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 There
was this friend to whom I told the cricket score during the
India-Australia match at Gabba.
He
immediately asked me “Is it a Test match or an ODI.”
When I said Test, he shrugged off and said he wasn't very
interested.
This set me
thinking - Why is that people show more enthusiasm for a
one-day match rather than a five-day one? Why do people
gather in huge numbers before the TV screen for an ODI when
they just cannot sit for more than an hour during a Test?
Excitement.
There's your answer. ODI matches are full of excitement,
right from ball one. Rather, a Test match would be drab,
with batsmen defending themselves on the way to a draw,
bowlers bowling just for the sake of it.
 Yet,
the most famous incidents in cricket have taken place in
Test cricket, right from when it started in 1877. Some
famous incidents that immediately pop up are the 1987 tied
Test in Madras (it was called Madras that time round,
right?); more famous, Laxman's magical 281 that turned a
series around. Recently, the Hayden 380 that altered cricket
records all over the world and created history.
All these
moments in Test cricket are memory-etchers, they get
embedded in the mind. In contrast, the ODIs have been
exciting, yes, but the real cricket lies in the Tests.
The most
inspiring player of today, Steve Waugh, was an exceptional
Test player and captain. He holds a record of 40 wins in 54
Test matches and his batting is definitely great. The other
genius of this era, Sachin Tendulkar, has also been a
fascinating Test player though ODI's seem to be his forte.
You name
the cricketing greats, they've all done well in the Test
matches: Sunil Gavaskar, Desmond Haynes, Allan Border...
So which is
better? An ODI or a Test? A cool one day of cricket, or an
eventful five days of cricket?
Well, Test
cricket is like Kamal Hassan, ODI is like Rajnikanth. Take
your pick.
Srinivasa
Ramanujam
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