When India wrapped up their First Test victory by 197 runs over New Zealand at Kanpur, nobody was surprised. Go back fifty years or more, and it would have been a cause for celebration. This was India’s 500th Test match, excluding the two cancelled or abandoned, which is a genuine landmark in the nation’s sporting history.
In total, they have won 130, lost 157 drawn 212 and tied one, the classic against Australia in 1986. But those results, spread over 84 long years, are too broad to tell the true picture of India cricket.
Of the first ton, spanning 35 years, India won a mere 10, losing 40, and it took 25 matches and 20 years before they notched their first success, against England at what was then Madras. Mind you, Donald Carr’s wasn’t the greatest side ever to tour the Asian sub-continent, but Vinoo Mankad’s twelve wicket haul is impressive against any opposition.
The next 100 took just 15 years, and the win percentage improved to 25%. That period included a 15-game unbeaten run in 1979-80, although all bar three (drawn) were played on home soil. Those were the days of Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Venkat and a young Kapil Dev. Just before that sequence, there had been and that famous series success against the otherwise all-conquering West Indies.
From heroes to zeroes. Between 1982 and 1984, India went 21 without a single win, and the third century comprised a 21:26 win:loss ratio. It wasn’t as if they had bad players in the early Nineties, and in 1993 Mohammad Azharuddin’s team featuring Tendulkar, Kamble and Kumble destroyed Gooch’s England 3-0.
Between 1996 and 2006, India finally won more than they lost (32 vs 31), albeit aided by the introduction to Test cricket of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. It was still a struggle for them on their travels but there were some memorable match victories, none more so than an innings trouncing of Mark Taylor’s Aussies at Eden Gardens in ’98.
However, it’s in the fifth hundred that offers the evidence of India’s progress. With 42 triumphs and 30 draws, the past decade has seen the nation become the best side in the world before slipping back in transition. Nevertheless, that transition is looking close to completion.
This week’s win over the Black Caps took their latest unbeaten run to eleven, of which eight were won. Snapping at the heels of Pakistan, a return to the ICC number one position is surely just a matter of time. It’s strange to think that their current top-scoring batsman, Virat Kohli, has fewer than 4000 Test runs to his name.
For ages the Achilles heel has been the bowling, and it still looks a very inexperienced attack. Only Ravi Ashwin has taken more than 100 wickets, but he is breaking records galore. His 203 have come in a mere 37 Tests, quicker than even Muralitharan managed. That’s even more remarkable when he seems to be one of the side’s heaviest run-makers, too. Jadeja’s miserly maiden-fest deservedly won the Man of the Match at Kanpur but he remains more of a one-day man. Should more of India’s ODI and T20 specialists spread their wings in the five-day format, India’s sixth century of Tests could be very special indeed.
