Test cricket is dead

When did you last take a train ride for the sheer pleasure of the journey? When did you last lie on the grass and stare at the clouds for half a winter’s day? When did you last spend a day at home watching movies back to back? What do these questions have to with cricket, you ask? Samar Halarnkar writes in the Hindustan Times that the world changed before we realised it, that it became flatter, and we started living 24/7/365. And that, in turn, has distracted us from Test cricket.

The purists may fume, and the experts may fulminate, but I believe Test cricket is ready to go the way of the Premier Padmini, the record player and the Bajaj Chetak. Everything that is iconic has a time, an era. After watching the frenetic energy, the raucous fans, the heady mix of modern glamour and cricket and the sheer number of T20 games this year, I am convinced that the era of Test cricket is nearly done.