Is Test Cricket Becoming the Stock Market of Fast Returns?

 

Test Cricket in 2025

A Five-Day Format in a World Chasing Quick Results

Test cricket has always been regarded as the ultimate measure of a cricketer - not just of skill, but temperament, patience and endurance. Yet in 2025, the longest format has quietly entered a phase where matches rarely stretch to their full five-day design. Many now finish by the third or fourth day, and a fifth-day battle feels increasingly uncommon. Interestingly, this shift mirrors a trend in the world of investing: the preference for quick returns rather than long-term compounding.

For decades, the true investor believed in holding quality stocks, allowing them to grow steadily over time. Today, however, many market participants lean towards short-term trading - frequent buying and selling, rapid profits, instant excitement. Modern cricket reflects a similar shift. Today’s players are faster, stronger and highly conditioned to deliver impact in short bursts. Their training and mindset are aligned with formats where one explosive moment can change the result. The art of grinding through difficult phases, much like holding onto a stock through market volatility, is slowly disappearing.

Tactical discipline has evolved as well. Earlier, batters prided themselves on batting for hours, almost session by session, like investors sitting tight on long-term bets through market cycles. Bowlers worked patiently to wear out opponents, believing that pressure built over time creates breakthroughs. Now the philosophy is tilted towards aggression, high scoring rates, quick declarations, and attacking strategies from the first session. The result is undeniably entertaining, but it shortens the contest drastically.

Just as stock market participants increasingly gravitate toward fast-moving trades for quick returns, players and boards find the shorter formats far more lucrative. The pull of franchise cricket makes slow-burn Test matches less attractive, even if not openly acknowledged.

There was a time when Test cricket included a rest day, a pause to recover before resuming the five-day grind. That concept has faded away quietly, not because administrators removed it, but because Tests no longer demand the full stretch they once did.

Both worlds, cricket and investing, now celebrate instant gratification. But whether this shift will strengthen or hollow the foundations remains to be seen.

Only time will tell.

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