October 9 in Banglore where the first test match between India and Australia kicks off, will be the begening of the end of Indian test match cricket, and you can basically take my word for it. It breaks my heart as I am a purist and I derive teeming pleasures out of good test match cricket. A contest like India Vs Australia is mouth watering to say the least.

Test match cricket battles with shorter versions of the game on a per diem basis, and on a popularity scale ends up loosing 9 times out of 10. The explosion of T20 cricket has taken the world by storm and though it sounds like a dragging cliche, it is worth mentioning again. 6 million USD will be the prize money for the first cricket champions league that will be played in India this December. The tournament will last 7 days and the winner would have played just 5 games to win that money.  In comparison the prize money for English premier league football tournament is £9.7 million, which is of course about twice as much as 6 million USD. But the EPL is played for about 6 months and a team has to play 38 matches before winning that money. Well, the cricket champions league wins that hands down. I follow most sports around the world and I can tell you USD 6 million for 7 days is crazy money. It makes me happy as cricket has reached that elite financial status and has become a huge voice in world sport, but my question is where does that leave test match cricket? No other sport has a five day version, no other team sport can boast of such rich history, and surely no other team sport is played for so much pride and honor and almost no money.

The other part of problem is the age factor of the pure test players in the Indian side. Sachin, Saurav, Laxman, Dravid and Kumble are men which dreamt of playing test cricket for India during the days when they were learning their art. Sachin’s debut in Pakistan, Saurav and Dravid’s in England are few memories that make us believe that these men were born to play test match cricket. Can we say the same about Yuvraj or Kaif? No. And hence we will never be able to say this for Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina too because they are 3rd generation to Tendulkar and are most vulnerable to T20. The retirement of these players is not just about making way for another player anymore, its about making way for another form of sport. We love test match cricket because its fun to just see Sachin achieving greatness, or the wall defending a ball, or Laxman’s magic wrist work , or dada’s reaction to chin music, and jumbo wearing his heart on his sleeves. The emotions and drama’s that unfold over 5 days makes test match cricket life itself. The game will go on but it will never be the same again. Test match cricket is the soul, but ironically it will become a tool to make T20 look even better.

I will be glued to this contest and enjoy all it has to offer. This may be the last bit of serious cricket played in India ever. There is something about a sport on verge of extinction that makes you love the game even more. I hope for an Indian win but more than that I hope for Scorsese like drama.