India now have five-Test series against the oldest cricket nations - the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, and the freshly named Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England. The ancient cricketing powers have the Ashes, which is the most mythologised rivalry in the game. And though the remainder of Test cricket has recently felt like merely the load-bearing structure that holds up this glamorous triple-pinnacle, there has emerged a force that is giving life to the unofficial second tier of Test nations.
The first day of play between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi made this clear, right at the toss. This match features four debutants from Pakistan, a brand new Test captain for Sri Lanka, three players (across both teams) playing their second Test, and five further on fewer than ten Test matches. Both sides are almost feverishly attempting to regenerate - to hone a new generation of Test cricketers even as this series is only just beginning. At this tier of Test cricket at least, the World Test Championship has begun to drive long-term strategy and planning.
In the current WTC cycle, both teams are essentially too low on the ladder to make a meaningful run for a finals spot. Pakistan have been moored to the bottom of the nine-team competition pretty much since the start of this cycle last year, having won two and lost seven Tests. Sri Lanka's current cycle has not been quite so bleak (aside from the scheduling nightmare of having gone 12 months without a Test), but with one win in six games, their chances of making the top two are also essentially over.
Where a decade ago, when these teams played each other often, a Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Test series would have been their own self-contained reward. Now each of these Tests serves a broader purpose. Independently, these teams have appeared to cut their losses for this cycle. They have made strategic decisions in service of the next WTC round, which does not begin until the middle of next year.
For Sri Lanka, Dhananjaya de Silva stepped down with half the ongoing cycle's fixtures still to play, for example, though he still earns a spot on the team for his batting. This is essentially to give Kusal Mendis a long run as leader before the next cycle begins. As wicketkeeper-batter and captain across formats now, the list of Mendis' responsibilities has exploded in the past two years, and Dhananjaya's earlier-than-expected exit will also allow selectors and team management to determine whether he can handle such a workload. Dhananjaya, at age 35, was unsure of sustaining his career until 2029, when the next cycle ends. Mendis, 31, appears to have hit a fresh level of maturity as a batter, and has a much higher chance of making it to 2029.
That Sri Lanka saw a green track overseas and strapped four seamers to the plough is also evidence of WTC-inspired thinking. The Sri Lanka of the 2010s would have scoffed at entering a Test without a specialist spinner, particularly against Pakistan. (To be fair, the Sri Lanka of that era had Rangana Herath, who tended to gobble up Pakistan top orders whole.) But in this match, they have picked three frontline seamers, a seam-bowling allrounder, and inserted the opposition team on a green surface.
If you're going to make a significant charge in the WTC, you have to win a series in SENA nations every now and then, rather than merely roasting oppositions on dry decks at home. To do that, battle-hardened seam bowlers are required. With left-armer Dilshan Madushanka playing his second Test, and allrounder Milan Rathnayaka appearing in his eighth, Sri Lanka are attempting to develop seam options for cycles to come.
Pakistan had the stronger first day of the two sides, finishing 281 for 5 at stumps. But they will be especially buoyed by having prospered despite having played two debutants in their top three - a huge risk in Test cricket. As it happened, 20-year-old Tayyab Arif drove beautifully square of the wicket on his way to 57 off 51, and Mohammad Taha ground his way to 51 off 105. Pakistan have also picked Arafat Minhas on limited-overs form, with right-arm seamer Sakib Khan also making his debut at age 31. There is a boldness to each of these calls that only makes sense within the context of having tanked this cycle of the WTC.
Aside from their very first Test year in 1952, Pakistan have never fielded 12 debutants in a calendar year until this one. Pakistan cricket is forever in flux, of course, but that its flux is going in this particular direction is worth noting. When three new cricketers - including two uncapped players - were added to the squad over the weekend, Babar Azam said outright that those decisions were down to WTC planning.
At times, Test cricket fans feel like it is more about status than performance and entertainment, which is why the WTC has had a cold reception in parts of the cricket world. But seven years in, its structure has begun to define Test cricket's contours.