Yes it does feel like a bit of a PR-exercise for the Aussie team post sandpaper-gate but THE TEST still achieves something yet unseen in Cricket - it humanises the mechanics of the sport much like Masterchef humanised the mechanics of cooking.

It shows us vulnerable men. Thread/

There's a bit of manipulation in its grain when it frames Steve Smith's batting prowess against the booing he got for his unethical conduct. The way the team & the documentary celebrate his centuries as some sort of redemption is like completely (deliberately?) missing the point.

He was banned from Cricket not for batting skills but for ball tampering so how can making centuries on return be redemption? The only redemption would be his long term ethical conduct but then that's not drama. And still, the film takes us where no Cricket fan has been before.

Right inside the strictly guarded dressing rooms of perfect men of a perfect team playing a perfect game. And reveals the strategies, dynamics (Zampa+Stoinis are) & the vulnerabilities at some of the toughest moments in the game. It shows us how broken they are. Like all of us.

And for an Indian cricket fan, it shows us some really flattering stuff. How HUGE is the respect for Mr. Kohli and how high they rate our team. (For a kid of the 90s, this is a wild dream coming true - Aussies fearing India!)

Really cool of them to admit it on camera.

And of course, great storytelling. The typical sport-film graph aided by the sharp clarity of Justin Langer's mission and Tim Paine's underdog vibe, made much more exciting by all the real footage and some very smart editing choices.

For Test Cricket buffs, this is a gift.

Though didn't understand this dressing room instruction behind @patcummins30 while on their India Tour.

Does it mean don't STEAL towels or don't CHOP them into pieces?

Intriguing either ways.

#TheTest

/End Thread