Opinion: Bowlers stealing the limelight from batsmen is great for the future of Tests
A lot of talk has been about the death of Test Cricket in recent times. Dwindling crowds and reduced interest from fans to watch the longest form of the game compared to ODIs and T20s got many writing off the toughest and best form of cricket- Test Cricket.
But in recent times, Test cricket has truly come alive. The inception of the ICC World Test Championship has bought much-needed focus and spotlight back on this form of the game. Now there is even more incentive for teams to approach each game with even more rigor and determination. There's plenty in it for both teams, thus making it even more fun.
The fascinating aspect of Test cricket in recent times with Australia retaining the Ashes and winning a series in England in eighteen years to India's dominating performance against West Indies and most recently Afghanistan's historic win against Bangladesh is the way in which bowlers helped their teams create history, thus generating interest and attention for the format in a renewed form.
The Ashes story
The Ashes was won because of Steven Smith's unimaginable purple patch upon his return into Test cricket after serving an one-year ban. But there's no point in Smith bossing England all around (671 runs in three games) unless their bowlers don't deliver the goods. And that's exactly what Australia's bowlers, led by Pat Cummins, did.
The No.1 ranked Test bowler showed us all how beautiful authentic, quality Test cricket can be. He relentlessly bowled in good areas at pace and reaped the rewards for it. He was the captain Tim Paine's go to man in this series. Cummins delivered 985 balls scalping 24 wickets in this Ashes series.
Bumrah to the fore
In the recently-concluded two-match series between India and West Indies, the talk was all about how Jasprit Bumrah steamrolled the hosts and put them the mat. Not many times do you see an Asian bowler come to the Caribbean islands and dominate them as much as Bumrah did. He got the bowl to zio, rip and move at speeds close to 150 km/h consistently, leaving the West Indies in dire straits.
Also see – ICC Cricket World Test Championship Schedule
The talented Indian pacer's hat-trick in the second match at Jamaica might be the lasting memory from India's triumphant start to their ICC Test Championship campaign but it's the way in which Bumrah, along with Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja stole the limelight from the batsmen, that emphasizes the beauty of the longest format of the game.
Afghans make merry
And yesterday, history was created as Afghanistan beat Bangladesh. The confidence with which the less-favored side won the game by 224 runs means only one thing- reputations don't matter in Test cricket. The architect of their historic win was their newly-appointed captain Rashid Khan.
Rashid Khan has been impressing one and all with his exploits in T20 cricket in the past few years. His rise as a bowler to reckon with has been tremendously delightful to see. He took eleven wickets on a spin-friendly deck where the hosts Bangladesh picked six spinners in their side. A truly memorable performance from the leg-spinner par-excellence.
The recent results post the start of the ICC World Test Championship have resulted in the following conclusions:
- The stadiums may not be packed for each Test match, but this version of the game is here to stay and is not dying a slow death.
- Bowlers have an equal, and sometimes even more, say in the outcome of a game and have come to the fore in recent Tests.
Also see - Live cricket score