Since 2013, the Indians have played 44 Test matches, decimating their opponents 36 times, losing only two and drawing the remaining six.
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India has been a force to be reckoned with in Test cricket for almost a decade now, especially at home. They’ve made significant progress in the longest format of the game, defeating Australia twice in Australia, drawing a Test series in England, and presenting a serious danger to South Africa at their home. As outstanding as they have been overseas, the squad’s Test record at home deserves special mention, as it demonstrates that the team performs at a whole other level while playing at home. No country among the major cricket-playing nations wields home dominance with greater power than the Men in Blue. The bulk of teams are psychologically defeated before they even get to India because they are frightened of being tested by spin, for which they are unprepared. It would be a tremendous injustice, though, to attribute India’s extraordinary run of victories only to spin and overlook other contributing factors.
The teams who have flown to India have gone to great lengths to prepare. Australia, South Africa, and even England are recognised for rigorous tour preparation. They’ve attempted a variety of methods to combat the spin element, including asking local spinners to bowl to their batters on grounds with artificially generated roughs. They also hire spin gurus to advise them on the best strategies for playing spin. Despite their best efforts, they are unable to compete with the Indian spinners. The big-spinning deliveries, ironically, inflict the greatest harm. Rather, it’s the ones who don’t turn very much or maintain their line really well.
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Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri’s combination may not have resulted in any ICC trophies, but it did make a big contribution to Indian cricket. Under their direction, India developed a weapon that appeared unthinkable only a few years ago. Pace bowling is the weapon. The difference in bowling averages between pacers (25.37) and spinners (21.68) at home is the smallest for India since 2013, at 3.69. Mohammed Shami (averaging 15.04) and Umesh Yadav (averaging 15.27) in particular have been merciless at home, keeping the ball in the channel and regularly striking the stumps, putting all means of dismissal into play.
Since 2021, India has had 13 fifty-plus partnerships for the seventh wicket or lower at home (five of them century partnerships), significantly outnumbering England and Pakistan, who are tied for second with eight apiece. They owe a lot of credit to Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Axar Patel for their supremacy at home. In recent times, Jadeja has batted at No. 6 in subcontinent conditions, where he has an average of 41.97 after 51 innings. After a period of decline in which he averaged less than 15 in 2019-20, Ashwin has found his batting form, and his average has rebounded to more than 25 since 2021. Axar Patel has also been solid with the bat, accumulating 355 runs at a 35.50 average, including three fifties.
