Ben Stokes, the tall and strong English allrounder , pitched
the third ball of the 82nd over on a good length, which moved into Shafiul
Islam after pitching and hit his front pad. Stokes and England appealed. The
on-field umpire, Kumar Dharmasena, who had a wretched time in the middle
throughout the Test match, raised his finger as he thought, Shafiul was not
offering a shot.
Bangladesh reviewed, but the decision of the on-field umpire
was upheld and thus, it brought an end to one of the most memorable Test
matches of this year.
What a Test match it had been! It was full of eventful
moments, well-orchestrated fight backs, exhibition of high profile all round
capabilities of two of the best allrounders in the world at the moment, the
story of two outstanding debutants – Sabbir Rahman and Mehedi Hasan, who gave
the impression to everyone, they are the next big things not only in Bangladesh,
but also for world cricket, and of course, the track without which, the story
of Chittagong would not have been a part of Test cricket’s folklore.
The
Chittagong deck
According
to the modern day cricket experts, the definition of a good pitch is all about
the ball coming into the bat nicely and scoring runs in plenty with little on
offer for the bowlers. Such decks help to rearrange a batsman’s statistical
achievement, but at the end of the day, Test cricket suffers a lot either due
to dull draws or heavily one-sided contests.
The
real charm of Test matches gets killed and thus, sow the seeds of doubts about
the future of Test cricket and allow some so-called modern experts to sing the
song about the death of Test cricket.
Meanwhile,
the tracks which offer a bit for the bowlers and tests the batters, are termed
as not ideal for Test cricket by the modern day experts. Such an opinion does
leave one astonished. If one looks back at the story of the most exciting
finishes in the history Test cricket, it was the ‘not ideal’ tracks and the
bowlers hugely responsible for dishing out stories which became invaluable for
the cricket writers and fans.
If
I need to pick up the most important factor behind the epic clash at
Chittagong, then, I would definitely vouch for the deck. From a modern day
perspective, it was not an ideal deck and I must say, Test cricket was lucky to
have such.
The
track offered bounce on which the new ball bowlers were able to cash in and so
were the spinners. As the day progressed, the track started to slow down, but
not to a greater extent. The bounce varied and thus, created doubts in the
minds of the batsmen. The spinners enjoyed bowling while, the English pacers,
who are well-equipped to move the old ball, cashed in big time on this track.
Neither
was it a minefield for the batsmen. It didn’t offer any scope to exhibit
free-flowing strokeplay, but it wanted the batsmen to play the ball according
to their merit. It wanted the batsmen to play the ball late and getting behind
the line of the ball against the spinners and limited the batters from playing
the pacers by getting towards the side of the ball. A bit of a gap between the
bat and pad proved fatal and there was no place for sloppy foot-work .
The
track helped us to enjoy the ebbs and flows of Test match cricket. It cut short
the urge to exhibit crazy stroke-play and forced the batsmen to infuse composure
and exhibit appropriate shot selections. For a single moment, dullness didn’t
intervene at Chittagong and kept the spectators on the edge throughout the four
and half intriguing days of Test match cricket.
Moreover,
due to this track, the Bangladeshi cricket followers could understand the value
of leaving the ball, occupying the crease and the importance of maneuvering the
strike in a 5-day game.
The
Bangladeshis love to relish boundary-based batting, but in Chittagong, they
cheered when Sabbir took singles and twos, Mushfiq left the ball and Tamim
Iqbal invested less faith in big shots. At the other end, they didn’t mind when
the English batters hit big shots, but felt beaten, when Jonny Bairstow and Ben
Stokes rotated the strike freely during that all important partnership in the
third innings.
Few
months back, Sachin Tendulkar said, “The wickets need to change; they need to
be more helpful for bowlers. In T20s, the greatest of bowlers are being
reverse-swept. Three-hundred is no longer competitive in ODIs. So there should
be at least one format where bowlers have a better chance of executing their
skills and making it more interesting for spectators”.
Words
of wisdom from the great man and one must not forget, in any format of the
game, if the bowling has the upper hand, the contest becomes simmering. And if
the bowlers are needed to make the contest a gripping one, the track has to be
a sporting one.
The
Bangladeshi curators prepared a fantastic track which enriched Test cricket a
lot and for the survival of Test cricket, such tracks are a must.
Note: This article was published at Sportskeeda on 24/10/2015 How the track at Chittagong made the Bangladesh and England battle enthralling
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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