ICC World Test Championship 2017: A bonanza for fans of the elite form of cricket

This is certainly a very heartening news. The ICC, during their meeting held in Dubai, have announced the holding of world test championships in 2017. The chief executive, David Richardson, launched the proposed event in a bid to preserve the dominance of the longer format of the game. Prestigious newspaper Hindustan Times has published this story today.

The inaugural championship will be hosted by the England and will feature the top four teams in the ICC test rankings, with total prize money of 10 million dollars. The top 4 teams in the test rankings will qualify for the event. India will hold the second edition in 2021. This event was due to be organised in the year 2013, but the broadcasters wanted a limited overs event, so this got delayed.

In fact, the charm of test matches has reduced drastically after introduction of the T20 matches. The qualifying round for the World test championship was to begin in 2013 and to last till 2016.

Graeme Smith, the captain of South Africa, has said that the modalities adopted are very clear. The leading four teams will participate and fight it out to grab the crown. Pakistan’s captain Misbah-Ul-Haq has said that test cricket is a journey and it is the peak of the game. This gives importance and weightage to the bilateral series and provides a fair chance to every team to become world champions.

But why is there so much of fascination about this ancient form of cricket? First of all, I was shocked to know that the youngsters, who up until a few years back preferred to enjoy the ODIs, are again reverting back to the test format. I believe the first and the foremost reason for this is that in ODI / T20, one does not get to see the classical style of batting. Rather the thrust is always on scoring quick runs. Neither the batsmen nor the bowler are able to utilise their skills fully, due to the pressure of time bound performance. Everything is done in such haste that the natural inbuilt talent and scope for improvisation gets vanished. It is interesting to note that master blaster Sachin Tendulkar excels in ODI cricket mainly due to his wonderful technique built in test cricket.

Patience, commitment and discipline are the keywords for this game of gentlemen – but this is what is missing in ODIS and T20. In test cricket, you get to see classical style of stroke play – the hook, the pull shots are neatly executed in a copy book style. You earn out of your sweat and toil put in the field. Just imagine fielding for two or more days in the scorching heat of 45 degrees.

Your overall personality is developed. You learn to tolerate adverse conditions. In fact, in test cricket every one tends to give his 100%. Also, one gets to see long spell of continued bowling and you get to learn a lot. In the ODIs, one is supposed to bowl just 10 overs and always remains under pressure to get a wicket. And many a times, in this attempt, they lose control and focus, thereby damaging their average. Even the batsmen are visibly compelled to play risky and unwarranted shots with just one aim to score as many runs as possible. There is absolutely no time to wait and watch the trend of bowling and thereafter chalk out a strategy.

In today’s fast running mechanical life, the shorter forms of cricket are a forced option. This is due to the paucity of time and out of an illusionary thrill which gives instant, immense pleasure coming out of the quick flicks. But there are hardly any long term memorable innings imprinted on your mind. One does not expect a century every time, as the numbers of balls are limited. Even in yesterday’s match of Australia and India, tension was clearly visible on the faces of all the players. All this is contrary to the relaxed style of test cricket, traditionally played in cool and calm contented way, spanning over five wonderful days!

There is no parallel for Test cricket. With the introduction of world test championships, the oriental form of gentlemen’s game will be established again and who knows this might prove to be a game changer. It may revoke the diminishing interest. Test cricket is the purest form of cricket engraving one’s natural talent. Test cricket is going to rule the world. This is high time that all of us portray tests as our first choice. Most of our cricketing heroes have become legend only through tests.