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This was a day for purists to rejoice and fans around the world to revel in the knowledge that Test cricket remains capable of the most compelling drama in sport.
Unfortunately, all that was good about the longest format was confined to Christchurch and New Zealand’s epic final-ball win over Sri Lanka; the parallel match between India and Australia in Ahmedabad, meanwhile, provided a timely reminder that the greatest threat to Test cricket is itself.
When matches of such high-octane drama as the previous three Tests of this Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and such thrilling finishes as the two most recent matches in New Zealand, are held so fresh in the memory, the dire, lifeless nature of the series finale, and a fifth day as mind-numbingly dull as the four preceding it, seem even more egregious in comparison.
Yes, the pitches provided in Nagpur, Delhi and Indore were widely criticised for being overly bowler-friendly; but this was the first offering for the series that truly disgraced the sport and those who tune in to watch it.
The score was at 2/175 off 78 overs before Steve Smith and Rohit Sharma opted to call things off at the earliest possible point; blessed relief for players, umpires, fans and those watching from around the world.
India, as it happens, claim the series 2-1, while Australia can head home with plenty of positives after a tour on which they got better with every passing match; by the end, though, so mind-numbing was the action on offer that you could be forgiven for not seeing it through to the final ball.
While Kane Williamson and Neil Wagner were hustling through for the winning bye in the lengthening shadows on the South Island, Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head were guiding Australia first to safety in the match, and then filling their boots with some of the easiest runs either of them will ever score at the highest level.
The first wicket, and one of only two for the day before Smith and Sharma put everyone out of their misery shortly after tea, to fall was that of nightwatchman Matt Kuhnemann. The fact he would have been reprieved had he and Head not been gun-shy about potentially wasting a challenge on a tailender tells you all you need to know about the risk posed to the batters at a time when conditions should be at their toughest.
Once more, it was all Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, two of the greatest spinners India have ever produced, could do to prevent the runs from flowing freely; Ashwin in particular will bowl many poorer spells for greater reward than the 20 overs that yielded 46 runs and the wicket of Kuhnemann in Australia’s second innings.
Steve Smith of Australia and Rohit Sharma of India shake hands to end the fourth Test. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
An injured Usman Khawaja, comfortably Australia’s premier batter this series, never even looked remotely like being required; the only close shout after Kuhnemann’s fall in the first session came when Head survived an LBW appeal off Ashwin thanks to an umpire’s call verdict on whether the ball would have hit the stumps.
Credit, however asterisked, must be given to the composure Head and Labuschagne showed at the crease throughout the day; with nothing to lose and everything to gain out of the day, a collapse reminiscent of England’s famous capitulation on an Adelaide Day 5 belter in the 2006/07 Ashes was simply never going to happen.
Head, for the most part, reigned in his usual attacking instincts to blunt the bowlers into submission; while more than half his runs were compiled in boundaries, they were drops in an ocean of patient defensive shots and leaves en route to a well-deserved maiden half-century in India.
It won’t be his last, though he will be furious to have fallen just ten runs short of a century, Axar Patel finding spin from somewhere to beat his attempted drive on the inside edge and splatter his stumps.
Labuschagne, too, seemed to have a point to prove after mustering just two on this abomination of a pitch in Australia’s first innings, gliding and punching his way to an effortless half-century, also his first of the series.
A thick Steve Smith edge eluded KS Bharat’s gloves to deny Patel a second wicket – and stop him doubling his series wicket tally within five minutes – but that would be the final moment of even remote interest for the match.
Labuschagne finished unbeaten on 63, Smith having eked his way to 10 from 59 balls. Neither innings served any purpose other than to mark slight increases on their impressive averages.
Here’s hoping the next Test between the two premier sides in the longest format, the World Test Championship final in June, will offer more interest. Then again, it could hardly get worse than the abomination in Ahmedabad.
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