 "India's dramatic victory over Bangladesh in Kanpur justifies existence of ICC's World Test Championship")
Test cricket appears to have changed forever. India’s dramatic seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in Kanpur on Tuesday proves just that.
Bangladesh had made a decent recovery on Day 1 after losing two early wickets, reaching 107/3 after 35 overs shortly after lunch when poor light forced the umpires to play. That was followed by a spell of heavy rain that resulted in stumps being called shortly after.
The next two days were washed out without a single ball bowled, thanks largely to thunderstorms over the weekend along with the poor drainage at Kanpur’s Green Park Stadium that did not allow play to restart quickly enough even when it was not raining.
When Bangladesh resumed their innings on Day 4, the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side would have been confident of batting the remainder of the day out and ending the Test series with a draw after losing the tour opener in Chennai by 280 runs.
Senior batter Mominul Haque, who has batting on 40 on Day 1 and did not get to add to his score over the next couple of days, did bring up his 13th Test hundred and in the process, became the only Bangladeshi batter to do achieve the feat in the entire series.
India would bowl the Bangladeshis out for 233, their innings coming to an end a few overs after lunch on Monday. However, with less than five sessions left in the game and just one innings having been completed at that point, completing a 2-0 sweep with a victory in Kanpur still appeared out of the Rohit Sharma-led home team’s reach.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIndia’s approach on last two days highlights WTC’s value
A game that was heading towards a draw would instead end in an Indian victory in the most dramatic fashion possible, highlighting the champions’ mentality of Rohit and Co.
The visiting team might call themselves the ‘Tigers’ but it is the Indian team who perhaps displayed apex predator-like killer instinct by going for the kill even when there barely was any time left in the game.
It’s not just the slam-bang T20 format whose rise to popularity in the second half of the 2000s and throughout the 2010s has revolutionised the classic five-day, red-ball format. ICC’s introduction of the World Test Championship in 2019, thereby bringing context to the oldest format by giving it a World Cup-like tournament, gave Test cricket additional context.
Long gone are the days when an entire Test series would end on a 0-0 stalemate and five-Test rubbers would have four games ending in a draw. The influence of T20 cricket, which also gave birth to England’s popular ‘Bazball’ style of play, as well as the introduction of the WTC has ensured draws are largely the result of erratic weather or when a team finds itself cornered and has no option but to stonewall its way to a stalemate.
Thanks to the WTC, which is in its third cycle at present, a team still has plenty to fight for even if they’re 0-2 down in a three-Test series, or 0-4 down in a five-Test series.
Even if a victory in that situation doesn’t help them win that series, it could play a major role in the road to the final and can at times turn out to be the difference between a place in the final and finishing third on the table.
India were virtually assured of a series win on Monday. But with three Tests against New Zealand coming up next followed by a marquee five-Test series in Australia starting November, the home team could not afford to take the Kanpur Test lightly.
The urgency shown by the Indian team in ensuring they finish among the top two for a third consecutive WTC cycle showed in the manner in which they racked up nearly 300 runs in a little over 30 overs, scoring at eight-runs an over — a run-rate that would result in a 400-plus total in an ODI and would be considered competitive in T20Is.
Analysis | Rohit’s daredevilry stands out in Kanpur victory as India continue to thrive under his leadership
After declaring on 285/9 in 34.4 overs, with Yashasvi Jaiswal smashing a 51-ball 72 and KL Rahul redeeming himself with a 43-ball 68 in the middle order, the bowling unit would run riot on the final day. Jasprit Bumrah (3/17) once again starred with the ball as the tourists were bundled out for a meagre 146 — Bangladesh’s lowest total in four innings, ensuring they failed to breach 250 even once in the series.
India were left with a target of less than 100, and another whirlwind fifty from Jaiswal ensured they got home in no time, completing what surely is among their greatest wins in the format.
With their victory in Kanpur, India remained firmly on top of the WTC table, collecting their eighth win in 11 outings that took their points percentage to 74.24 — well ahead of Australia (62.50) and Sri Lanka (55.56).
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