This Delicious Anticipation...

The start of a Test series always leaves me a little breathless with anticipation. More so if it involves India. I might sound like an old fogey well past his use-by date but, here you go - I love Test cricket, and while one day cricket is always enjoyable to watch and even more fun to play, there is nothing that beats the sheer joy of sitting and watching five days of Test cricket.

On the eve of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka at Chennai, Cyclone Baaz threatens to dampen that enthusiasm a bit. But, only a bit. After ten days of watching powerplays and last ten overs and typical one day fun, the Real Stuff is here. And if you want to find out just why I love Test cricket, then you can.....

Flashback time. July 2005, the start of the Ashes. I remember hurrying home to catch the final session, refusing to step out of the house on Saturday or Sunday evening, in short, becoming a couch potato. By the time of the final Test, my wife was convinced that I had lost it. "But India aren't even playing", she kept repeating, a little perplexed. "This is England and Australia, for Gods' Sake!"

Enough has been written about that stunning series, so I shall be brief. While watching Day 5 of the Second Test, which England finally won by two runs, my palms were sweaty, my mouth was dry, and I refused to touch a single button on the remote control. Ditto for the Third and Fourth Tests. As for the Final Test, I rushed home early, wondered what Australia was thinking when they went off the field for bad light, and watched as England collapsed in their second innings until Pietersen rescued them. I am now wating for the DVD to be available on Indian shores.

For those who haven't got it yet, Test cricket is such a joy to watch because of the endless possibilities it offers. No fielding restrictions, no Powerplay, and most important of all, no time or 10-overs-per-bowler constraints. It's all about the patience, the waiting, and for me, the watching. It's about watching cricketers playing to their strengths, about not being forced to play a horrendous shot or attempt a desperate, last-ditch hat-trick.

It's about watching McGrath run in to bowl to Strauss, and seeing how well Strauss can keep him at bay, knowing that there will be no change of bowlers in the 13th over. It's about watching Kaneria bowl over after over to Sehwag, praying that Viru wont try an atrocious shot and get caught in the deep, yet secretly hoping that he WILL try that atrocious shot and send it into the crowd. It's about watching the Indian batting line-up face 40 overs of Murali in a day, wondering whether he will run through the side, or whether he will need to slowly chip away at their resistance.

And it's about comebacks and struggles, about domination and about grit. In a one-dayer, 50 for 4 means just that- 50 for 4. You can expect a final score of between 220 and 240, at best. In a Test match, watching a team claw out of that position and get to 500 sums up what sport is all about. In a one-dayer, one bad session, and its all over, the game has been reduced to a formality. In a Test, you can mess up your first innings, get thrashed all over the park when you come out and bowl, and still have a wonderful second innings, still get yourself back into a position where you can save the match.

There can be no other sport where I have had more satisfaction in seeing my chosen team battle it out for a draw from a hopeless position against a strong team, than I have had in seeing my team trash a weaker side in three days. Whether it's been England against South Africa, Zimbabwe versus Bangladesh, India versus New Zealand, the thrill of seeing two equally matched teams fighting it out, or of seeing an underdog upset a fancied team, can leave you with a feeling of five days very well spent indeed.

It's also about watching your favorite cricketers, free of the constraints that come with one-dayers. Watching Dravid, Ponting and Laxman bat, unfettered by the pressures of a few more overs, watching as they grind the opposition down, then unleash a flurry of strokes that leaves you shaking your head in admiration...

Watching Shoaib, Harmison and Harbhajan bowl, bowl, bowl, watching them work on the batsmans' mind, slowly play on the uncertainties, then lead the batsman into making the one fatal mistake that made the waiting worth it.....

Somehow, there is never the same sense of anticipation at the start of a one-day series. Test cricket can bring out all the myriad possibilites of cricket - the "glorious uncertainties of the game" that hundreds of newspaper columns have written about. India and Sri Lanka should not disappoint. A thrilling series it promises to be...Happy Days, it seems, are here again...