I truly love Tests and ODIs almost equally, unlike plenty of snobs who fail to appreciate how good ODIs are to watch.
Why i love ODIs:
1) Beautiful three-act structure batsmen pretty much HAVE to follow to build an innings..
Act1: Get off to a flier, take some risks and build early momentum
Act 2: Play it safe in the middle overs,while not slowing the rate down too much
Act 3: Unleash hell
In tests its a much more methodical pace throughout and the mindset of the batsmen doesnt change quite as much as the innings progresses.
2) The 10-over-limit imposed on bowlers makes it fascinating to watch the captain decide whether to save his best bowlers for the death or bring them on to get a breakthough. In tests ideally your best bowler can pretty much bowl half your overs esp if its someone like Murali, or kumble, and the reason he's taken out of the attack is usually to give him a rest.
3) Huge pressure on the bowler as well as the batsmen due to the time constraint.Batsmen need to get going immediately without getting bogged down, bowlers can undo all the good work done by themselves and their teammates if they have just 1-2 bad overs, and have no time to undo their damage unlike in tests. Can be taken as a negative or a positive, but its undeniably good to watch.
4) Result guaranteed. I. Hate. Dull. Draws.
5) Tests are like Waqar Younis. When theyre good, theyre untouchable in terms of watchability. But when theyre bad, oh, god, they can be terrible. ODIs are like Wasim, never quite sinking to such terrible depths, but even at their peak, not quite reaching the heights of the greatest test matches. I can think of plenty of awful, awful test matches (Sri Lanka 900 vs India, for example), but even the worst ODIs are never quite as godawful to watch.
Love both tests and ODIs as they have a very nice ebb and flow to them, unlike T20s which are slam-bang-boom-done
Why i love ODIs:
1) Beautiful three-act structure batsmen pretty much HAVE to follow to build an innings..
Act1: Get off to a flier, take some risks and build early momentum
Act 2: Play it safe in the middle overs,while not slowing the rate down too much
Act 3: Unleash hell
In tests its a much more methodical pace throughout and the mindset of the batsmen doesnt change quite as much as the innings progresses.
2) The 10-over-limit imposed on bowlers makes it fascinating to watch the captain decide whether to save his best bowlers for the death or bring them on to get a breakthough. In tests ideally your best bowler can pretty much bowl half your overs esp if its someone like Murali, or kumble, and the reason he's taken out of the attack is usually to give him a rest.
3) Huge pressure on the bowler as well as the batsmen due to the time constraint.Batsmen need to get going immediately without getting bogged down, bowlers can undo all the good work done by themselves and their teammates if they have just 1-2 bad overs, and have no time to undo their damage unlike in tests. Can be taken as a negative or a positive, but its undeniably good to watch.
4) Result guaranteed. I. Hate. Dull. Draws.
5) Tests are like Waqar Younis. When theyre good, theyre untouchable in terms of watchability. But when theyre bad, oh, god, they can be terrible. ODIs are like Wasim, never quite sinking to such terrible depths, but even at their peak, not quite reaching the heights of the greatest test matches. I can think of plenty of awful, awful test matches (Sri Lanka 900 vs India, for example), but even the worst ODIs are never quite as godawful to watch.
Love both tests and ODIs as they have a very nice ebb and flow to them, unlike T20s which are slam-bang-boom-done