Test Cricket- Alive every Ball

People- friends, family, classmates, colleagues, often ask me what is it about Test Cricket that excites me. I can't really explain it to them. To most of them, it is too dull, too slow, too long. I don't blame them entirely. What other sport lasts 5 days and still may end in a draw? It is almost a thing from another time, another era. It is almost as if to watch it, you have to time travel. Isn't time travel exciting?

An early August afternoon in Western India. Some rain on the outside. Perfect time to watch Test Cricket? If ever there was one, this was it. A small recap first. India is playing England in the First Test of a 5-match series.

They have done well on Day one, reducing England to 285/9. The hosts were 215/3. Root 80 not out, Bairstow 64 not out, together stitching an undefeated partnership of 103 runs. The session was slipping away from the hands of India. The match was slipping away. Was the series also slipping away, already? Demons of unsuccessful tours of the past.

Bairstow worked Ashwin to midwicket, wide of Virat Kohli. The batsmen took a single. Kohli was yet to get to the ball. Bairstow called for a second. Root responded positively. Kohli neared the ball. Slid. Picked it up. Had a shy at the stumps. All in one fluid motion. Ashwin thought of collecting the throw. Decided against it, wisely. Kohli's throw found its target.

The woodwork at the bowler's end had been disturbed. Root was walking back. The English captain had failed to convert a fifty into a hundred. Again. 27 times out of 40, in case you care.

Grounded. Root run out for 80.

The drooping Indian shoulders find some support. 20 balls later, Bairstow drags one on to his own stumps. Next over, Buttler plays Ashwin across the line and is hit on the pads. The umpire raises his finger, and Buttler walks off without a review. He knows. England 224/6. They limp on to 285/9 by stumps. They could have been 300/3. One slide, pick up and throw. They were 285/9.

Back to the rainy August afternoon in India. The drawing room is occupied, so will have to make do with the mobile and a dodgy internet connection. It takes 10 balls for India to clean up what remained of the English innings. 287 all out.

You don't judge a pitch until both sides have batted. And this is India in England. Out walk Vijay and Dhawan. I would have preferred Rahul in place of the Delhite, but oh well. The two begin carefully, but build on. No early wicket, India going strong at 50/0. This is going slow, but going well. India is doing well. Nerves are relaxed. I fall asleep.

India started strong and sturdy.

A couple of hours later, I wake up. Groggy eyed, I check the drawing room. All clear. The TV is switched on. India has doubled their score. 50 has become 100. 0 has become 5. I rub my eyes. Double check. Yep. India 100/5. Here we go. Again. Hardik Pandya batting on 0. They've just lost a wicket. At the bottom of the screen, I read, "Last man Karthik 0". They have just lost two wickets!

Kohli is on strike. 21 not out. That's 7.6 more than his average in the last Test Series he played in England. Good. Anderson has the ball. Oh boy! Anderson v Kohli! Jimmy had him 4 times, the last time around. The numbers favor Jimmy. India has just lost 2 wickets in quick succession. The situation favors Jimmy. The ball is nipping around. The conditions favor Jimmy. Game on!

Three leaves are followed by 2 defensive pushes from Kohli. He is almost through the over. Last ball. Anderson goes fuller. Outside off stump. Kohli goes forward. Isn't committed fully to going forward. Edges. Jennings at third slip, wearing a helmet. Yes, helmet- I am not groggy anymore.

Jennings dives, unnecessarily. The ball is headed towards Malan at second slip. Malan goes for it. The ball carries low in front of him. He spills it. I repeat, Malan spills it. Virat Kohli, dropped on 21. Stokes is upset. He isn't even the bowler. Malan curses. Did Jennings' dive distract him? Maybe. Doesn't matter. Kohli survives.

Butterfingers. David Malan put Kohli down when he was on 21.

Stokes returns in the next over. Hardik Pandya takes strike. He is still on 0. India is still on 100. The first ball, Stokes gets it to wobble off the seam. Hardik edges. Jennings has nothing to do with this one. Neither does Malan. This one is headed towards the first slip, towards Alastair Cook. The senior man drops it! The Indian batsmen steal a single. They move off the 100-run mark. 2 wickets, 2 drops, all on the same score.

India could have been 100/6. India could have been 100/7. India made 274. Kohli could have been gone for 21. Kohli made 149. The scorecard would have read "Kohli c Malan b Anderson 21." It instead has an entry of "Shami c Malan b Anderson 2".

Malan was relieved when he took that one. At least, he didn't drop Mohammad Shami. Oh, David Malan! 8 runs in the first innings and a dropped catch of Virat Kohli. This ain't the best time to be David Malan, is it? He will be back on the field tomorrow, with a bat in hand. This is Test Cricket. Second chances are a thing here.