CHENNAI: While India may have recorded their biggest ever Test win — an innings and 300 runs — the self-confessed Test cricket fan in former Australian bowling great Glenn McGrath although impressed by the win may not be satisfied with the match ending in three days.
He believes that Test cricket should be a good contest between bat and the ball and last five days. "It feels good that India had an innings victory over Afghanistan. But I am not happy that the match got over in three days. To me, Test cricket should be played over a period of five days. Playing on a fifth day wicket is a challenge for both the batter and bowler. That is the ultimate test of character of a player and determines his quality," said McGrath, who is in Chennai as Director of coaching of MRF Pace Foundation to coach aspiring fast bowlers with chief coach M Senthilnathan.
He believed that Test cricket should not be tinkered with, contrary to a few people who advocate four-day test matches.
"I am aware that in recent times many Tests were over in less than five days. As I said earlier, to me Test cricket should be played over a period of five days. You already have two shorter versions of the game, so why tinker with Test cricket," he opined.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made head turns in the year's IPL by bagging the Orange Cap and making it to the India T20I squad on its tour of England and Ireland.
Vaibhav has been extraordinary in the IPL carting experienced bowlers all over the park, with the highlight being hitting three consecutive sixes off Australia captain Pat Cummins.
"It is nice to see the kid play the way he did in the IPL. I've heard a few different things. He's got that back lift and obviously, he is a powerful hitter. So yeah, (he has) definitely changed the game. I'll be interested to see if they start finding ways to bolster him.
“But he was unbelievable, wasn't he? A guy who's 15, he looks strong. I think this only happens in India or the sub-continent. In Australia, I can't see a 15-year-old playing," he complimented.
But many in the cricketing circles that the teenager should prove his worth in Test cricket. McGrath, for one, believes that players know the importance of red-ball cricket. “I think the game is different these days. I like to think players will look after Test cricket and it's still the ultimate. But there's some players that probably don't want to play a longer version of the game. You look at Tim David for Australia, came through, played IPL before he played for Australia. Maybe that's just the modern game. You'd have to ask him (Vaibhav) whether he has aspirations of going on to play red ball cricket, Test cricket for India," said McGrath.
With Sooryavanshi coming in, the selection for the upcoming series was big for another reason. Suryakumar Yadav was dropped from the squad, and Shreyas Iyer was made the new T20I captain. McGrath, refusing to comment on the captaincy change, said that captains have a big role.
I am a big fan when captains lead by example. The captains I played under back in Australia, they did that. In the business world, there is a thing called culture. And the culture starts from the top. The captain and the senior players, they set the culture for the team. If the captain is out there setting the standard, It is very much do as I do. Not do as I say. So I think every senior player should be setting a really good example. And the young guys coming into the team, feel part of it. Watch how they go about it," opined McGrath.
McGrath came to Chennai a happy man, knowing that two of the products from the academy — Sakib Hussain and Praful Hinge — have dazzled for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.
"I was very impressed with all of them. Sakib played a lot of games and took some good wickets. For Praful to start three wickets in your first over, it doesn't get much better than that, does it? But he got a lot of game time as well. And then you had Eshan Malinga who came and spent time here (MRF) from Sri Lanka. So to have the three boys consistently playing well in Sunrisers team, I was very proud of them," McGrath signed off
