Bangladesh Comes of Age in Tests; India Discovers One Drop Gem
Test cricket is not dying; it has merely become a tier of cricket that is preparation ground for learning the basics
As Test match cricket resumed, curiously in the southern winter, the greatest ever upset on Australian soil came Down Under with Bangladesh’s win in Darwin. It was the way the ninth ranked Bangladesh went about their job that was most impressive as they played Test cricket with the temperament and the patience required of batsmen and the thrust of pace and seam and the more leisurely and thoughtful art of spin expected from the bowlers.
This is an ageing Australian team, but which is still No. 1 in the Test rankings and to bring them down on their own soil, even if it be in the Northern Territories rather than the more traditional summer venues, was most creditable. Furthermore, the Bangladesh performance suggests a coming of age in Tests which is good for a team that has been in the mix for close to a quarter of a century in the longest format.
Test cricket is not dying; it has merely become a tier of cricket that is preparation ground for learning the basics. It may not seem glamorous anymore, but it is certainly useful as a feeder for the shorter formats. The Australians had become so accustomed to dominating it, especially at home, that it must have come as a shock because the cupboard also appears barren now even as the stars who have sustained it in the decades since the retirement of Shane Warne are struggling to sustain their brilliance in a team setting.
Winners of the Test pennant in 2023 who finished second best to an inspired South Africa in the fourth innings in 2025, Australia appear just that shade long in the tooth for others to believe they can be beaten in Test cricket, a form of the game they have always held in the highest esteem. If Australia cannot cover up the cracks quickly enough, the current Test championship cycle might seem more open than it was at the beginning of the year, with both final slots open.
India, which was lying fifth with scant hope of making it to the Test final, might have reason to celebrate as it appears to have found a solution to the No, 3 spot over which there had been doubts after Shubman Gill had become the last one to get a hundred at that spot and later dropped one rung as captain and fulcrum of the top order.
The success of Devdutt Padikkal at a critical spot offers more than hope though on one showing should be taken as conclusive proof that he is the Real McCoy for the spot. His success on getting back in throws light on the need to give greater importance to deeds in national first class cricket in which so many have been performing for so many seasons without quite attracting the eye of selectors and chief coach. The duo seems too fixated on the IPL brand of scatter bang cricket in which hitting is glamorised even more by making conditions favourable for sixes by playing y to shortened boundaries.
The Karnataka batsman proved that he has the temperament for the job as well as the technique to take on the turning ball by playing it late and off the back foot, using the length of the crease with his 6ft-3in frame with great effect, pouncing on shorter length with effective pulls and driving down the ground if the ball was up for it. Playing the higher bounce on sporting pitches might be a test he may be facing when India plays Tests in different conditions.
What we have seen of Padikkal so far has been extremely impressive, his thirst for runs in long innings, so typically drawn from the domestic first class game which offers much scope and space for them being a key facet. His success means there is cover in the event of any of India’s top-class openers in Jaiswal and KL Rahul failing. Seeing all of them bat so well in Galle makes one wonder how their batting had come apart in home series in which both New Zealand and South Africa blanked Team India.
The preponderance of IPL-style cricket may have damaged their defence so much batsmen need to concentrate to apply it again. The pitch at Galle offered a refresher course and the Indian top order grabbed the opportunity to show they can work their way back into Tests and none did it better than Padikkal and Rahul. There is enough cricket in the Test circuit to the 2027 final for Team India to feel that some confidence is back in the collective ability of the batsmen.
