In Numbers: Are Test matches getting shorter in India?

At the start of the introduction of Test matches, the traditional format of the game, it was played in three days. This remained the case in England and Australia, the two teams involved at the onset of the game, for the first 50 years.

From 1930, the Ashes – a series between England and Australia – played in England had 4-day Tests while the other teams played 3-day matches. From 1948, the Ashes consisted of 5-day matches. Even by 1949, England had 3-day Tests. From 1950 onwards, a day was added.

Pakistan have alternated between four and five day Tests. New Zealand has had three, four and five-day Test matches. West Indies have had four, five, six and “timeless” Tests. South Africa had three-day Tests and then moved to four-day Tests in 1906 and five-day Tests in 1910. They moved back to four-day Tests in 1914, and a “timeless” decider Test. Finally, in 1957, they stuck to five-day Tests.

“Timeless” Test refers to the longest format of the game where an outcome is necessary – win/loss or a tie – and number of days or overs is not a deterrent.

Over 81% of the Test matches in history have been played over five days. The other 19% have had durations ranging between three days to ‘timeless’. In 2017, South Africa and Zimbabwe played a four-day Test in Port Elizabeth which finished inside two days with Proteas winning by an innings and 120 runs.

In 1933-34, India played Test matches at home of four days duration. Then it moved to five-days for a while and went back to 4-day Tests in 1952. Since then, the country has played five day Test matches.

Most recently, both the Test matches between India and England, played in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, finished inside four days with the second drawing to a close after the lunch break. England won the opener by 28 runs with the fourth day’s play extended after India went nine wickets down. In the second Test, India won by 106 runs as the Ben Stokes-led team folded in their chase of 399 runs.

A Test match concluding before even entering the fifth day’s play is not rare anymore in India. In the last five years, there have been just three Test matches that have gone the distance. In 2019, India beat South Africa by 203 runs in Visakhapatnam in five days. Then India lost to England by 227 runs in Chennai in 2021 and the latest contest to go the full mile was the draw between India and Australia in Ahmedabad in November 2021.

As far as shortest Test matches is concerned, 10 Tests have concluded in just two days this century with India hosting two of them. The remaining have been split between England (1), Pakistan (1, played in UAE), South Africa (3), Zimbabwe (1), Afghanistan (1), Australia (1).

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Indore, Eden Gardens (Kolkata), Mohali, Bengaluru, Nagpur and Delhi have all seen the shortest Test matches in India in the last five years.

Of these, only Indore’s Holkar Stadium has hosted a Test match more than once. Both the matches in Indore, India vs Bangladesh in November 2019 and India vs Australia in March 2023, finished in three days.

Ahmedabad has hosted the most number of Test matches in India in the last five years (3). The average length of a contest at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium is 3.33 days. Since 2019, India have won two and one finished in a draw in matches played at Ahmedabad. India beat England by 10 wickets in February 2021 followed by an innings and 25 runs demolition of the same team a fortnight later.

Australia and India played out a high-scoring draw in March last year in Ahmedabad. Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli all scored centuries while bowlers toiled.

The India vs England clashes finished in two and three days respectively while India vs Australia stretched the whole five days.

Average Test match length – in the world

Test matches played in India are finishing earlier than those played in other big countries. Where matches in India are averaging 3.68 days, South Africa sees only a slight increase at 3.88 days.

Australia (4 days), West Indies (4.25), New Zealand (4.26), England (4.48), Sri Lanka (4.52) and Pakistan (4.69) follow right after in match durations.

It bears mentioning that a lot of factors go into the length of a match: sheer dominance of hosts, quality of visiting opposition, weather conditions, number of matches to name just a few.

England have played the most number of home matches in the last five years (31). They’ve twice hosted the Ashes in this duration which means 10 Test matches besides playing five matches against India.

Australia (24) have played the second-most since February 2019 followed by India (19), New Zealand (19), South Africa (18), Sri Lanka (17), West Indies (16) and Pakistan (13).