With India’s tour to Australia 2014-14 about to begin, the focus shifts once again to cricket’s longest format — where India have struggled in recent times. Shiamak Unwalla crunches some numbers and looks at whether the Indians are really as bad as they are made out to be.
When India last toured Australia in 2011, the psychological scarring of their 4-0 whitewash against England was still fresh in their memory. Agonisingly for their fans, they suffered a similar fate against a rampaging Australia. The trouncing was bad enough, but the series also claimed two of the country’s modern legends — Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman both retired before India could play its next Test.
Since then, India have won only one overseas Test. In fact, the confidence of the team has been so low while touring, the fact that they even managed to draw three Tests is an achievement.
India’s recent poor form is surprising, given that since 2000, they had a moderately decent time overseas. They were by no means dominating, but they managed to hold their own.
Below is a table with each team’s overseas performance in Tests from January 1, 2000:
Team
M
W
L
T
D
Australia
84
43
27
0
14
India
84
25
34
0
25
South Africa
75
31
20
0
24
England
85
25
34
0
26
Pakistan
69
21
33
0
15
Sri Lanka
62
17
28
0
17
New Zealand
61
13
31
0
17
West Indies
75
9
48
0
18
Bangladesh
42
3
36
0
3
Zimbabwe
28
1
22
0
5
Team India had managed some flashes of brilliance sparked both by individual performances and team efforts. Some of the most memorable victories were, of course, sparked by Rahul Dravid at Headingley in 2002 and at Adelaide in 2003, S Sreesanth, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly at the Wanderers in 2006-07, Dravid, Ishant Sharma, and Irfan Pathan at Perth in 2007-08, and Murali Vijay, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, and Ishant Sharma at Lord’s in 2014.
It is interesting to note that since 2011, no team barring South Africa can be called good tourists. In fact, they have lost just a solitary away Test, which was against Pakistan, in Dubai in 2013, and are the only team to have more draws than losses in this period.
Below is a table with each team’s overseas performance in Tests from January 1, 2011:
Team
M
W
L
T
D
South Africa
14
7
1
0
6
Pakistan
17
6
8
0
3
Australia
22
6
11
0
5
New Zealand
20
5
12
0
3
England
18
4
10
0
4
Sri Lanka
19
4
8
0
7
West Indies
15
3
8
0
4
India
21
2
13
0
6
Bangladesh
7
1
5
0
1
Zimbabwe
6
0
6
0
0
India have done abysmally, with just two victories and as many as 13 losses in 21 games. It should be noted that eight of these losses were on the trot, and India’s record has improved somewhat since then. In fact, if a more recent sample is taken into consideration, the numbers are quite surprising.
Below is a table with each team’s overseas performance in Tests from January 1, 2013:
Team
M
W
L
T
D
South Africa
5
3
1
0
1
Sri Lanka
8
3
2
0
3
Australia
14
2
10
0
2
New Zealand
11
2
6
0
3
Bangladesh
6
1
4
0
1
India
9
1
5
0
3
Pakistan
7
1
6
0
0
England
8
0
5
0
3
West Indies
5
0
4
0
1
Zimbabwe
5
0
5
0
0
Again, South Africa are an exception in this regard. They have maintained an impeccable record, having lost just one Test from a total of five away Tests in this time — while no team has managed a spotless record, Sri Lanka are the only other side with more wins than losses. Australia have suffered two whitewashes — one each to India and Pakistan — in this period, while England have failed to win anything in eight matches. Pakistan surprisingly have not had a single draw, winning one match and losing the other six they have played.
India are far from a good side in overseas conditions. But the fact is, no team barring the Proteas has managed sustained success in foreign conditions over an extended period of time. It is therefore perhaps unfair to single out India as being the only team to be “bullies at home, and bunnies abroad.”
Since the series in South Africa, India have found themselves in good positions even in drawn Tests. They could very easily have had three wins in the nine Tests played since 2013. One feels that with a more tenacious approach, they could end up on the winning side more often.
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek and cricket fanatic. You can follow him on Twitter @ShiamakUnwalla)
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