BY AAKASH KUMAR
NEW DELHI: Virat Kohli and his men have been on a winning spree at home in the last two-three years when it comes to Test cricket. Barring the series losses in South Africa and England, the Indian team has played according to its number one stature and has dominated the opposition in almost all aspects of the game in the recent years when it comes to red-ball cricket.
Recently, Team India became the first team in the world to register 11 consecutive series win at home.
Before India, Australia held the record for registering the maximum number of consecutive series wins at home. They had won 10 Test series twice in a row with the streaks ending in 2000 and 2008. No other team has more than eight home series victories in a row.
India’s last series loss at home came in 2012-13 when England recovered after losing the first Test and went on to win the next two in Mumbai and Kolkata. The last Test of the series in Nagpur ended in a draw.
From 2013 till date, India have defeated all the opposition teams that have visited the country.
The current winning streak of India started in February 2013 when they whitewashed the visiting Australians 4-0.
Thereafter they won series against West Indies 2-0 (2) in 2013, South Africa 3-0 (4) in 2015, New Zealand 3-0 (3) in 2016, England 4-0 (5) in 2016, Bangladesh 1-0 (1) in 2017, Australia 2-1 (4) in 2017, Sri Lanka 1-0 (3) in 2017, Afghanistan 1-0 (1) in 2018, West Indies 2-0 (2) in 2018 and South Africa 2-0* (3).
When it comes to winning Tests, India have registered victory in 25 out of their last 31 Tests at home while losing just one in 2017 against Australia in 2017 when Steve Smith and Steve O’Keefe performed brilliantly on a raging turner in Pune.
Going by the current form of the Indian team, one can be rest assured that they will for sure register their 12th consecutive series win at home, considering their next opponents are Bangladesh who will be playing two Tests, besides three T20Is against the Men in Blue.
IANS