India, pitches and three-day Tests: A staggering 63.15 percentage home games ended within 3 days since 2018. Out of 19 Test matches played at home from 2018, 10 ended under 3 days.
Indian pitches have been the talk of the town recently, with the hosts losing a game at home for only the second time since 2018. Australia crushed India to a humiliating defeat in Indore thanks to the exploits of probably the best touring spinner ever, Nathan Lyon. In other news, this was another quick three-day Test match, with India being on the receiving end for a change. Since then, the western media have been worried more about the pitch than any other thing in the world.
Analysing duration of Test matches in India
There is no smoke without fire. But is the smoke alarming enough to start a fire? Is the world unable to fathom India’s dominance at home and quite conveniently finds reasons to sway away from the embarrassing defeats? But the questions still remains that are conditions in India too spin-friendly? Is there even a balance between bat and ball?
Let’s figure this conundrum out. Since 2018, India have played 19 Test matches at home, with only 3 matches lasting the entire duration of five days. The matches lasted for four days in the given timeframe about 21.1 per cent times. A whopping 10 matches ended in three days, while 2 matches ended in two days, which amounts to a cumulative 63.15 pc of the matches getting finished within three days in the given timeframe.
Duration of Matches | No. of Matches |
3 day | 10 |
4 day | 4 |
5 day | 3 |
2 day | 2 |
Grand Total | 19 |
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Who is to be blamed? Groundsmen, BCCI or the Captain?
With the pressure of the World Test Championship (WTC), every Test match for a side played at home or away, becomes even more crucial than before. Losing or even drawing a single Test match impacts the overall points and the percentile logic used for the WTC grading system. This is not just true for India, but for all countries around the globe. The captains and coaching staff have been influential in tailoring the pitch to suit the strengths of the home team.
In India, since 2018, 15 stadiums have hosted the 19 Test matches. Among these 15, four stadiums, namely - Narendra Modi Stadium, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Holkar Stadium and MA Chidambaram Stadium - have hosted more than 1 Test match in the said timeframe. No stadium amongst the aforementioned venues, except for MA Chidambaram Stadium, was able to last for more than 3 days. Chepauk won the bragging rights with one four-day and one fully completed Test match, Amongst the other venues, the only other stadiums whose pitch was good enough to produce a battle for all five days were the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam and the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. Below is a pictorial representation of the matches played at each of the 15 venues and the number of days they lasted.
Stadium | 2 day | 3 day | 4 day | 5 day | Grand Total |
Narendra Modi | 1 | 1 | | | 2 |
M Chinnaswamy | 1 | 1 | | | 2 |
Holkar Cricket | | 2 | | | 2 |
MA Chidambaram | | | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Rajiv Gandhi International | | 1 | | | 1 |
Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy Cricket | | | | 1 | 1 |
Vidarbha Cricket Association | | 1 | | | 1 |
JSCA International Stadium Complex | | | 1 | | 1 |
Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra | | 1 | | | 1 |
Eden Gardens | | 1 | | | 1 |
Saurashtra Cricket Association | | 1 | | | 1 |
Arun Jaitely | | 1 | | | 1 |
Wankhede | | | 1 | | 1 |
Maharashtra Cricket Association | | | 1 | | 1 |
Green Park | | | | 1 | 1 |
Grand Total | 2 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 19 |
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Are 5-day Test matches a thing of the past? What do the fans want?
In a way, Test matches getting finished inside the regular 5 days is a loss for everyone involved, right from the broadcasters, fans, media rights and the title sponsors. Games getting finished under the speculated timeline results in fewer tickets being sold and a loss of viewership for the non-game days, which was anticipated with the 4th and 5th day more often than not being weekend days.
When asked about the pitches and 3-day Test matches, India captain Rohit Sharma had a witty reply: “People have to play well for the game to last for 5 days. Games are not lasting for 5 days even outside India. Yesterday in South Africa, the game got over within 3 days (referring to the Centurion Test between South Africa and West Indies)… Australia as well in the first Test match. So, it is about skills.”
“In Pakistan, three Test matches were played. People were saying it has become so boring. We are making it interesting for you guys,” he added.
While the India captain might have cheekily used Pakistan’s flat pitches as a scapegoat, there is no denying that the real cricket fanatics would prefer a healthy balance between bat and the ball lasting for five days, which is the real essence of Test cricket: testing the players for all five days of the game.
With the Indore pitch being rated "poor" by the ICC, the pitch curators and management will be under pressure with respect to the upcoming pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which is already under the scanner for not even producing a single 5-day completed game ever since its inception. With Gen Z being fast-forward, the continuous application of Bazball tactics by England, and more T20 and T10 cricket fledgling around the world, will it just be a matter of time before 5-day Test matches are quarantined in the history books and probably 4-day Test matches can be a new thing to keep Test cricket alive? Maybe or maybe not. Whatever the ICC decides, it is sure to make the game move faster than in slow motion, and that is what the future generation of cricketers and spectators would want.
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