Flashback time. July 2005, the start of the Ashes. I remember hurrying home to catch the final session, refusing to step out of the house on Saturday or Sunday evening, in short, becoming a couch potato. By the time of the final Test, my wife was convinced that I had lost it. "But India aren't even playing", she kept repeating, a little perplexed. "This is England and Australia, for Gods' Sake!"

Enough has been written about that stunning series, so I shall be brief. While watching Day 5 of the Second Test, which England finally won by two runs, my palms were sweaty, my mouth was dry, and I refused to touch a single button on the remote control. Ditto for the Third and Fourth Tests. As for the Final Test, I rushed home early, wondered what Australia was thinking when they went off the field for bad light, and watched as England collapsed in their second innings until Pietersen rescued them. I am now wating for the DVD to be available on Indian shores.

For those who haven't got it yet, Test cricket is such a joy to watch because of the endless possibilities it offers. No fielding restrictions, no Powerplay, and most important of all, no time or 10-overs-per-bowler constraints. It's all about the patience, the waiting, and for me, the watching. It's about watching cricketers playing to their strengths, about not being forced to play a horrendous shot or attempt a desperate, last-ditch hat-trick.

It's about watching McGrath run in to bowl to Strauss, and seeing how well Strauss can keep him at bay, knowing that there will be no change of bowlers in the 13th over. It's about watching Kaneria bowl over after over to Sehwag, praying that Viru wont try an atrocious shot and get caught in the deep, yet secretly hoping that he WILL try that atrocious shot and send it into the crowd. It's about watching the Indian batting line-up face 40 overs of Murali in a day, wondering whether he will run through the side, or whether he will need to slowly chip away at their resistance.

And it's about comebacks and struggles, about domination and about grit. In a one-dayer, 50 for 4 means just that- 50 for 4. You can expect a final score of between 220 and 240, at best. In a Test match, watching a team claw out of that position and get to 500 sums up what sport is all about. In a one-dayer, one bad session, and its all over, the game has been reduced to a formality. In a Test, you can mess up your first innings, get thrashed all over the park when you come out and bowl, and still have a wonderful second innings, still get yourself back into a position where you can save the match.

There can be no other sport where I have had more satisfaction in seeing my chosen team battle it out for a draw from a hopeless position against a strong team, than I have had in seeing my team trash a weaker side in three days. Whether it's been England against South Africa, Zimbabwe versus Bangladesh, India versus New Zealand, the thrill of seeing two equally matched teams fighting it out, or of seeing an underdog upset a fancied team, can leave you with a feeling of five days very well spent indeed.

It's also about watching your favorite cricketers, free of the constraints that come with one-dayers. Watching Dravid, Ponting and Laxman bat, unfettered by the pressures of a few more overs, watching as they grind the opposition down, then unleash a flurry of strokes that leaves you shaking your head in admiration...

Watching Shoaib, Harmison and Harbhajan bowl, bowl, bowl, watching them work on the batsmans' mind, slowly play on the uncertainties, then lead the batsman into making the one fatal mistake that made the waiting worth it.....

Somehow, there is never the same sense of anticipation at the start of a one-day series. Test cricket can bring out all the myriad possibilites of cricket - the "glorious uncertainties of the game" that hundreds of newspaper columns have written about. India and Sri Lanka should not disappoint. A thrilling series it promises to be...Happy Days, it seems, are here again...

Aaaahhh Test Cricket, there is no better builder of anticipation. This Australian was in India for the series last year seeing the Bangalore and Chennai tests. While the Bangalore game had an air of inevitablity the Chennai game was pure test cricket. From Sehwag's magnificent 150 to Martyn and Gillespie batting for 2 sessions, Warne's world record and then just when anticipation is at fever pitch...it rained.

One day cricket, I don't even watch it on TV

i very much agree with u that TESTS r more important than ODIs bcoz tests only wil test a players potential.any player performing wel in tests is a real player.its test of technique n more over a mind game.u shud b both mentally n physically tough 2perform wel in test matches.y 2people admire sunil gavaskar who has scored 1century in his ODI career.its bcoz his elegance in tests. ODIs hav affected test matches a lot.ODIs have been crowd pullers n its over.thats it.
i m very much afraid that even we cant see ODIs in near future bcoz of some ridiculous 20-20 cricket.
many may argue that all these developments in cricket makes cricket attractive.it may b true but cricket with all these developments wil not b cricket.v shud name it something like basecricket(combination of base ball n cricket)
please make our next generations watch cricket not basecricket

Yup, even I prefer the real deal. Its called "Test" for a reason. ;)

Buddy.. you have written all that I feel about test cricket. I can watch Laxman's 281 N times more. I cannot miss a single ball in a test match where as I hate watching the middle overs in ODIs.
Test Cricket is true cricket and it always rocks !!

Couldn't agree more. Particularly in the light of the new 'super-sub' rules. Don't see what's so super about a sub. And its ludicrous to compare cricket with soccer and american football. Those two games are so physically demanding that it is necessary to a large extent to have substitutes. Now before anybody leaps at my throat to argue that cricket is also physical (which I do admit) I must state that it is unequivocally more mental than physical (as admirably demonstrated by Inzammam-ul-Haq, David Boon and suchlike). I think the very fact that on any given day a game is about 11 players on a field who have to see things through to the end is something that elevates a sport. When you substitute players who are inadequate or having an off day it merely takes away from the excitement of seeing an underdog pull off something almost miraculous. Teams are more even than ever and that is a sad thing for sport shouldn't be about balancing two sides. Its the difference that lies between them that exhilarates. Additionally you have diluted the value of a great allrounder by allowing two lesser players make up for it. Test cricket is where the men truly slug it out. I shall never forget being part of the Chepauk crowd that rose to thunderously applaud a victorious Pakistani team despite there being tears in the eyes of every person there. That is what its all about. Emotion - that no one-dayer can ever evoke.

Agree very much with the thoughts on test cricket c/w ODI cricket.

I am very much in favour of India's rotation policy to ensure that the whole country gets cricket, but I do think that regular weather patterns should be built in to the rotation model, to ensure that matches are not scheduled in places that are likely to have poor weather at that time. I accept that the current cyclone is sizeable and untimely, but it is hardly entirely unexpected at Chennai at this time of year.

Something for the BCCI to think through. Rotation policy - good. Simple rotation above all else - not good.

Very disappointing to have the match spoilt after all that well-described blissful anticipation.

Test cricket is real cricket.After all the name itself tells us.

Watching a Warne or murali or Mcgrath tease the batsman ,setting him up for few overs to play the wrong shot and getting a wicket.AAH great stuff!.No way one day cricket can come near that.

there are times when warne's legbreaks,murali's doosra(although debateable),a lara's square cut,a sachin's straight drive,a ponting's pull shot,over very very special laxman's cover drive which lifts the game to a different level.

Moreover this is one form of game where bowlers still have something.The way the game changes in different sessions provides us the thrill.Unlike one day cricket where overs 15-40 are boring there is no boredom in test cricket(unless few teams and captains have draw as their only aim).
Where else can a batsamn find time to build an innings.
After all we still speak about india's victory in adelaide test (not the Victory in a one day match in VB series) and the ashes (not about the two natwest series).

The ashes series provided a real real boost to test cricket and the aussies themselves have made test cricket more interesting by scoring at a faster pace and producing results.

Test cricket is true cricket .everything else is just bakwaas.

WOW, TEST Cricket.
Boy, it is some fun to watch that.
Its was fascinating, even watching the West Indies being beaten fair and square by the Aussies.

My most enduring image of that series would be Dwayne Bravo, who brought to West Indies new enthusiasm, batted bravely in the 2nd Test against Warne & Co.

The best pick would be the over he bowled in the 3rd Test . It was just about great, he got Adam Gilchrist and then had Warne surviving two leg before decisions before brilliantly catching him.

That to me was what test match cricket brings - Courage, Character, Guts and Glory.

P.S - Just to put a thought, What about Shoaib's transformation -:)

Exquisite.

I couldn't have put it better. I love test cricket too.

Back when the two Cs were playing for West Indies, and the two Ws for Pakistan, I used to love Pak-WI matches just for the long drawn out bowling sessions.

Beautiful Post

Hi,

I've always wondered. Don't Australia play more tests than any other nation? Haven't England been also doing that for some time? Isn't their successes a direct result of that? Now compare this to teams like West Indies, who get to play tests once in a while and then they mess things up, on the field and off it.

I cant agree too much on Test cricket just because of the attitude shown by the cricketers. its just not the same in case of all players.
There are times, players walk off the pitch when umpires offer the light and hardly players go for win rather than draw in the final day. Yes test cricket is still the best stage to prove the crickets talent but still fans like the onedayers just because of the intensity and desire showed by the players to win the game, ofcourse there are no many choices for them. It will make sense to curb the rules to make test cricket result oriented rather than staying old fahioned manner,