World Record Alert! India Two Series Wins Away From Unique First

No country in the history of the game has won at least one series in every format in each country they have visited.

The Indian team holds aloft the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after securing India’s maiden Test series win in Australia.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Virat Kohli)

The elation is still sinking in.

On Monday, 7 January, the Indian cricket team created history by clinching the country’s first Test series win in Australia after winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1.

It ended a 71-year long wait for a Test series triumph Down Under, with 11 prior attempts on Australian soil since 1947/48 having resulted in eight defeats and three draws.

While breaking a raft of records – including a first series win for any Asian team in Australia – the landmark victory also takes Team India within touching distance of a unique first in world cricket.

(Graphic: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

Wanted: Tests in SA, T20Is in NZ

A Test series win in South Africa, and a T20I series win in New Zealand.

That’s all India require to become the first team in the history of the game to have won at least one series in all formats in each country they have played in.

With their victory in Australia, India have now won a series in every Test-playing nation barring South Africa – seven away series against the Proteas have resulted in six losses and one draw, in 2010/11.

The Indian cricket team has also won at least one ODI series in all nine countries they have visited, while they have tasted a T20 international series win in six of the seven nations they have played in.

New Zealand remains the only country where India have failed to win a T20I contest. Guess where India’s next T20I assignment is, starting 6 February? Yes, New Zealand.

Note: The caveat in this entire calculation is that it only takes into account the countries where a team has played at least one series in a particular format; India are yet to have contested a T20I series in either Pakistan or Bangladesh, which holds true for Australia, England and South Africa as well.

Missing Series Wins Among Major Nations

• South Africa: T20Is in England
• Australia: T20Is in England and West Indies
• England: Tests in Zimbabwe, T20Is in Australia and West Indies
• West Indies: Tests in South Africa and Sri Lanka, ODIs in Sri Lanka, T20Is in Pakistan
• Pakistan: Tests in Australia and South Africa, T20Is in Australia and India
• New Zealand: Tests in India and South Africa, ODIs in India and West Indies, T20Is in Australia and West Indies
• Sri Lanka: Tests in Australia, India, South Africa and West Indies, ODIs in South Africa, T20Is in India and Pakistan

As illustrated in the above data, South Africa are actually closest to achieving this world-conquering feat, with a T20I series win in England the only missing victory from the Proteas cabinet.

India, too, can be left with only one missing series win if they can triumph in their upcoming three-T20I contest in New Zealand.

Australia are yet to win a T20I series in England and West Indies, while England haven’t won a T20I series in Australia and West Indies.

Worryingly for England, they failed to win their only Test series in Zimbabwe (a two-match rubber in 1996/97) – and given the ‘Big 3/4’ and its reluctance towards playing Tests in the ‘lesser’ nations, it appears highly unlikely that England will ever claim this record.

It could be an interesting race between India and South Africa to this mark, if either team is to get there. India next play a Test series in South Africa only towards the end of 2021, while the Proteas, as per the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, aren’t scheduled to play a T20I series in England before September 2022.

List of India’s Away Series Wins

Australia

• Tests: 2018/19
• ODIs: 1985 (World Championship), 2008 (CB Series, also featuring Sri Lanka)
• T20Is: 2016

Bangladesh

• Tests: 2000, 2004, 2007, 2010
• ODIs: 1988 (Asia Cup), 1998 (Independence Cup), 2004, 2007, 2014
• T20Is: Yet to play

England

• Tests: 1971, 1986, 2007
• ODIs: 1983 (World Cup), 1986, 1990, 2002 (NatWest Trophy, also featuring Sri Lanka), 2013 (Champions Trophy), 2014
• T20Is: 2018

Pakistan

• Tests: 2004
• ODIs: 2004, 2006
• T20Is: Yet to play

New Zealand

• Tests: 1968, 2009
• ODIs: 2009
• T20Is: None

South Africa

• Tests: None
• ODIs: 2018
• T20Is: 2011, 2018

Sri Lanka

• Tests: 1993, 2015, 2017
• ODIs: 1994 (Singer World Series, also featuring Australia and Pakistan), 1998 (Nidahas Trophy, also featuring New Zealand), 2008, 2009 (x 2, including Compaq Cup also featuring New Zealand), 2010 (Asia Cup), 2012, 2017
• T20Is: 2009, 2012, 2017, 2018 (Nidahas Trophy, also featuring Bangladesh)

West Indies

• Tests: 1971, 2006, 2011, 2016
• ODIs: 2002, 2009, 2011, 2017
• T20Is: 2011

Zimbabwe

• Tests: 2005
• ODIs: 1992, 1998, 2013, 2015, 2016
• T20Is: 2010, 2016