Despite the advent of cricket with all the transitory thrills plaguing the sport, Test cricket has somewhere taken the back seat. However, with the introduction of the World Test Championship, the declining matriarch has regained its lost popularity and is now a lot more famous amongst onlookers than its young and exciting siblings.
Freddie Wilde, an analyst at CricViz highlighted two very imperative points which define modern Test cricket. He tweeted, “This session has hinted at two big themes of contemporary Test cricket in England. The ball doesn’t stop swinging—which places an emphasis on scoring runs rather than just surviving because batting doesn’t get easier—& lower-order runs in low-scoring matches can be key.”
This session has hinted at two big themes of contemporary Test cricket in England. The ball doesn’t stop swinging—which places an emphasis on scoring runs rather than just surviving because batting doesn’t get easier—& lower order runs in low-scoring matches can be key. #ENGvIND
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) August 4, 2021
Coming to the first part of the post, India has been extremely vulnerable to swinging pitches especially in England and New Zealand, where their batters have failed to read any drift at all.
Even in Australia, India struggled in the opening match where they were bundled out for 36 in the first Test match before staging a strong turnaround to clinch the series emphatically.
Now the Indian bowlers made good use of the movement on the surface with Bumrah and Shami wreaking havoc as the duo shared 7 scalps between them, leading to the collapse of England.
Similarly, India will have to watch out too because of the incessant swing that the surface will have to offer and to make it more complicated, India will be batting in the fourth innings.
Another crucial factor that has cost India dearly in recent times is their tail batting which has been infernal while leaking out crucial runs against the opposition’s tail.
Despite India claiming 9 wickets within 160, the last partnership between James Anderson and Sam Curran helped the hosts to add 24 runs in the end. The fact that defined the partnership was not defensive batting but some excellent belligerence from Sam Curran to stay afloat until the end.
The earlier concept of hanging in there has changed completely and now cricketers look forward to scoring faster when they lose their cream with the willow.
