All the modernity of technology will be in attendance along side the nostalgia of 134 years of Test cricket during which 1999 Test matches have been played all round the world.

To make the event perfect, the Decision Review System (DTS) will be in place for the first time in Tests between India and England. But it will be sad if the match is allowed to end in a draw. How? Through voluntary abandonment of the game in the mandatory overs in the last hour on the final day.

One has also to go to the very genesis of this aberration in Test cricket. It pertains to a set of regulations that allow captains to freely decide to end Test matches abruptly despite fair weather and good light conditions prevailing.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has itself created a great contradiction by altering a couple of major rules. The first is amending the rules on mandatory overs. From 20 it has been brought down to 15 overs in the final hour of play. If that is realistic, the freedom given to rival captains to forfeit the same by mutual consent and call off play is not. It makes a mockery of the term “mandatory.” It is also directly in conflict with the rationale behind penalties for slow over-rate of the fielding side. How? Let us see.

Just take the third Test at Windsor Park in Dominica. What a fantastic situation had emerged, as if to reward the biggest crowd seen in the Caribbean for a Test match for almost two years. But the near-capacity crowd of 12,000 in a territory whose total population is just 60,000, did not get its just desserts.

Test cricket otherwise is crying for spectator support, even more so in the West Indies. Instead of attracting more people into the stadium, they are driving out the a few thousand who are die-hard followers of Test cricket by some ridiculous measures.

In Dominica, the match had entered the final session with the prospects of a thrilling finish that had India’s victory march challenged. But then, no one had visualized the anti-climax that was to follow.

The eager and joyous spectators, reveling with steel band, calypso, et al, was having a great time. But what wrong had they done to be denied the sight of a fitting finale of the match?

A peculiar ICC ruling prevented that from happening, as the captains put an end to their aspirations. Were the spectators, the cash-customers, not short-changed in the process?

As per the ICC rules, there are stringent penalties laid down for slow over-rate, that includes hefty fines and even future match suspension of the concerned captain. The reason: the spectators should not be denied the full quota of overs during an uninterrupted day’s play. How then does the ICC justify straight wiping off of 5 overs in a match that is pregnant with possibilities?

Is that not a grand paradox in itself promoted by the International Cricket Council?