A win against Bangladesh in the first Test of the upcoming two-match series will be a historic moment for India. If Rohit Sharma and Co. manage to defeat the visiting team, then India’s number of wins in Test cricket will exceed losses for the first time.
India has played 579 Test matches so far. Out of these, 178 matches were won and 178 were lost, while 222 matches were drawn and one match was tied.
A win in Chennai will mark India’s 179th win and 178th defeat in red-ball cricket.
This special achievement forces us to turn the pages of Indian cricket history to analyse when the trend started changing.
Known in the past as a ‘lion at home, a lamb abroad’, India have had a poor record overseas, with more losses than wins.
Looking at the Test captaincy statistics of Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, a relatively fair assessment can be made by comparing the records of Dhoni and Kohli, who have captained India’s Test team for the longest time.
Before the turn of the century and even for some time after that, India’s win-loss ratio in Test matches remained in its favour.
Rahul Dravid is the last Indian captain to win a Test series in England (2007), but a remarkable improvement in India’s performance in red-ball matches both at home and abroad began under Dhoni and went up a notch under Kohli. However, Rohit Sharma has the highest win percentage (62.5%) in 16 Tests as captain.
But if the standard of comparison is kept at 60 matches, then only Dhoni and Kohli fall in that range. Test captain He took over in 2008 while Kohli took over in late 2014.
Azharuddin is third on the list, having played in 47 Test matches as captain.
* Mohammad Azharuddin – 47 Tests (14 wins)
* Sourav Ganguly – 28 Tests (11 wins)
* MS Dhoni – 60 Tests (27 wins)
* Virat Kohli – 67 Tests (40 wins)
* Rohit Sharma – 16 Tests (9 wins)
The above statistics make it clear where India started winning more Test cricket. What Dhoni started under his leadership, Virat carried it forward, which also included India’s first Test series win on Australian soil.
So it has clearly had an impact during Kohli’s captaincy, even though his win percentage in Test matches (58.82%) lags behind Rohit (62.5%).
Moreover, Virat started the trend of winning Test matches with fast bowling, which took India’s Test aspirations and influence to a different level.
Technically, if any captain has single-handedly changed India’s image of historically relying on a spin-heavy attack, it was Virat’s decision to build a fast bowling attack (along with former coach Ravi Shastri) that changed things forever.
So, there couldn’t have been a better catalyst for Indian cricket than the decision to start the trend of fast bowling. And as far as India’s Test captaincy is concerned, the credit goes entirely to Virat.
India has played 579 Test matches so far. Out of these, 178 matches were won and 178 were lost, while 222 matches were drawn and one match was tied.
A win in Chennai will mark India’s 179th win and 178th defeat in red-ball cricket.
This special achievement forces us to turn the pages of Indian cricket history to analyse when the trend started changing.
Known in the past as a ‘lion at home, a lamb abroad’, India have had a poor record overseas, with more losses than wins.
Looking at the Test captaincy statistics of Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, a relatively fair assessment can be made by comparing the records of Dhoni and Kohli, who have captained India’s Test team for the longest time.
Before the turn of the century and even for some time after that, India’s win-loss ratio in Test matches remained in its favour.
Rahul Dravid is the last Indian captain to win a Test series in England (2007), but a remarkable improvement in India’s performance in red-ball matches both at home and abroad began under Dhoni and went up a notch under Kohli. However, Rohit Sharma has the highest win percentage (62.5%) in 16 Tests as captain.
But if the standard of comparison is kept at 60 matches, then only Dhoni and Kohli fall in that range. Test captain He took over in 2008 while Kohli took over in late 2014.
Azharuddin is third on the list, having played in 47 Test matches as captain.
* Mohammad Azharuddin – 47 Tests (14 wins)
* Sourav Ganguly – 28 Tests (11 wins)
* MS Dhoni – 60 Tests (27 wins)
* Virat Kohli – 67 Tests (40 wins)
* Rohit Sharma – 16 Tests (9 wins)
The above statistics make it clear where India started winning more Test cricket. What Dhoni started under his leadership, Virat carried it forward, which also included India’s first Test series win on Australian soil.
So it has clearly had an impact during Kohli’s captaincy, even though his win percentage in Test matches (58.82%) lags behind Rohit (62.5%).
Moreover, Virat started the trend of winning Test matches with fast bowling, which took India’s Test aspirations and influence to a different level.
Technically, if any captain has single-handedly changed India’s image of historically relying on a spin-heavy attack, it was Virat’s decision to build a fast bowling attack (along with former coach Ravi Shastri) that changed things forever.
So, there couldn’t have been a better catalyst for Indian cricket than the decision to start the trend of fast bowling. And as far as India’s Test captaincy is concerned, the credit goes entirely to Virat.
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