T20 aggression eroding patience in Test cricket, says Harbhajan Singh

The relentless, shot-making aggression of the T20 era may have injected fresh energy into Test cricket, but it has also come at a cost: patience.

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh believes the younger generation of batters is increasingly losing the ability to occupy the crease for long stretches and build the mammoth innings that once defined the longest format.

In a podcast interview with PTI, Harbhajan lamented the dwindling frequency of marathon knocks and triple centuries, saying modern batters are often unwilling to grind through long spells at the crease.

“In this era of T20s, the current generation do not possess the requisite patience like batters of yesteryears,” Harbhajan said. “There are very few who can grind it out and score a 250 or 300 in an innings because if you play so many shots, there will always be a chance of getting dismissed.”

He pointed to a golden generation of Test batsmen who combined flamboyance with remarkable endurance. Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag and Matthew Hayden all produced triple centuries, while Lara famously went on to score an unbeaten 400. AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis, too, regularly turned long stays at the crease into colossal double centuries.

The rarity of such monumental innings today, Harbhajan argued, reflects the changing character of Test batting. Pakistan’s Azhar Ali was the last player to score a Test triple century before David Warner followed in 2019. England’s Harry Brook reached the landmark in 2024, while South Africa’s Wiaan Mulder did so in 2025.

Harbhajan, who made his India debut in 1998, recalled a time when Test cricket moved at a more measured rhythm. Six-hitting was a rarity, he said, but Australia began to challenge that convention in the early 2000s.

“From 2001, Aussies were the only team that would score quickly in Tests, ahead of its times,” he said, recalling how Australia routinely targeted 350 runs in a day while other teams were content with around 250.

As batting accelerated, bowling — particularly spin bowling — was forced to evolve. Harbhajan said spinners could no longer rely solely on traditional methods and had to develop new ways of disrupting aggressive batters.

“You got to come with a different plan and different mindset, how to stack up those dot balls and try to make him play a different shot,” he said.

He cited England’s Bazball approach as the latest manifestation of Test cricket’s accelerating tempo, with teams willing to chase extraordinary scoring rates even at the risk of collapsing spectacularly.

“If you look at how England play the Tests (Bazball), they are trying to score 500 in a day and in that bid you can also get out for 70 or 80,” he said.

Yet for all the evolution, Harbhajan said he still yearns for the uncertainty and suspense of the Test cricket of his playing days — matches that could remain delicately poised until the final session of the fifth day.

“I believe the charm of Test cricket was what we played back in the day. The match would go on for five days, and on the fifth day, you won’t know which team would win,” he said.

Harbhajan also attributed part of the changing mindset among young Indian cricketers to the extraordinary pull of the Indian Premier League. The lucrative T20 tournament, he said, offers a rapid route to fame, financial security and even an India call-up, making red-ball cricket less attractive to aspiring players.

“I believe focus has shifted a bit from red ball to white ball,” he said, pointing to the IPL’s ability to turn players into household names almost overnight.

He contrasted the current landscape with an earlier era when domestic cricketers could spend a decade chasing an India berth. Players such as Amol Muzumdar and Amarjeet Kaypee, he noted, accumulated mountains of runs but never managed to break into the national side.

The proliferation of three international formats, however, has widened the pathways to the Indian team.

“Now with three formats, you have more opportunity to play for India,” Harbhajan said, underscoring how dramatically the economics, incentives and rhythm of modern cricket have changed.

For Harbhajan, the challenge is not to resist that evolution but to ensure that the art of patience — the ability to weather spells of pressure, leave deliveries and build an innings brick by brick — does not disappear amid the relentless rush of modern cricket.

With PTI inputs