Over a span of 24 hours, cricket’s ray of hope travelled 8,013 kilometres from Leeds to Dhaka. It was time for the minnows to bask in the limelight while the established hierarchy shook. There was much to savour for the game’s followers, be it the nostalgia-seekers obsessing about the West Indies or the raucous Bangladeshi fans who believe that their team is second to none.
On August 29 at Headingley in Leeds, the West Indies, chasing 322 in the second Test’s fourth innings, accomplished the task with five wickets to spare. The contest’s hero Shai Hope followed his first-innings 147 with an outstanding unbeaten 118. It was enough to deflate England and engineer visions of the great West Indian revival, a pet project for those living in the archipelago, also the eternal dream of innumerable world-wide worshippers of the fast and furious men of the 1970s and ’80s.
A day later, Bangladesh stunned Australia at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, a Dhaka suburb. Shakib Al Hasan’s all-round excellence (a first-innings 84 and a match-haul of 10 for 153) unhinged Steve Smith’s men, who despite David Warner’s excellent century, lost the clash by 20 runs while chasing 265.
If for the West Indies, the script is always about trying to reclaim lost glory, for Bangladesh, it is about the urge to prove that the baby steps are over and it is time for the long, assured stride.
The David vs Goliath tales at Leeds and Dhaka bequeathed a feel-good vibe to the game’s followers; it also altered – if only fleetingly – one of the existing perceptions about Test cricket. The sport’s longest format is largely seen as a skewed field where the ‘Big Four’ – India, Australia, England and South Africa – operate at a level far superior to the rest. There have been demands for a two-tier set-up in which the leading quartet play each other more often and get better broadcast revenues.
There is no denying that the gaps between Test-playing nations have widened, and one-sided games ending on the fourth day seem to be the norm. The recent series between India and Sri Lanka in the Emerald Isle is an obvious example. The former dominated, the latter wilted, and the saga continues in the limited-over games!
Seen in that light, the triumphs by the West Indies and Bangladesh, even if they turn out to be an exception rather than the rule, are heartening. If results in Tests strictly live up to the strengths and flaws that opposing teams have on paper, then predictability creeps in, monopolies get built, and the fans might as well stay home and read a book, do the laundry or swig a beer.
Tests are an excruciating study of players and squads over multiple sessions. Often the stronger team will prevail, its dominance getting wider exhibition over five days, the rival’s weakness unable to escape the unrelenting scrutiny.
At the other end of the spectrum, ODIs and Twenty20s, because of their shortened nature, level the disparities. The abridged format masks errors, doesn’t allow the full flowering of known strengths, and with fielding restrictions in place, an underdog can fancy its chances. The West Indies can win the ICC World Twenty20 and it has done that twice, a Bangladesh can be a banana-peel in global tournaments as it has shown, tripping India in the 2007 World Cup, but the two entities aren’t expected to replicate such acts in Tests.
And that makes the upswing in the fortunes at Leeds and Dhaka all the more praise-worthy. Both teams withstood the rigours of five-day cricket, and in the months ahead, crowds across the world will expect lower-ranked outfits to spring surprises. For, the West Indies and Bangladesh have gifted the connoisseurs the audacity of hope. This unpredictability-quotient needs to heighten, and if the West Indies, Bangladesh and other teams can add to it, the longest format will hold its relevance. Add to it the slow spread of pink-ball Tests under lights, and you have another lodestone to attract fans and increase occupancy rates in stadiums.
When a dark-horse destroys set patterns and finishes ahead in Tests, the infinite grandeur it evokes dwarfs the blink-and-miss success stories of limited-over jousts. It’s also far more thrilling. The West Indies and Bangladesh proved it in two Tests that will be long remembered.