India

According to sources, India is slated to play a lot of cricket in the coming cricket season, both home and away.

The most anticipated events of the year 2021 are the T20 World Cup, India’s tour to England (The Pataudi Trophy), and the Asia Cup. If India qualifies for the finals of the World Test Championship, they’ll play the finals at Lord’s around June-July the same year.

India National Cricket Team Players

CK Nayudu was the first captain of the Indian cricket team in Test matches. The MCC presented him with a silver bat in recognition of a brilliant innings against them in the 1926-27 season. The spin quartet of Bishen Singh Bedi, EAS Prasanna, BS Chandrashekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan strengthened India’s bowling in the 70s and gave them an added advantage in the subcontinent which is known for its turning pitches.

Sunil Gavaskar is regarded as one of the greatest Test batsmen of all time and set multiple records which was eventually broken by Sachin Tendulkar. Mohinder Amarnath was a brilliant player of pace bowling. His father Lala Amarnath was the first Indian captain after Independence.

Kapil Dev captained India to victory in the 1983 World Cup and is regarded as among the greatest all-rounders and captains in cricket history. He is the only player in history to have taken more than 400 wickets and scored more than 5000 runs in Tests.

Sachin Tendulkar is regarded by many as the best batsman to ever grace the sport of cricket along with Sir Don Bradman. Tendulkar has been the biggest name in Indian cricket since the 90s. The likes of Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were responsible for a major revolution in Indian cricket following the turn of the century and Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag were other important members of that era who also played a pivotal role under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, India’s most successful period in world cricket.

Test Team

The current Test team is led by the brilliant Virat Kohli who has accumulated 27 Test centuries. Rohit Sharma as well as Mayank Agarwal made significant impacts as openers in Test cricket last year. Cheteshwar Pujara is India’s specialist Test batsman and has made 18 centuries in Test cricket.

Ajinkya Rahane is the vice-captain and is expected to lead the side after the Adelaide Test following Kohli’s departure. Wriddhiman Saha and Rishabh Pant will compete for the wicket-keeper position, though Saha has braced the gloves more often since Dhoni’s departure. Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin give India valuable stability as all-rounders while pacers like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav are expected to wreak havoc.

ODI Team

The current ODI team is led by Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan at the top, though Rohit is an absentee in the tour of Australia. Rohit holds the record for the most double hundreds scored in ODI cricket and Dhawan has 17 One Day centuries to his name. The number 3 spot is reserved for the captain, Virat Kohli, regarded by many as the best One Day player of all time.

Kohli has 43 One Day hundreds, and needs just 6 more to beat Sachin Tendulkar at the top. Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey and KL Rahul will compete for a middle order berth though Rahul has more experience and can also keep behind the wickets. Hardik Pandya is an explosive batsman who can finish innings and Pandya and Jadeja are essential all-round options. Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav can provide depth in the middle overs with spin while Bumrah, Shami, Saini and Bhuvneshwar Kumar take charge of the pace department.

T20 Team

The T20I team will also heavily rely on Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan as openers who have a great history in the IPL, while Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer might contend for middle order places. As always, the number 3 spot belongs to Kohli. Hardik, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja are valuable all-rounders while Chahal is the premier spin bowler. Jasprit Bumrah has had a very successful IPL and will form an important part of the pace bowling unit along with Mohammad Shami and Deepak Chahar.

India vs Australia

India is currently playing an overseas series in Australia. They were brushed aside in both the opening ODIs at SCG by the host nation and have plenty of work to do if they want to avoid a whitewash in the third ODI.

A T20I series and the Border-Gavaskar Test series will follow the One Day series. Australia played three ODIs against India in the month of January which India managed to win 2-1.

Across all the three formats, India and Australia have played 245 matches against each other. India has won 81 matches while Australia has won 130 matches. The 2001 Eden Gardens Test between the two teams has found a place in the pages of history. The Test series was regarded by Steve Waugh’s Invincibles as the ‘Final Frontier’ and they won the first Test in Mumbai.

At the Eden Gardens, Australia were in the driving seat after the first two days. But VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid batted for an entire day against a dreaded Aussie bowling unit. Laxman scored 281 while Dravid made 180 runs after the follow on was enforced. Harbhajan Singh and Sachin’s wicket-taking was also decisive as India scripted an almost impossible comeback and won that Test match!

India vs New Zealand

The series against New Zealand from January to March was the last series that the Indian cricket team completed before the outbreak of the coronavirus enforced a lockdown on all forms of regular life. The series began with a T20I series in which India whitewashed New Zealand. The third and fourth T20Is were won in the Super Overs.

However, New Zealand managed to take revenge by winning the ODI series 3-0 and dominating India completely. India couldn’t stand their ground in the Test series against New Zealand either and lost both the matches.

In 59 Test matches, India holds the advantage having won 21 Tests while New Zealand have won just 12. The two countries have played against each other in 107 ODIs, with India winning 55 and New Zealand, 46. In 17 T20Is, both the countries have won 8 games each.

New Zealand met India in the semi-final of the 2019 ICC World Cup held in England. India managed to dominate throughout the tournament and were regarded by many as the favourites to win. In a match that was threatened by rain, and took place over two days, India’s top order suffered a complete collapse and too much responsibility fell on the shoulders of Dhoni and Jadeja.

Ravindra Jadeja did fight back, but in the end it couldn’t be enough as India crashed out from the semi-final in heartbreaking fashion. That was MS Dhoni’s last appearance for the Men in Blue.

India vs South Africa

India were slated to take on South Africa in the month of March but the first ODI and eventually the entire series was abandoned due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The two teams played a bilateral series against each other in the month of September and October in 2019.

The three match T20I series was tied at 1-1 as the first match had to be abandoned. In the Test series, India completely outclassed South Africa. They won the first Test by 203 runs, the second one by an innings and 137 runs and the final one by an innings and 202 runs, scripting various records in the process

The India versus South Africa clash on 24th February 2010 saw history being made. Sachin Tendulkar, the God of cricket became the first player in Men’s cricket history to score a double century in One Day Cricket. After Sehwag’s dismissal, Sachin built a 194-run partnership with Dinesh Karthik and a final flurry from MS Dhoni helped India go past a total of 400. On the third delivery of the final over of India’s innings, Master Blaster accomplished the monumental feat. He hit 25 fours and 3 sixes in his innings and India ended up winning the game by a humongous margin of 153 runs.

India vs Bangladesh

Bangladesh toured India in the month of November last year and played a T20I series and a Test series. Bangladesh won the first T20I but India bounced back strongly and ended up winning the T20I series 2-1. India won the first Test against Bangladesh at the Holkar Stadium in Indore by an innings and 130 runs. The second Test at the Eden Gardens, known as the Pink Ball Test was a historic affair as it was the first time that India was taking part in a Day-Night Test match. The Test attracted a large crowd at Kolkata and India won the game by an innings and 46 runs.

India has been very dominant against Bangladesh. In 11 Tests, Bangladesh has never won against India so far. The two teams have played 36 ODIs so far, with India winning 30 and Bangladesh winning 5. In 11 T20I matches, Bangladesh has won just one, while India has won all the other matches.

The Bangladesh Cricket Team tasted its first victory against India in One Day cricket after a wait of 16 years on 26th December 2004 in Dhaka. That was also Bangladesh’s first ODI win at home. India, however won the series 2-1.

India vs West Indies

The Indian team played against West Indies twice last year. The Indian team minus a few regulars travelled to the Caribbean islands in the month of August. India whitewashed West Indies in all three formats: they won the T20I series 3-0, the ODI series 2-0, the first Test by 318 runs and the second one by 257 runs.

The West Indies side travelled to India in the month of December in 2019 and gave a better account of themselves. Though India won both the T20I and ODI series 2-1, these were tighter encounters. Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope scored brilliant centuries that thumped India in the first ODI in Chennai.

The two teams have faced each other several times. Though West Indies holds the advantage in Test cricket, thanks to their early domination, India holds the advantage in T20 cricket. In 131 ODIs, both the teams have won 63 matches each and can’t be separated.

India’s greatest moment against West Indies has to be the 1983 World Cup final. West Indies were the favourites and were appearing in their third consecutive World Cup final. However, thanks to Mohinder Amarnath’s fantastic spell India caused a major upset in the final and this moment is regarded as a landmark in the history of Indian cricket.

India vs Sri Lanka

India began 2020 with a T20I series against Sri Lanka. Though the first match finished resultless, India won the second and the third match with ease to win the series 2-0. Newcomer Navdeep Saini picked up 5 wickets and was adjudged as the Man of the Series. In 2019, India only met Sri Lanka during the 2019 World Cup. Rohit Sharma scored a century as India beat the island nation by 7 wickets.

The two teams have played 44 Test matches, with India winning 20. Sri Lanka has won only 7 Tests against India. The two teams have squared off in 165 ODIs, with India holding a clear advantage, having won 91 matches to Sri Lanka’s 56. In T20 cricket as well, India has won 13 matches from 19 games.

India’s greatest moment against Sri Lanka also arrived in the World Cup, this time held at home in 2011. In the final in Mumbai, Jayawardene scored a brilliant century to help Sri Lanka post a total of 274 runs on the board. While chasing, the Mumbai crowd fell completely silent when India lost Sachin and Sehwag very early. However, Gautam Gambhir managed to solidify the innings with the help of Kohli. At the end, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh comfortably guided India to a World Cup victory after 28 years in stunning style!

India vs Pakistan

India versus Pakistan is one of the most intense and heated rivalries in cricket. Complicated bilateral tensions because of the Kargil dispute, war and terrorism attacks have always been a barrier when it came to playing cricket and after the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, matters became even worse. Pakistan toured India for the first time in 5 years in 2012-13. Pakistan won the 3-match ODI series 2-1 while the T20I series was drawn.

The two countries met each other at the 2019 World Cup and World Cup ties between India and Pakistan are always a special affair. Rohit Sharma scored 140 runs in Manchester as India won the game by 89 runs after D/L method was used. Pakistan, however infamously beat India in the 2017 Champions Trophy final.

The two sides have played against each other 199 times. Pakistan has won 86 matches compared to India’s 70. Pakistan holds the advantage in Test and ODI cricket while India has won more T20 matches. However, in both the 50-over and 20-over World Cups, Pakistan has never managed a single victory against India.

The 2007 World T20 final was extremely special. A young side led by MS Dhoni had qualified for the final of the first T20 World Cup and they beat bitter rivals Pakistan in the last over to bring the World Cup home!

India vs England

The last time these two sides met each other was also in the 2019 World Cup hosted in England. England were the only team to beat India in the group stages. Prior to that, the two teams played a bilateral series against each other in 2018. India won the T20I series 2-1 while England won the ODI series 2-1. England also ran rampant in the Test series, winning by a margin of 4-1.

India faced England in its first Test and first ODI. In Test cricket, India has played more matches against England than any other opponent with the two teams playing 122 Tests. India has won 26 Tests, while England had won 47 and the majority of them being drawn. The two teams have played 100 ODIs, with India holding the advantage with 53 wins compared to England’s 42. In 14 T20Is, both the teams have won 7 each.

The 2002 Natwest final played between India and England was a crucial affair. Trescothick and captain Nasser Hussain had scored centuries for England but while chasing, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly led the way for India as they scripted a dramatic win. On hitting the final runs, captain Ganguly who was seated at the Lord’s balcony took off his shirt and flung it, in response to Flintoff doing the same in an earlier series between the two teams at the Wankhede.

India also won the 2013 Champions Trophy Final against England. The play was shortened to 20 overs because of rain and after the win, MS Dhoni became the only captain to complete a treble of ICC wins: the World Cup, World T20 and The Champions Trophy. Virat Kohli was the highest scorer while Jadeja was adjudged as the Man of the Match.