Martin Devlin: Test cricket is still the best form of cricket

OPINION:

Whoever said test cricket is dead or dying might need to check their own pulse instead.

This series just completed between India and Australia proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the longest form of the game is also still the number one form to watch.

The last overs in the last minutes of the last day of the last test with all four results still on the table? Sport does not get any better than that.

Add in all the bitterness and rancour of past encounters, combined with the third-test meltdown of Australian captain Tim Paine, and the recipe was simply irresistible.

Now, in deference to the 30-second attention span generation, for the first time I will admit that the influence of Twenty20 on this current crop of players is the main reason we saw such positive play and intent in that final, frenetic session Tuesday night.

The final session of the last test between Australia and India was a belter.

Sundar and Pant were utterly magnificent, both manipulating the strike and keeping the scoreboard ticking, pulling out the sort of unorthodox yet effective shots only learned and crafted from playing T20.

The skillsets on display were something rarely seen at that stage of a test match - temperament, confidence and a capability born of having to improvise.

Clearly obvious to all watching, that the hit-and-giggle version of the game can also positively influence its most conservative form.

And whoever thought anyone, particularly this one, would ever have said that?

The fact that India, without Kohli and losing seven others to injury, managed such a thrilling win was the icing on the cake.

Do the Australian cricketers even realise how much pleasure they give the rest of the sporting world every time they lose?

A truly amazing series that again proved the best cricket is still test cricket.