India's Test Journey From 1st To 600th: Story Of Progress, Revolutions, Historic Triumphs
With magnificent performances from centurion Devdutt Padikkal and a ten-wicket haul from Manav Suthar, Team India secured a massive 165-run win in their 600th Test.
With magnificent performances from centurion Devdutt Padikkal and a ten-wicket haul from Manav Suthar, Team India secured a massive 165-run win in their 600th Test, beating Sri Lanka at Galle on Wednesday. Ever since India's international debut in 1932, India's journey in the Test arena has been nothing short of inspirational. While not the most dominant team on the planet historically, Indian cricket, right from the era of CK Nayadu to Kapil Dev to Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli, has shaped the way the longer format has moved ahead.
From being a spin-dominant team with stars like Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, and Srinivas Venkataraghavan at the forefront from the 1960s to the 1970s to Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja bossing world cricket with a healthy mix of pace and spin, India has evolved massively as a Test nation in bowling. While the spin culture still thrives, the quality of pace bowlers and their speed are also a sight to behold, with Bumrah, Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Bhuvneshwar Kumar being just a few who have struck fear in their opponents' minds with their skillset, pace and overall aura.
Over the years, India has also produced run machines like Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli.
Here is a look at India's journey from the first Test to the 600th, with 100 Tests at a time:
1st Test to 100th Test: 10 wins, 40 defeats, 50 draws, win-loss ratio: 0.25
101st Test to 200th Test: 25 wins, 32 defeats, 43 draws, win-loss ratio: 0.78
201st to 300th Test: 21 wins, 26 defeats, 1 tied, 52 draws, win-loss ratio: 0.80
301st to 400th Test: 32 wins, 31 defeats, 37 draws, win-loss ratio: 1.032
401st to 500th Test: 42 wins, 28 defeats, 30 draws, win-loss ratio: 1.5
501st to 600th Test: 57 wins, 31 defeats, 2 draws, win-loss ratio: 1.83
From the 300th Test onwards, India's win-loss ratio started exceeding 1. From the 301st to the 600th Test, India registered 131 wins, losing 90 and drawing 69. Their win percentage has been over 43 per cent.
In their first 300 Tests, India registered just 56 wins, lost 98 and drew 145, with their win percentage being just 18 per cent.
In the 21st century, three captains, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, transformed India's Test fortunes in their own ways. Be it backing young talent, teaching the team to win overseas, reaching the number one ranking under Dhoni, or developing a culture focused on fitness and fast bowling while producing consistent run machines, India has become one of the major powers in Test cricket's modern era.
In the 21st century, India have won 126 out of 270 Tests, lost 79 and drawn 65, with a win percentage of over 46. India have also picked up away from home, winning 51 out of 146 Tests abroad, losing 59 and drawing 36, with a win percentage of 34.93 per cent. This includes historic series wins in New Zealand, England and Australia this century.
India's most successful Test captain is Virat, with 40 wins in 68 Tests since he first took over the reins in 2014 during the tour of Australia in the absence of an injured MS Dhoni. He led India to a historic series win in Australia in 2018-19 and a total of seven Test wins in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) conditions, the most by an Asian captain.
Coming to the match, India won the toss and elected to bat first. Knocks from Devdutt Padikkal (167 in 230 balls, with 15 fours and a six), KL Rahul (82 in 175 balls, with 10 fours and a six) and Dhruv Jurel (51 in 68 balls, with four boundaries and a six) helped them reach 462. Prabath Jayasuriya (4/109) and Keshara Nuwantha (3/175) were among the top bowlers in the first innings.
During Sri Lanka's first innings, they had sunk to 90/5 before a 146-run stand between Niroshan Dickwella (80 in 115 balls, with seven fours) and Sonal Dinusha (100 in 168 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) pulled them out of trouble. Suthar's four-fer and overall exceptional spin bowling from India skittled them out for 284 in reply to India's first-innings total of 462, trailing by 178 runs.
Sri Lanka's bowling was more clinical in the second innings, with only Rishabh Pant (66 in 69 balls, with eight fours and two sixes), Devdutt Padikkal (44 in 75 balls, with six fours) and KL Rahul (35 in 47 balls, with two fours and two sixes) contributing something of note as India were all out for 193, setting Sri Lanka a target of 372. Asitha Fernando (4/31) and Prabath (3/43) were exceptional with the ball.
In the second innings, Sri Lanka were down and out at 47/4, but Dhananjaya de Silva (59 in 151 balls, with seven fours) and Sonal Dinusha (84 in 128 balls, with eight fours and a six) gave them a glimmer of hope with a 91-run stand. After Dinusha fell as the seventh wicket, it was all over for Sri Lanka as Suthar made the lower order collapse like a pack of cards, bundling them out for 206. Sri Lanka lost the Test by 165 runs.
Prasidh Krishna (2/16 in 10 overs) bowled an exceptional spell of pace, while Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja also took a wicket each. India are 1-0 up in the two-match Test series.
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India Cricket Team
Sri Lanka Cricket Team