Test Championship driving trend towards shorter matches

NEW DELHI : Planning a trip to see the fifth day of a test match anywhere in the world is a sign of unbridled optimism, but do so in India at the moment and you might find people questioning your sanity.

Each of the first three matches in India's series against Australia have ended inside three days with the hosts taking a 2-1 lead into the final match in Ahmedabad next week.

It reflects a wider, and not wholly unpopular, trend globally as five-day stalemates have given way to three days of frenetic action with a guaranteed outcome.

While playing a contest over five days and potentially ending in a draw has always been a source of amusement in non-cricketing nations, the length of a test has always been part of the attraction for devotees of the longest format.

Shortened tests are not an India-specific issue but nowhere has the trend been more evident than in the cricket-mad nation of 1.4 billion.

Of the last 15 tests played in India, only two reached day five.

Nine ended inside three days, including the 2021 Ahmedabad test which India won in two days against England on a pitch rated "average" by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The Indore surface, where 30 wickets tumbled in two days before Australia triumphed by nine wickets on Friday, has been slapped with three demerit points after being rated "poor" by the game's governing body.

The ICC does not think there is a problem with tests rarely lasting full five days in India, however.

"If it is an issue, it would have been raised by the ICC Men's Cricket Committee," an ICC spokesperson told Reuters.

India have defended rolling out rank turners to suit their spinners but former Australia batter Mark Waugh is among those who felt the Indore track was "not up to test