India, June 15 -- The World Test Championship final was great because it had compelling cricket, serious bat versus ball stuff, not the mindless bat-bat slaughter of T20s. Bowlers called the shots, and this time the batsmen, asked 'out of syllabus' questions, were running scared.

Openers from both sides made zeroes while Mitchell Starc the No.9 scored an unbeaten 58 - lasting 136 balls, longer than the top five batsmen put together. This was red-ball cricket gold, not fake white-ball slog contests we are used to. The languid subtlety of cricket in the WTC final highlighted the crudity of the shorter format. After the first four overs no runs were scored, and the tense inactivity was far more thrilling than watching 75 smashed in a 6-over...