would say the following on his commentary duties for Channel 9 at the Sydney Cricket Ground Test match: “Australian cricket is at its best when McGrath is on at the Paddington end and Warne from the Randwick end.”

Without a doubt, Test cricket is at its finest when a good fast bowler and a wrist spinner are operating at two ends with some inspired captaincy in the field even as the batsmen try to negotiate it through.

Test cricket will survive and prosper with more teams playing and winning away from home.

World Test Championship: Finalist spots still up for grabs

The World Test Championship (WTC), floated as a biennial event by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in the 2019-2021 period, was invariably a response to the game being taken over by T-20s and ODIs and their respective World Cups cornering the glory of the game.

Incidentally, the final of the first WTC version was fought between India and New Zealand with the latter emerging as the winner. Australia currently holds the World Test championship having won the second edition, again, by defeating India at the Oval in June 2023.

As the battle intensifies for the 2025 WTC slots, at least five teams – Australia, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, are locked in an intense battle.

How crucial and complex the Test matches and series are seen in the WTC cycle could be gauged from the fact that India had an 83 percent chance of qualifying for the final before the series against New Zealand. Following the humiliating defeat, India’s chances have now fallen to 8.3 percent.

Consequently, New Zealand, which looked out of contention before the India tour, has now a reasonable chance of making it to the final. As of now South African team has the best possibility of reaching the finals with home series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan lined up while Australia has a fair number of matches left (7) from which they will need only four wins to make it to the final.

The intensity in store for the race to obtain the WTC final slots represents the fervour and competition that will mark the upcoming Test games involving the contenders. The most welcome takeaway from these trends is the irrefutable fact that Test cricket has seen a rebirth and is destined to scale newer heights and glory.