Cricket news: Australia draw fourth Test with India, on a wicket that is the game’s biggest worry

India ultimately triumphed 2-1, but after a yawn-fest of a final Test, the series against Australia finished with a whimper. And that’s what cricket fans should fear, writes Robert Craddock.

The most dangerous Test cricket wickets don’t have claws or teeth.

They just sit there, pancake flat and lifeless, and drain life and spirit from bowling attacks and, as a consequence, the very game itself.

They are dangerous in a sense that if Test cricket eventually does go belly up it will be these sorts of decks that do the damage, not the spinning vipers which are so easily bagged yet create so much interest.

Unlike the dramatic third Test in Indore there was no instant post match explosion from match referee Chris Broad after the painstaking fourth Test in Ahmedabad was mercifully called off in the final session of the fifth day with Australia 2-175 and a lead of 84.

Shame about that. Had it been a timeless Test this one may have lasted eight or so days. What a yawn.

Steve Smith shakes hands with India’s Rohit Sharma to mercifully end the dull fourth Test. Picture: Getty

Cricket cannot see it but producing lifeless decks is a much bigger crime than cooking up a raging turner.

Say what you like about the ugly Indore wicket on which Australia triumphed in the third Test. Was it doctored? Absolutely? Did it favour the spinners? My word.

But for two days and a session you simply could not take your eyes off the screen.

It was thrilling entertainment right down to the last session where some fans were Tweeting they felt sick with nerves as they watched Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne escort Australia out of a tight corner to victory.

Australia’s 2-1 loss to India was an honourable result for the tourists.

Few teams in history finish Indian tours stronger than they started it.

Australia finished the series strong, with a win and draw from the final two Tests. Picture: AFP

Australia won the final two Tests 1-0 and they did so after India cooked up decks at the extreme opposite ends of the scale.

Indore was such a turner that, spin bowling wise, every child won a prize, and Ahmedabad was so flat that no child could win anything. Australia won the first challenge and might well have won the second had the game been a timeless Test.

Regrets? Australia has a few for they learnt a lot from this tour.

The most obvious and regrettable lesson was that you can’t simply lob in India a week or so before the first Test and expect to match a side which had lost two of its last 42 home Tests.

By the time Australia had their land legs they were 2-0 down.

It’s a shame because there was actually some smart planning which paid dividends.

Todd Murphy (C) had his development fast-tracked on this tour. Picture: Getty

The decision to send Matthew Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy to India last year for a spin bowler’s camp fast tracked the development of both youngsters and made sure they were Test match ready when pitchforked into the action.

Australia must not forget that their fast men also need education in India for cagey quick Mohammed Shami took almost twice as many wickets as the entire Australian attack in the series.

Given their spinners were also filling their boots, that gave India a decisive edge.

Australia learnt from Usman Khawaja and Travis Head that it is possible to improve from a modest to a decent player of slow bowling, it learnt that Nathan Lyon is a match for any slow man in the world and that Cameron Green is quietly blossoming into the “once in a generation’ player Ravi Ashwin has dubbed him.

India and Australia will meet again later this year in the World Test Championship final in England.

Bring it on …