Galle [Sri Lanka], August 19 : 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 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 longer format moves ahead.
From being a spin-dominant team with stars like Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, and Srinivas Venkataraghavan at the forefront from 1960-1970s to Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja bossing the 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 pace is also a sight to behold, with Bumrah, Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Bhuvneshwar Kumar being just to name 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, Virat Kohli etc.
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 or more. From 301st to 600th Test, India has 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, Saurav Ganguly, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli transformed India's Test fortunes in their own ways. Be it backing young talent, to teaching the team to win overseas, to pulling off the impossible of reaching the number one ranking (under Dhoni), developing a culture focusing on fitness and fast bowling and producing consistent run-machines, India is one of the major powers in Test cricket's modern era.
In 21st century, India has won 126 out of 270 Tests, lost 79 and drawn 65, with a win per centage of over 46. India has picking up away from home as well, winning 51 out of 146 Tests away from home, losing 59 and 36 ending in a draw, with a win per centage 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 back 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 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 SL'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 was all out for 193 runs, giving SL 372 runs to win. Asitha Fernando (4/31) and Prabath (3/43) were exceptional with the ball.
In the second innings, SL were down and out at 47/4, but Dhanajaya 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 SL as Suthar made SL's lower-order collapse like a pack of cards, bundling them out for 206 runs. SL 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 got a wicket each. India is 1-0 up in the two-match Test series.