Ashwin, Jadeja, Bumrah, Siraj, Akash Deep Lead India Into The Black
India beat Bangladesh by 280 runs in the first Test at Chepauk today. It was their 179th Test win. They have lost 178 Test matches. For the first time in their (now) 92 year history as a Test team, they have won more Tests than they have lost.
Consider the record of 100 match rolling spans. India won 10 and lost 40 of their first 100 Test matches. It took them 35 years to play their first 100 Tests. They have won 58 and lost 27 of their most recent 100 Tests (July 2014 to September 2024).
The tide turned for India at the beginning of this century, aided by an unusually large number of Tests against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. In the six years from 2000 to 2005 India played 11 Tests against those two fledgling teams (including Bangladesh’s inaugural Test match), winning 9, losing 1 and drawing 1. In the 19 years since, they have played 11 Tests against these opponents, winning 10 and drawing 1.
Against teams with an ELO rating better than 0.5 (for the rating, see here), a win has been the modal outcome for India in the last 10 years.
Ashwin (6/116) and Jadeja (4/76) collected 10 of the 20 BAN wickets to fall on a pitch which didn’t offer the spinners much beyond a bit of rough wide outside the left hander’s off stump for Jadeja on the 4th day. The Indian pair specialize in creating discomfort for the batters with their relentless questioning. Ravindra Jadeja bowled especially fast in the fourth innings leaving the BAN batters with little more than a couple of high risk scoring options - the sweep and the reverse-sweep. Najmul Hasan Shanto had a great run with these shots, playing it 18 times for 40 runs. Bangladesh’s batters played the sweep shot 34 times in the 4th innings, scoring 64 runs. They played 7 false shots on the sweep (reverse or otherwise), but none of these produced a dismissal.
It is always a good idea to look at the ratio of sweeps to drives against the spinners. India’s batters players 115 drives (with only 3 false shots, 0 dismissals) for 148 runs in the Test match. They played only 18 sweep shots (with 3 false shots, 0 dismissals), for 55 runs in the match. By comparison, Bangladesh’s batters collected 2/81 from 43 sweep shots in the match (12 false shots), and 1/65 from 59 drives.
Jadeja and Ashwin are difficult to drive. The table below shows why. They’re quicker through the air (and in Ashwin’s case, his variations and range of speeds is broader than any other contemporary bowler), and their control of length offers the batters very few good options. Bangladesh’s spinners are slower through the air. Shakib Al Hasan averages about 80 kph in most of his tests. He tried to bowl quicker in this match (his average speed was 83.6), but its not easy for a spinner to increase the speed of his stock ball by 8-10 kph without losing control. It was the same for Mehidy Hasan Miraz. His average speed tends to be in the 83-84 kph range. He also tried to bowl quicker (match average: 85.3 kph), as the record shows. As in Shakib’s case, it wasn’t enough.
Bangladesh ought to consider playing Taijul Islam in place of Shakib Al Hasan if they want to play three fast bowlers in the next Test match. The conditions in Kanpur will be very different compared to those in Chepauk. So it may be possible to play three spinners. Taijul is the quickest of the three Bangladesh spinners.
As for India, fittingly for the Test which finally put them in the black in Test cricket, their 20 wickets were shared equally between their quicks and their spinners. It is another milestone for India’s greatest generation yet.
But, India started winning abroad consistently from 2000.
Win in port of Spain, 2002, Headingley 2002, drew the series in Australia, 2003, won the series in Pakistan, 2004, beat South Africa in a test for first time in 2006, won series in England in 2007, won series in New Zealand in 2009, won again a test in South Africa and drew the series in 2010. Became No. 1 under MSD in 2009. After 2015, India has not won in England and New Zealand. Lost to South Africa in 2021. In fact, white washed in Australia and England 4-0 in 2011.
The transformation started from the turn of the century with Ganguli becoming Captain. Though, Azhar also played an important role as captain. Kanpur will be spin friendly. I don't see India playing three seamers. They will play Axar for his batting. Bangladesh should play Taizul instead of Nahid Rana.