India just marked their 100th Test victory with a thumping win against Sri Lanka. It was interesting reading the statistics of India’s Test history.
India is the nation that has taken the most number of matches (432) to reach 100 Test wins. The previous entry was Pakistan at 320 Tests. Sri Lanka have 60 wins in 191 matches and surely should make it before 300. Of course, they had a lot of help from Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, but still.
The only other nation likely to ever reach 100 wins is New Zealand who have 66 wins from 354 matches and are sure to beat India’s record. Bangladesh (3 wins from 61 matches) has a loooooooong way to go!
India has made a lot of strides in this decade, with more wins abroad than in the rest of their history. Many reasons, but a few I can think of: Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy, Rahul Dravid’s form abroad, Kumble turning around his overseas form, India holding their own against Australia in Australia, the decline of the West Indies, England no longer a threat, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe.
On the other hand, India has had a few setbacks at home. They lost a series against Australia after decades. They have conceded matches against South Africa, England and Pakistan. More aggression at home would have made Win #100 come earlier. We haven’t seen a whitewash for sometime now.
So is Sree your bowler who can take 20 wickets Krish?
Well, he did deliver, didn’t he? More seriously, though, India should not keep someone (read “Ishant”) in the team long after it is obvious that they are in very bad form. More churn even at the expense of short-term setbacks would be good for India.
India’s journey sure makes interesting reading and there is a continuous improvement, though its more apparent in the last decade:
1st win took around 20 yrs.
1-25 took around 25 yrs
26-50 took around 15 yrs
51-75 took around 10 yrs
while 76-100 has taken only around 5 yrs (With reduced number of test matches to boot).
But I disagree with your assessment of NZ’s progress. They have taken 354 matches for 66 wins. That they will win 34 out of next 77 matches is highly unlikely.
Manish, when I wrote “NZ are sure to beat India’s record”, I meant that they will take longer to win 100 Tests, thus overtaking India. Sri Lanka on the other hand are more likely *not* to beat India’s record. I suppose my phrasing is a bit confusing.
got it