Test Cricket In Times Of Reels: Can Classical Format Withstand Need For Speed?

When I booked my train ticket for 26th December to go home for a winter break a month ago, I was imagining myself curled up inside a thick blanket watching a game that I have loved since childhood: winter mornings, Test cricket in Australia on screens, commentaries to my ears, comfort, and peace.

But things turned out to be otherwise. 20 wickets fell on the first day of the Boxing Day Test match between Australia and England, my train got late by 12 hours due to fog, and when I opened my phone to watch the next morning, Australia were losing wickets like pins. I had hoped that I would catch most of the second day of the Test in my bed at home but was stuck in the train with dodgy internet connection, buffering the live streaming to see a Test match wither away from everyone’s grasp.

The Test moved faster than my internet speed. Wickets kept falling, batters kept swinging, it felt like a T20 game in whites, and got over way before the train reached the station. I was devastated. The comfort of the yearly ritual was taken away.

For the rest of the day, I ended up doing what I dreaded the most, doom-scrolling reels. I felt empty and frustrated when I reached home, just like millions of cricket fans all over the world. The two-day Test match was termed ‘Tik-Tok cricket’. It was short. It was entertaining while it lasted, and it left people unfulfilled and scrolling for more.

Frenetic T20s Vs Slow Burn Of Tests

Speed characterizes the experience of cricket today. T20 is its fastest version and it is almost played with frenetic intensity throughout the match. The format not only exemplifies more runs in the shortest possible time, but also stresses on faster turnarounds between the games. The 50-over format, now a faded formula for minting money in cricket, allows for more moderation and strategy to compile runs than blind madness for hitting sixes. However, pitches for both the formats are mostly designed to suit high-scoring matches.

In contrast to white-ball cricket, a Test match allows for a slow burn. It attempts to bring a compelling contest between bat and ball, ideally over five days. It can be slowed down and accelerated according to the unfolding dynamics between the two teams, changing conditions of the pitch, and weather.

Permutations and combinations that affect the results of a match are varied, and the rich experience that it provides is close to the binge watching of a critically acclaimed TV show. It is a traditional format wherein people like to indulge in the fine arts of the game. It could be as compelling as the plot of a great novel or as boring and mundane as life.

There are surprises only if you allow yourself to immerse in the game like a day’s routine. The speed of the game, here, mixes with rhythms of life. It could be a stroll, bus or train, depending on the time of the day and situation of the game.

The dissatisfaction which the two-day Boxing Day Test brought among people — especially the Australian public — was largely due to the early finish to the match, which disrupted the normal routine of having Test cricket on in Australia when the calendar turns. Although the game was sped up and it brought great intensity and viewership, it finished too quickly for the public as well as for the business of sport. Cricket Australia cited financial losses due to the early finish to the match.

Many cricket commentators blamed the amount of grass left on the pitch as a trigger for the debacle. In 2024, the grass on the pitch was 3mm shorter than the 10mm left this time and the match between India and Australia turned out to be a classic. After the Ashes match, the curator said he left more grass because of the impending dry weather forecast for the last three days of the Test match. Alas, patience ran out among the players to even take the game into the third day.

Fading Art Of Test Batting

The cricketing public and pundits see this as a symptom of failure of contemporary batting, which lacks both the technical skills and patience to survive on difficult pitches. The influence of faster T20 games is also found to be one of the main reasons why Test matches in general have been finishing quickly in recent times.

International players play fewer first-class matches due to their busy cricket schedule, dominated by the demand to play more internationals and T20 leagues, and they don’t get to hone their skills to play Test cricket which could last long.

With the T20 format driving cricket economies all over the world, the future of Test cricket appears more fragile than ever. Due to such factors of precarity, the state of Test match cricket has now become an area of scrutiny as well as experimentation. It can’t afford to be boring.

Slow run rates, piles of runs with no results, and one-sided games have become intolerable and unsuitable for the business of the game. To infuse speed and excitement in the game, sometimes cricket pitches are spiced up. But the downside to such intervention is a game which finishes in two days; an outcome which is also not ideal. The speed of the game has to be accompanied with a healthy competition between the two sides, and meet the expectation of the fans of Test cricket and public in general.

Test cricket never had to live up to such parameters before. Not all Test cricket had to be exciting. But with the increasing competition with its shorter version and the volume of media entertainment in general, a Test match has to be a hit with people, otherwise it faces an endgame.

How To Hatch The Perfect Test

It has become very difficult to crack a successful Test match experience. The 2025 Test series between India and England proved to be a success because every match lasted five days and was competitive.

Everything went well in the series. The runs, advent of Shubman Gill as the new Indian Test captain, defiance of Ben Stokes, the close results, bowling spells, the fan engagement — both in the stadium and online. It was glorious when it was happening. Such instances are hard to come by because there are few Test teams that can constantly perform at the highest level, and even then, the storylines could fail to engage the fans.

Staging an entertaining Test has become akin to making a blockbuster which is also a hit with the critics. It is very hard to crack a successful formula. While franchise cricket (for now) can afford to be fast, short, exciting and forgettable — like a punch line of a comedy reel — Test cricket has to work out a new genre where the traditional aesthetics of five-day cricket are infused with contemporary ‘speed’ of the game.

Speed here doesn’t mean having a game finish in a shorter time; it means having a range of acceleration and deceleration in the game to add more intrigue and drama. It means that the game is constantly moving and able to engage the audience.

In 2024, the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne opened with debutant Sam Konstas reverse-scooping the world’s leading fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.

The third day of the match ended with Nitish Reddy’s exhilarating century, with ‘Pushpa’ and ‘Bahubali’ celebrations as his father cried in the stands. On the 5th day at tea, Australia needed 7 wickets and their win looked almost impossible but a careless shot by Rishabh Pant and a brilliant catch by Mitchell Marsh changed the complexion of the game.

Australia ran through India’s side to complete a classic victory in front of a 75,000-strong Melbourne crowd. The match had all the right ups and downs, exactly when it needed. It was a dream Test match; one that stayed in the memory of those who saw it.

This time, it was a fast and morale-boosting victory for England, who finally won a Test match in Australia after 2011, but it was not a very satisfactory way to win. It left people craving for more, as if they wanted a repeat of 2024. How does one consistently provide an experience which could be satisfactory to everyone, is a challenge which Test cricket faces today. I am afraid not even the great filmmaker Christopher Nolan can answer this question. The speed appears out of grasp for most of us.

Views expressed in the article are those of the author.