Test cricket in India has been a complete mess over the last decade. We’ve had far too many poor pitches, far too many matches ending inside two or three days, and far too many spinners walking away with absurd figures that make even world-class batters look incompetent.
These lottery tracks were tolerable only as long as India kept winning, but now that the tide has turned and we’ve lost a string of home Tests, it’s time to seriously question how our own conditions are damaging the format.
Just months ago, England produced five full Tests that all went to Day 5. It was one of the finest series in recent memory. Dramatic, balanced and offering something for everyone. That’s what Test cricket is supposed to look like. That’s why you get 5 freaking days. Tests ending in 2 days should be the rarest of exceptions not the norm that it has become in India in the last 15 years.
In India, how do you even measure the greatness of a performance when the match barely lasts 180 overs? These two- or three-day affairs hardly feel like international-level Test matches. They reduce skill to randomness and spectacle to monotony. If this continues, we risk killing the very charm and credibility of Test cricket in our own backyard.
