How India became a Test cricket powerhouse

Getty Images Indian batsman Venkat Sai Laxman (L) points his bat towards the cheering crowd as team-mate Rahul Dravid looks on as they walk back to the pavillion on the fourth day of the second test match between India and Australia at Eden Gardens in Calcutta 14 March 2001. Getty Images

More than 90 times after India’s second Test match at Lord’s in 1932, Rohit Sharma’s team has made story. With a win over Bangladesh in Chennai next month, India now boasts more Test triumphs than loss, standing at 179 gets to 178 loses across 580 Testing. Murray Menon, a writer of cricket, examines India’s extraordinary transformation into a Examine cricket powerhouse.

In every field of human venture, there are times when situations and persons coincide, initiating change.

This happened with the Beatles, where four guys emerged from the same location at the same time and created a new melody in favorite music.

In sports, like adjustments are typically made by a single person who has a group of players who are almost as excellent around him. Pele and Pele played in sport, winning three of the four World Cups between 1958 and 1970 with him in the team.

With the introduction of a baby-faced Sachin Tendulkar, the riches of Indian baseball changed. His encouraging cast was just as important to the change: Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh and MS Dhoni. Some do eventually make a group of legends from all-time India.

Before Tendulkar’s album in November 1989, India had won only 43 Checks and lost more than half that amount out of the 257 games played. The remaining were draws.

In the Lee time, India registered 78 gets against 60 deficits out of the 217 matches played.

But it was a time when the number of draws- 79- was also important. Only seven wins had come in the” SANE” countries: South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and England. Draws in these nations were also regarded as a sort of victory, which is how India first started playing global cricket.

Domestically, modifications were happening. Led by Ganguly, and carried forwards by Dhoni, India were discovering participants beyond the standard areas. If you were good enough, it did n’t matter where you were from, you would get your chance. This occurred despite the cricket board itself and the numerous local authorities frequently getting soaked in politics.

Tendulkar retired in 2013, and since then India have won 58 while losing only 29 Testing of the 106 played. Considerably, there have been just 19 draws.

India and Australia played each other’s matches for anger and self-belief in back-to-back games. This was a mental change, not just a football alter at the time.

Virat Kohli often went beyond the bounds of his role as captain, but he was driven by a passion for winning and test cricket, which permeated the entire team.

India almost pulled it off and lost the match by simply 48 goes in his first Test as commander in Adelaide in 2014. He was scheduled to fight 364 in his first Check against Adelaide in 2014.

It was a turning point. A novel method was created. Kohli, who led India in most Checks, at 68, was susceptible to draws. That meant that India consistently played good baseball. Kohli drew only 16 % of his Testing, the lowest among the top six officers in history. Yet Clive Lloyd had 35 % draws.

Getty Images Virat Kohli of India in action during day 3 of the 1st test match between South Africa and India at SuperSport Park on December 28, 2023 in Centurion, South AfricaGetty Images

Kohli had a brilliant number around him – Cheteswar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul. Again, people were discovered outside the traditional areas.

India no longer revered conservatism at the shrine of orthodoxy, which was a psychological change. Efficiency was more crucial than fashion. Jasprit Bumrah, who fast-tracked into foreign baseball, and is probably India’s greatest strong bowling, might not have made it in earlier years. He is unconventional, coaches may have recommended some another job.

India lost all Test matches to Australia and England in a six-month period in 2011-12, and the cricket committee also started to adjust to regular loses worldwide.

The beautiful technology was retiring. Home cricket’s ineptitude was the subject of much discussion. The committee decided that pitches had to be used to aid fast bowlers. It directed designers to keep grass on pitches between 3mm and 8mm. The outcome over a time was two-fold. India found a group of talented quickly bowlers, helping to improve the pitchers ‘ fast ball skills.

You needed quickly bowlers to earn overseas consistently. Indian cricket’s weak points are typically attributable to their lack of strong bowling. As Fred Trueman and Alec Bedser ran through the area in Manchester in 1952, they were dismissed thrice on the same day, for 58 and 82.

In the” Summer of 42″ at Lord’s in 1974, they folded for 42 owing to Geoff Arnold’s and Chris Old’s strong ball. One of the most violent sports cartoons was born out of a woman telling her husband,” You should have gone home. You have now missed the entire American pitches.

AFP Australia's Pat Cummins (3/L) fells India's Mohammed Shami (2/R) with a bouncer as India is dismissed for only 36 runs on the third day of the first cricket Test match between Australia and India played in Adelaide on December 19, 2020. (AFP

However, India’s dismissal for 36 at Adelaide in 2020 inspired neither cartoons nor panic. That was accepted as a freak innings where every good ball picked a wicket and there were hardly any bad balls. But it required great confidence to pass it off as one of those things – that confidence carried India to victories in two Tests that followed, and with it the series.

There was a step, 2002-2004, when India won Testing at Port of Spain, Leeds, Adelaide, Multan and Rawalpindi. However, they only won the set in Pakistan. Indian poet David Frith believed that the country then had the best Top 6 bat lineup in the sport’s history. There was both weight and beauty, a unique mix.

But that group did not live up to its ability. One of the contradictions of Indian cricket is that their most renowned group did not rule as they should have.

What the current team has is heart. That 36 in Adelaide and 78 in Leeds serve to highlight the temperament of players who can let bygones be bygones and remember only the good times. It is a rare quality in an individual, even rarer in a team.

American teams used to have a couple of excellent players on whom anything rested in the past. With Sunil Gavaskar dismissed, half the group was gone. If the great bowlers were collared, there was no one to change to until Kapil Dev came on, and if he had a bad time, that was that.

Getty Images India bowler Jasprit Bumrah in bowling action during day four of the 1st Test Match between India and England at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on January 28, 2024 in Hyderabad, IndiaGetty Images

In the 1960s, India won only one set internationally, in New Zealand. That helped strengthen India’s biggest power: roll bowling. That most romanticised technology led by a Nawab, Mansur Ali Khan of Pataudi, with its effectively aspiring spirit was needed. Just as important was the one represented by Tendulkar, when India performed with greater regularity.

All of this was before the Kohli-led group of professionals was come. When India was attained the top spot. 1 in 2009, they had never won a line in Australia, South Africa or Sri Lanka. Today only South Africa remains.

Indian cricket has moved on, and now we are looking at the end activity of the new stars: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja. Now, Rishabh Pant, Bumrah, Shubhman Gill, Yashaswi Jaiswal and a host of emerging strong batsmen have indicated they are ready to get over. India will begin playing five Test matches in Australia in November.

Instantly the stress is on Australia. The Lee technology constructed a solid base, the Kohli-Sharma one has built on that. At the end of the Chennai Test against Bangladesh, India’s gets surpassed costs, 179-178 in 580 Testing. Statistical data of a fresh India, if such were needed.