Road to Inaugural World Test Championship India and NZ

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Anupama Nair

www.mediaeyenews.com

Cricket is my favorite sport and for many in the British Commonwealth countries, as it was invented by the British, and became popular in the countries ruled by them. Test cricket is the form of the sport of cricket with the longest match duration i.e., five days and is considered the toughest, and true test of a batsman or bowler’s caliber for the entire five days. Each team plays two innings each, and the best wins… not always, you can drag a match to a boring draw too. In the long history of Test Cricket, for the first time, a World Test Championship will be held this year on June 18 – 22 between old rival India and… oops not Pakistan but our nemesis New Zealand. That is correct, New Zealand, always a thorn in India’s path. My memory takes me to the 2019 World Cup match between India and New Zealand and our shameful exit. I can remember, many more ICC tournaments, but that is like putting salt in my wounds. My dream is seeing Virat Kohli holding the coveted trophy. It is the venue England, famous for June rains, will it play spoilt sport, only time will tell. Cricket is controlled by the International Cricket Council (ICC), and each country has their own board. BCCI controls Indian cricket.

Now I am going take you down memory lane to the history of Test Cricket. India is country where cricket is very popular and cricketers are treated as Gods. Cricket is most popular in India and Pakistan. With the World Test Championship in June 2021, I thought I will take you on a journey on the cricket history in the Subcontinent. The movie Lagaan was a super hit because of the Cricket theme and villagers defeating the mighty British. The first officially recognized Test match took place between 15 and 19 March 1877 and was played between England and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Australia, with Aussies winning the match comfortably. In those days even United States and Canada played cricket.

Cricket was introduced to India by the British East India Company in the 18th Century. The first Cricket Club was established in 1792.  In 1848, the Parsi community in Bombay, formed the Oriental Cricket Club, the first cricket club to be established by the Indians. After slow beginnings, the Europeans eventually invited the Parsi’s to play a match in 1877. By 1912, people of all religions of Bombay played a quadrangular tournament with the Europeans every year. In the early 1900s, some Indians went on to play for the England cricket team. Some of these, such as Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Duleep Singh were greatly appreciated by the British and in 1911, an Indian team went on their first official tour of the British Isles, but only played English county teams and not in the England cricket team.

India's national cricket team did not play its first Test match until 25 June 1932 under the Captain C.K Naidu at Lord’s becoming the sixth team to be granted test cricket status. India hosted its first Test series in the year 1933. England was the visiting team that played 2 Tests in Bombay and Calcutta. The visitors easily won the series 2–0. The Indian team continued to improve throughout the 1930s and 40s but did not achieve an international victory during this period. In the early 1940s, India didn't play any Test Cricket due to the War. The team's first series as an independent country was in late 1947 against Sir Donald Bradman's Invincible (a name given to the Australian team then). It was also the first Test series India played against a different opponent. Australia won the 5-match series 4–0, with Bradman tormenting the Indian bowling in his final Australian summer. India subsequently played their first Test series at home, but against the West Indies in 1948. West Indies won the  5-Test series 1–0.  India recorded their first Test victory, in their 24th match, against England at Madras in 1952, which was a great achievement for a newly independent India.

In its first fifty years of international cricket, India was one of the weaker teams, winning only 35 of the first 196 Test matches it played. The team, however, gained strength in the 1970s with the emergence of players such as batsmen Gavaskar, Vishwanath, Kapil Dev and the spin bowler’s like Bedi and Prasanna and Chandrashekar.

India maintained their unbeaten home record against Australia in Test series after victory in 2001. The series is ever there in our minds and all Indians remember the match with pride. The series was famous for the Kolkata Test match, in which India became only the third team in the history of Test Cricket to win a Test match after “following on”. Australian Captain Steve Waugh labelled India as the "Final Frontier" because of his side's inability to win a Test series in India. Victory was only possible due to epic innings of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman and great bowling of Harbajan Singh. Victory in 2001 against the Australians marked the beginning of a dream run for India till now, winning Test series in Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Pakistan and Australia. Only South Africa, England  and New Zealand are the “final frontiers”. We will soon conquer that peak too any time.

Now there are twelve Test playing countries recognized by ICC – England (1877), Australia (1877), South Africa (1889 and banned later because of Apartheid and later in 1992), West Indies (1928), New Zealand (1930), India (1932), Pakistan (1952), Sri Lanka (1982), Zimbabwe (1992), Bangladesh (2000), Ireland and Afghanistan (2018). India currently tops the Test table with New Zealand and England following closely.

There is a common perception that Test cricket may be losing popularity, particularly in the face of the advent of  One Day International (ODI), and the wham bam T20. Pink Ball Test matches have been floated as one way to address this problem. India has won two of her three Pink Ball Tests played, the only loss to Australia in the infamous 32 all out, in Adelaide. However, this fall in popularity has been disputed, with the famous Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) poll showing that 86% of all cricket fans support Test cricket, more than any other format. This is a great sign for Test Cricket.

There has been no World Cup for Test cricket conducted ever. However, a league competition for Test cricket began in  the period 2019-2021. The schedule for this Championship is a set of typical bilateral series in various countries, where one team is the host and other team is the visitor. The length of each series varies between two and five match series. Ireland, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan are not competing in this competition. India leads the World Test Championship table, with New Zealand in the second spot.

In the next part I will be talking about the World Test Championship journey of  India and New Zealand. All the best India.

(To be continued….)

 

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