In the cricketing world, the recent series of tests between Australia and India ended in remarkable ways in several ways. India won the series 2-1 and after 71 years scored the first victory of a test series on Australian soil. In individualistic terms, Indian player Cheteshwar Pujara repeated with his grueling game of how to play Test Cricket – with perseverance and tenacity that supported the players’ talents.
For the uninitiated, Test Cricket is the longest (and oldest) form of the game played over five sessions over three sessions. The playing conditions are very stressful and punishable – especially in Australia and the subcontinent under the blistering heat – just as they are difficult when the games are played in England or the Caribbean.
As the name implies, the format ideally tested the players to outsmart their opponents, play ball by ball, and then play to see if they could draw, rather than achieve a direct victory. On the other hand, a draw would mean defeating a defeat to preserve the hopes and even the dignity of the team.
However, in recent years, the importance of Test Cricket has been undermined by the call for fast cricket, which has required a change where only one-sided results – be it profit or loss – were significant. Also, the newer genre of players fed on this demand for faster cricket chose to present lightning and flames instead of showing finesse and effort to build their repertoire of test cricket.
In tennis, five-set games can be considered the test cricket equivalent of the longest form of the game, requiring tactical ingenuity, patience and perseverance. In all these years, the openness to the continuity of the format has constantly changed, so that adjustments had to be made in order to seemingly reconcile with time constraints.
Whether it be to change the Best of Five final of the Masters in Best of Three, or to draw in the majors’ first four sets, or to develop concepts such as Best of Four.
Game sets or the recent theme of the introduction of draws in the fifth set in two of the four majors – and for three of the four majors have room to give their own interpretation of the enforcement of the draw – the influx of new – The existing was an evolutionary process , This will remove the new generation of sports audiences from their quintessence.
Keep in mind that with all the push for best-of-three set matches that save time, some of the most memorable matches that appeared at the Australian Open 2019 have come to the best of five sets.
In the first five days of the event, around 20 games were played in five sets, with each outcome outweighing the others in its qualitative appeal – even Polish qualifier Kamil Majchrzak, who dropped out of fifth set in the fifth set to Kei Nishikori in the opening set.
These results also raise the inevitable question of whether players are able to dig deep into themselves to find their composure, and the emotional and tactical tool to win would be possible without margins?
If not, we would not have seen any epic comebacks when two took place, not just at the current Australian Open – like Marin Cilic vs. Fernando Verdasco or Alex Bolt vs. Gilles Simon – but all the other majors and even at the ( now deceased) Davis Cup.
More importantly, however, the younger generation’s best-of-five format also serves as a reality test against their aspirations and ambitions. You can be touted as a player to advance the game – and the sport – with an individualistic game. But then it’s their ability to build a challenge in the longer format that stutters, although it can be relatively easier to exclude games in the shorter format.
And since this is the case, it is their mastery, their emotional and tactical situation that needs to be recalibrated and improved rather than having to change the sport to accommodate the so-called changing of the guard. And that may be the difference between the players of the past and the current harvest. The former, with their dominance, changed the way the results came about – with longer formats – while the latter sought tangible opportunities to ensure that they surpassed and surpassed what they had previously achieved.
Bringing one last time from cricket, which has a test cricket old-school representative in Pujara, maybe tennis, has similar mismatches in its ranks. They may be able to justify their heritage without trying to modify the game beyond the curse, without responding to the skepticism that comes their way.
