History of the India-England Test rivalry

Virat Kohli will look to continue his dream run in Tests as he leads Team India in the upcoming series against England, a formidable side in the longest format of the game who suffered an unforgettable defeat against Bangladesh before the touching the Indian shores.

Led by Alastair Cook, the fourth-ranked team in ICC’s list will also look to rerun their 2012 show when they defeated India on their own territory and Cook did remarkably well both as a captain and player. In fact, Cook had a dream start to his Test career in India a decade ago when he slammed an unbeaten century in the second innings in Nagpur after a 60 in the first. He then went on to become the first England batsman to register five-digit runs in Test cricket.

Kohli, on the other hand, will have a reality check as neither Team India nor his own bat has done well against the English in Tests of late. India’s elevation to the No. 1 position in Tests has not been convincing to all and the pressure will be on Kohli’s strong shoulders to prove that achieving the tag was not a fluke.

Here, we take a look at the rivalry between India and England in Tests to get a glimpse of how these two traditional powerhouses have done in this format.

India-England rivalry in Tests is one of the oldest and completes 84 years in 2016. The first-ever match between these two sides was played at the Lord’s in June 1932 and in that three-day game, Douglas Jardine’s side defeated CK Nayudu’s men by 158 runs. That was India’s debut Test match and it was against their former colonial masters.

India have played most Tests against England

Since then, the rivalry has only grown with both countries producing some of the best talents the game has ever known. Of all their opponents, India have played the most number of Tests against England (the only side against who India have played more than 100 matches – 112 to be precise) with a success rate of 18.75 per cent (21 wins, 43 losses and 48 draws).

India and England have played in 31 series so far

India and England have locked horns in 31 series (including the one-off games in 1932 and 1980 which was the Golden Jubilee Test). Of these 31 series, 17 were played in England. Again out of these 17 series, England won 13 and India won just three while one was drawn. Of the remaining 14 series played in India, India won in six, England in five while three ended in draws. Overall, England have won 18 of the 31 series while India have won nine. Four series have remained inconclusive.

England have effected 4 whitewashes; India one

In terms of whitewash, England have drubbed India four times in a series that had more than one match (1959, 1967, 1974 and 2011). India have whitewashed the English only once so far (1992-93). All these whitewashes have come on the winning country’s soil.

England’s best performance in India came in 1976-77 when they won the five-game series 3-1. India’s best performance in England is the 2-0 victory in a three-match series in 1986. Tony Greig and Kapil Dev were the captains on the two occasions, respectively.

India’s last Test series win over England came 8 years ago

India have not done well against England in the recent series the two sides have played. In fact, England have won the last three series versus India (2011, 2012-13 and 2014) played both on their own soil and India.

On the other hand, India’s last Test series win against England came eight seasons ago when they won a two-match series 1-0. In the 13 Test matches the two sides have played since the series that India won in 2008-09, England have won nine while India won only two. Two games were drawn. These wins were included in a 4-0 whitewash that India were handed in an away series in 2011.

There have been nine occasions when India and England have locked horns over a series involving five or more games nine times. While eight of them were five-match series (England won 4, India 2 while two series were drawn), India won a six-match home series 1-0 in 1981-82.

Indian captains against England

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s most successful captain in all forms, has had a horrible record against England, thanks to the 0-4 loss in 2011. Overall, he has led India to only three wins in Tests versus England but lost nine against them, including three successive series in 2011, 2012-13 and 2014. Three were drawn.

Ajit Wadekar & Azharuddin most successful Indian captains vs England

The most successful among all Indian captains against England in Tests are Ajit Wadekar and Mohammad Azharuddin (three wins each). However, Wadekar was the first captain to give India their first series victory in England in 1971 when they took the three-match series 1-0.

Azharuddin, on the other hand, is the only Indian captain to whitewash the English in a series (3-0) in 1992-93. That series in India has indeed saved Azhar from losing his captaincy. Apart from them, Kapil Dev (1986) and Rahul Dravid (2007) are the only other Indian captains to win series in England.

The only other time that India had returned undefeated from England was in 2002 when Sourav Ganguly’s team had drawn with Nasser Hussain’s eleven 1-1. Sachin Tendulkar didn’t captain India against England.

Wadekar has also lost most number of Tests vs England along with two other skippers

Out of 16 Indian captains who have led against England, eight could not win a single match while two won one each. Three captains have lost the most number of games (4) and they are AjitWadekar, Datta Gaekwad and Vijay Hazare. The captain under whom India have drawn the most number of games against England is Sunil Gavaskar (7) followed by Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (5). Neither Monsoor nor his father Iftikar could give India a victory in Tests.

5 Indian captains have won more Tests against England than they lost

Only five Indian captains have won more matches than they lost against England and they are- Rahul Dravid (2 wins, 1 loss), Ganguly (2,1), Azhar (3,2), Kapil (2.0) and Nari Contractor (2,0).

The first captain who gave India a victory in Test against England was Vijay Hazare in 1952 while Contractor gave India their first series victory over the Europeans in 1961-62.

Cook the most successful English captain against India

Twenty-nine English players have captained their sides against India and of them, Cook has won the most number of matches (5) in two series (2012-13, 2014) while Andrew Strauss has a 4-0 record. Eight English captains have failed to win a single match against India while Jardine is the first English skipper to have led his side to victory in India for the first time (in 1933).

Except Donald Carr who lost the game in which Hazare’s men registered India’s maiden victory against England, all of England’s first eight captains tasted victory against India. Ted Dexter was the first England captain to have lost a full-fledged Test series to India (0-2 in 1961-62).

No English captain has lost more than 2 Test matches to India

No England captain has lost more than two Tests against India. Six of them have lost two matches and they are- Ted Dexter (no win), Tony Lewis (one win), David Gower (two wins), Graham Gooch (one win), Nasser Hussain (one win) and Cook (five wins).