India, pitches, and 3-day test matches Indian pitches have been the talk of the town recently, with the country losing a game at home for only the second time since 2018. Australia crushed India towards 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 3-day test match, with India being on the receiving end for a change. Since the Western Media have been worried more about the pitch than any damn thing in the world.
Analyzing TEST matches in India:
There is no smoke without fire. But is the smoke alarming enough to start a fire? As the world around India is unable to fathom India’s dominance at home and quite conveniently finds reasons to sway away from the embarrassing defeats, But are the conditions too spin-friendly? Is there even a balance between bat and ball? Let’s figure that out. Since 2018, India has played 19 test matches at home, with only 3 test matches lasting for 5 days. About 73.7 percent of matches ended within 4 days, with a whopping 63.2% (12) of matches ending inside of 3 days. There were two such test matches that ended within two days.
No.of days - Lasted | No of matches |
3 day | 10 |
4 day | 4 |
5 day | 3 |
2 day | 2 |
Grand Total | 19 |
Who is to be blamed? Groundsmen, BCCI, or the Captain?
With the pressure of the World Test Championship, every test match played, home or away, becomes even more crucial than before. Losing or even drawing a single test match impacts the overall point system and the percentile logic used for the WTC grading system. This is not just in India, but in all the countries around the globe. The captains and the 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, 4 stadiums, namely Narendra Modi Stadium, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Holkar Cricket Stadium, and MA Chidambaram Stadium, have hosted more than 1 test match in the said timeline. No stadium, except for MA Chidambaram, was able to withstand the matches for more than 3 days. With Chepauk winning the bragging rights with one four-day and one fully completed test match, The only other stadium whose pitch was good enough to produce a battle for all five days was the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. Below is a pictorial representation of the matches played in each of the 15 venues and the number of days they lasted.
| No. of days play lasted |
Stadium | 2 day | 3 day | 4 day | 5 day | Grand Total |
Narendra Modi Stadium | 1 | 1 | | | 2 |
M Chinnaswamy Stadium | 1 | 1 | | | 2 |
Holkar Cricket Stadium | | 2 | | | 2 |
MA Chidambaram Stadium | | | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium | | 1 | | | 1 |
Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy Cricket Stadium | | | | 1 | 1 |
Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium | | 1 | | | 1 |
JSCA International Stadium Complex | | | 1 | | 1 |
Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium | | 1 | | | 1 |
Eden Gardens | | 1 | | | 1 |
Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium | | 1 | | | 1 |
Arun Jaitley Stadium | | 1 | | | 1 |
Wankhede Stadium | | | 1 | | 1 |
Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium | | | 1 | | 1 |
Green Park | | | | 1 | 1 |
Grand Total | 2 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 19 |
Are 5-day test matches a thing of the past? What do the fans want?
In a way, the test matches getting finished inside of 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 were anticipated with the 4th and 5th day more often than not being weekend days. When asked about the pitches and 3-day test matches, Indian captain Rohit Sharma had a witty reply: "Pakistan wala boring matches hua 5 din ka, 3 din me khatam hua – Wo quote daldo please"
While the Indian 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 the 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 genZ being fast-forward and more T20 and T10 cricket developing 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.