There’s an old saying in Test cricket, especially on the sub-continent—win the toss and bat first. If you think about bowling, think about it and still bat first! That adage may well be redundant in the modern game. In 2022, the results have been astonishingly skewed towards teams that batted second (and often fourth).

Pakistan’s epic fourth innings chase (July 20) in the opening Test at Galle was almost as convincing than England running down India with 378-3 at a run-rate of 4.93 per over at Edgbaston.  It was no outlier—only a month earlier, England humbled the current world champions NZ by chasing 279-5, 299-5 and 298-3 respectively, the slowest of them being at 3.5 RPO whilst the other two rocked along at almost 6.  That is truly unprecedented!