Cricket was introduced to India by European merchant sailors in the 18th century, 200 years later, it is one of the country’s biggest obsessions. While the Indian cricket team is currently ranked number one on both Test and One Day International (ODI) rankings, reaching thus far has taken decades.
The first ever Test match that India played was against England at Lord's in 1932, becoming the sixth team to be granted Test cricket status. However, they had to wait 20 years for the first ever win in a Test match which came in Chennai (then Madras) against England.
After playing Test cricket for 86 years, India has managed a 28 percent win percentage, being victorious in 144 matches, losing 160 and drawing 216.
In One-Day Internationals (ODIs) India debuted in 1974 against England in Leeds. The Men in Blue has a better record in ODIs – with a win percentage of 54 in the 939 matches they have played.
It comes as no surprise that in both the formats Sachin Tendulkar has been the highest scorer with his incredible 15,921 runs in Test cricket and 18,426 in ODIs.
Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman are some of the all time greats of Test format. Pinch hitter Virender Sehwag also holds few unique records like most sixes (90) and being the first Indian to score 300.
Among bowlers, former coach and right-arm spinner Anil Kumble leads both Test (619 wickets) and ODI (334 wickets) charts. Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan are also some of the best wicket-takers the game has ever seen.
The Trophy Cabinet
Team India won the Cricket World Cup twice – in 1983 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev in England and in 2011 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni at home.
Under former skipper MS Dhoni, India also won the 2007 ICC (International Cricket Council) World Twenty20 and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. It was also the joint champions of 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, along with Sri Lanka.
India has also grabbed the Asia Cup six times.
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