It was known as ‘Sports for Kings’ when India started its journey way back on June 25, 1932 at Lord’s. They impressed right up front, but they lost because they couldn’t keep up the tempo.
After exactly 34,384 days, today, on August 15, 2026, at the picturesque cricket stadium of Galle, India is playing its 600th Test match. Meanwhile, the game of cricket has been transformed into the ‘King of Sports’ in India.
Although there is no officially designated national game or sport for India, ask any Indian, in India or abroad, and chances are 9 out of 10 that (s)he would answer in ‘Sherlock Holmes’ style, “Elementary my dear, it’s cricket!”
This transformation started slowly in the 1950s/1960s, post-independence, gained momentum during the 1970s (remember Port of Spain and Oval in 1971!), literally took off in 1983 (you know why, don’t you!), then moved into a different level during the 1990s (courtesy TV media, and one young baby-faced Indian who batted like a champion all over the world); and then came one Modi (no, it’s not the presently most famous gentleman bearing that surname!) with that IPL wand.
And voila, India became the ‘cricketing capital’ of the world, and it continues to remain so, practically over the last two decades. IPL has beaten the WSC (remember Kerry Packer of the late 1970s!) hands down and has become the de facto benchmark for popular cricketing ecosystem of the 21st century. Innovation has become the name of such white-ball tournaments globally.
On the cricket administrative front, it’s the BCCI that primarily calls the shots in the global governing body ICC. Look at the business aspects, and you will find Indian cricket franchise owners spreading their powerful wings into countries like England, South Africa, UAE, USA, West Indies.
But that’s not what I want to chatter about today. Today, this article of mine will attempt to leverage that old adage ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ to add a dash of glory to a few of the nooks and crannies of India’s (so far) 600-step journey on the path of the oldest form of international cricket, the Test cricket.
Please note that this is not a historical tour in its conventional sense. And yet, it is a very limited view of the rich history of Test cricket played by India over the last 94 years, especially some of its remarkable Test wins.
Let me start this breezy T20-style narration with the first-ever Test win against England at Madras in 1951-52 season, moving onto the first-ever Test series win against England in 1961-62 season, followed by the first-ever overseas Test-and-series win in New Zealand in 1967-68 season, and the ‘Tourist Luck of Wadekar’ in 1971 plus that ‘miracle at Port of Spain’ in 1975-76 season.
It took another 15 years for Kapil Dev to conquer Lord’s through Test match route; India won the three-match series 2-0 as well. And it took another 21 years for Rahul Dravid to win another three-match series 1-0 in 2007.
Let me jump ahead straight to my hometown, Kolkata, in the 2000-01 season, when India beat the all-conquering Aussies, after making one of the most ‘improbable’ comebacks in world cricket. The three-match series was won by India 2-1 and a chain of friction-laden BGT sagas commenced.
Then came one of the historically most significant triumphs of Indian cricket team, against arch-rivals neighbouring Pakistan, in 2003-04, when Sourav Ganguly (and Rahul Dravid) led the team to an exciting 2-1 victory in a three-match series.
India, led by Dravid, achieved a glorious win at Johannesburg in 2006-07 season against a strong South African side, although the three-match series was lost 1-2 despite a 1-0 lead.
Anil Kumble led India to breach the WACA fort at Perth in the 2007-08 season in an acrimonious four-match series that India lost 1-2. The friction-laden BGT series saga continued.
MS Dhoni did a ‘Tiger Pataudi’ when he led India to a 1-0 victory in a three-match series in 2008-09 season, after 41 years (yes!), courtesy that win at Hamilton.
Virat Kohli led India to rally from 0-1 down – that 4th innings collapse of 112 all out, chasing 176 runs, happened at Galle on 15th August of 2015 – to a 2-1 series win in the three-match series.
Stand-by captain Ajinkya Rahane brought India perhaps its most courageous and glorious series victory 2-1 in BGT 2020-21 season, against a full-strength Aussie side, and that too with a threadbare-strength team winning the Test at Gabba.
Indian pacers, at Lord’s in 2021, decimated a decent and ‘Root’-ed English middle-order batting for 120 to win the match and equalled the series 1-1. Sadly, a suspected outbreak of Covid pandemic forced the postponement of an evenly posed series just before the fifth and final Test at Edgbaston, with a resurgent Indian side leading 2-1. Later on, in next English summer of 2022, that match was held and India, under a make-shift skipper Jasprit Bumrah, lost it.
The latest overseas Test series, in England in 2025, did produce a praiseworthy result for a youngish Indian squad, led by new skipper Shubman GilI; the fifth and final match at Oval produced a nail-biting finish with India winning by six runs, one of the narrowest margins in the history of Test cricket.
And let me now give it a finishing touch, with a really thrilling Tied Test, that Kapil Dev led India to play against an Aussie side led by Allan Border, at Madras in the 1986-87 season. Apart from Australia and West Indies, India remains the only other country to have played in a ‘tied’ Test match. Isn’t that something wonderful for the connoisseurs and lovers of Test cricket!
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