Five-day matches felt like relics....until Old Trafford happened

I thought I was done with Test cricket. Years of reporting and watching one-dayers and T20s had conditioned me for quick results and instant drama. Five-day matches felt like relics....until Old Trafford happened.After decades, I sat through every live telecast session of the fourth Test. What unfolded wasn’t just a game; it was a reminder of why Test cricket still matters. On the scorecard, it’s a draw. In spirit, it was India’s victory.It didn’t start that way. India were two wickets gone without a single run on the board. The match felt ready to slide into an England win. Instead, it became the moment India dug in. Much criticised captain Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar scored centuries that were less about numbers and more about defiance. KL Rahul’s gritty 90 only deepened England’s frustration. Ball after ball, over after over, India pulled the match away from the brink and turned it into a contest England couldn’t control.Ben Stokes tried. When the result became obvious, he offered an early handshake, a captain’s shortcut. Jadeja and Sundar said no. They wanted to finish what they started. Stokes didn’t hide his irritation. The headshakes, the stump-mic line: “If you really wanted to score a century, you should have batted like you wanted to get it” and the decision to hand the ball to part-timers Harry Brook and Joe Root, looked more like petulance than tactics.Nasser Hussain called that move “silly.” I call it telling. England wanted closure. India wanted pride.I began this match as someone who thought Tests had lost their place. I ended it remembering why they never will.

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