Recently, legendary Indian cricketer MS Dhoni praised the evolution of Test cricket towards an aggressive and result-orientated approach. At an event in Goa, Dhoni said cricket has changed a lot, and teams no longer settle for draws as they used to.
“People are playing cricket differently,” he said, adding that traditional safe scores in ODIs have gone out of the window in T20 cricket. Dhoni said that you have to give time to individuals; 'it does not happen overnight' and you need to adapt the strategies as per the team's strengths.
When he recalled his own experiences, Dhoni talked about the frustration of playing through draws, especially in a Test match when results were not looking likely on the final day.
"The most difficult time of a Test match for me was the fifth day of a match, the last day when you knew that 10 percent it was going to be a draw,' he said. That was the most tiring part, which I would still need to keep for nearly 2.5 sessions. You can see that nothing is happening; you’re just going through the motions. Yes, bowlers would want to take wickets, batters would want to score runs, but there is no result in the game. Why do I have to be here? You think let's finish this and go. That's why I enjoy the fact there's change in the way teams play Test cricket; I prefer the result being a bit more decisive.
Dhoni's thoughts echo the current trend in cricket, where teams now play to win rather than draw, and that's exactly what they do. And he ended by saying that draws are bad for the game and that the format should always be looking for results after five days of play.
