It all started with this particular form and it still remains most exciting and intriguing. The game of cricket has gone through immense change and has transformed from being a sport played by a handful of players in equally small number of countries to a universally recognized sport. Not just more countries are involved now but the perception about this sport has seen a significant contrast.
Few decades ago, who would have imagined that there would be such a huge viewership of this sport, who would have thought that the players themselves would pre-sell a tournament on TV, creative people alike will write the ‘Mehman-Nawazi’ campaigns and who would have imagined in their wildest of dreams that cricketers, yes cricketers would draw huge money from ad commercial endorsements…they aren’t footballers…
But all this has happened and so much more. Amidst all this however, test match cricket remains as beautiful and exciting as ever. The very fact that you can win a test match only if you have the capability to take 20 wickets, that means you get the opposition out twice in a match makes this form of the game so challenging. Man…you have all the time in the world but you must get them out twice and thus you must scale the ‘Wall’. Well we all know this, by the time Mr. Dravid retired he had made life of the bowlers around the world difficult not because of his ability to score at the quickest rate but because his unmatched talent of staying at the crease and fighting it out.
Another reason that makes Test match cricket extensively exciting is that it is everybody’s game and its not just about fours and sixes. Let’s not forget there are millions of fans who love bowling and fielding too and I bet they all love it when good bowlers run through batting line-ups. If I ask an average cricket follower about his memories of some famous wins of his favorite side, for sure he will mention some test wins. Who can forget VVS Laxman’s marathon innings of 281 at Kolkata or Harbhajan Singh’s back to back match winning spells in the same series or Anil Kumble’s 10 wicket haul at Ferozshah Kotla against the arch rivals Pakistan, Sehwag’s triple hundred at Multan, Tendulkar’s numerous innings…well the list is endless and mind you these efforts that I’ve listed are particularly from Indian players, there are so many more of such performances from players of various other nations which are equally splendid and tell us never ending tales of glory.
In any cricketer’s career, performing well in test cricket is one huge aspiration and it takes a lot to do well at this level.
The shorter forms of the game have arrived and they promise lot of entertainment, but still, nothing can match the excitement of the real cricket – Test Cricket, all whites and red cherry has its own charm !!!WW6PXY4QQTKV