History of Cricket In India

When it comes to men's international cricket, the India men's national cricket team, also referred to as Team India or the Men in Blue, represents India around the world. It is a Full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and has Test, One Day International (ODI), and Twenty20 International (T20I) status. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The sport of cricket was brought to the Indian subcontinent for the first time in the 18th century by British sailors, and the first cricket club wasn't founded until 1792. On June 25, 1932, India's national cricket team competed in its first international match, which took place at Lord's. With this victory, India became the sixth team in the world to be given Test cricket status. It wasn't until 1952, after nearly twenty years of trying, that India finally won its first Test match. During the first half-century of cricket's international competition, there were only 35 victories out of a total of 196 tests played. The decade of the 1970s, on the other hand, saw the rise to prominence of players such as Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, Kapil Dev, and the Indian spin quartet, all of whom contributed to the team's increased competitiveness.

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In 1700s-1918:

Cricket was introduced to India by the British in the early 1700s, and the country's first official match didn't take place until 1721. In the year 1848, members of the Parsi community in Bombay established the Oriental Cricket Club, which is recognized as the first cricket club to be founded by Indians. After a slow start, the Europeans ultimately extended an invitation to the Parsis to compete in a match in the year 1877. By the year 1912, the Parsis, Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims of Bombay were all participating in an annual quadrangular tournament alongside the Europeans. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were a few Indians who made it to the England cricket team. Some of these, such as Ranjitsinhji and KS Duleepsinhji, were highly regarded by the British, and their names were later adopted for two of India's most important first-class competitions: the Ranji Trophy and the Duleep Trophy. In 1911, an Indian team led by Bhupinder Singh of Patiala embarked on their first official tour of the British Isles. However, during this tour, they were only able to compete against English county teams rather than the national England cricket team.

In 1918-1970: 

India was given an invitation to join the Imperial Cricket Council in 1926, and the country made its debut as a Test playing nation in England in 1932. At the time, CK Nayudu was regarded as the best batsman to come out of India, so he was chosen to lead the team. Lord's Cricket Ground in London was the location of the one-off test match that was played between the two teams. At this point in the game, the team's batting was not particularly strong, and as a result, they ended up losing by 158 runs. 1933 was the year that India played host to its first Test series. When England played two tests in Bombay (now known as Mumbai) and Calcutta, they did so as the visiting team (now Kolkata). The series was won by the visitors by a score of 2-0. Despite the fact that the Indian team continued to get better throughout the 1930s and '40s, they were never able to win a match on the international stage during this time. Because of the Second World War, India did not participate in any Test cricket matches during the early 1940s.

In India's 24th Test match, which was played against England at Madras in 1952, they won for the first time. In the fall of the same year, they beat Pakistan in their first Test series. During the early 1950s, they kept getting better, and in 1956, they beat New Zealand in a series. But for the rest of the decade, they didn't win again, and they lost badly to strong Australian and English teams. On August 24, 1959, India lost the Test by one innings, giving England the only 5–0 win it has ever had over India. Over the next 10 years, India became known as a team that did well at home. In 1961–62, they won their first Test series at home against England. They also won a series at home against New Zealand. They were able to tie their home series against Pakistan, Australia, and England. During this same time, India beat New Zealand in a series for the first time outside of the subcontinent, in 1967–68. 

The Indian spin quartet of Bishen Bedi, E.A.S. Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar, and Srinivas Venkataraghavan was the key to India's bowling in the 1970s. During this time, Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath became two of the best Indian batsmen ever. Indian pitches have a tendency to help spin, which the spin quartet took advantage of to make batting lines fall apart. Under the leadership of Ajit Wadekar, these players won back-to-back series in the West Indies and England in 1971. Gavaskar got 774 runs in the series against the West Indies, and Dilip Sardesai's 112 helped them win their one Test.

One-day Cricket and ICC Cricket World Cup success 

In 1970-1985: 

When One Day International (ODI) cricket started in 1971, it changed the game in a new way. But India wasn't thought to be good at ODIs at this point, and batsmen like captain Gavaskar were known for playing defensively. India's ODI team was weak at first, and in the first two Cricket World Cups, they didn't make it to the second round. Gavaskar famously blocked his way to 36 not out off 174 balls against England in the first World Cup in 1975. India only scored 132 for 3 and lost by 202 runs.

During the 1980s, India's batting line-up became more aggressive. Players like the wristy Mohammed Azharuddin, Dilip Vengsarkar, and the all-rounders Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri helped make this happen. In 1983, India beat the favorites and two-time defending champions West Indies to win the Cricket World Cup. They did this by bowling well in the final, which was held at Lord's. Even so, the team did not do well in Tests. For example, they went 28 Test matches without a win. In 1984, India won the Asia Cup. In 1985, they went to Australia and won the World Championship of Cricket. India was still a weak team outside of the Indian subcontinent, though. India won a Test series against England in 1986. That was the last time India won a Test series outside of the subcontinent for the next 19 years. Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, India's best all-rounder to date, were at the top of their games in the 1980s. Gavaskar made a record-setting 34 centuries in Tests, and he was the first person to reach 10,000 runs. Later, Kapil Dev took 434 wickets, which made him the player with the most in Test cricket. Gavaskar and Kapil switched places as captain several times during this time, which was also a sign of unstable leadership. 

Late 20th Century (1985-2000): 

 

Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble joined the national team in 1989 and 1990, which made the team even better. The next year, India sent out Javagal Srinath, who was the fastest bowler since Amar Singh. In spite of this, India didn't win any of the 33 Tests it played outside of the subcontinent during the 1990s. However, it did win 17 of the 30 Tests it played at home. After losing to Sri Lanka in the semifinals of the 1996 Cricket World Cup at home, the team went through a year of changes. In the same Test at Lord's, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, who would later lead the team, made their debuts. Late in 1996, Tendulkar took over as captain from Azharuddin. However, Tendulkar's and the team's performance dropped, so Azharuddin was made captain again at the start of 1998.

After the 1999 Cricket World Cup, where India didn't make it to the semifinals, Tendulkar was made captain again and had another bad run, losing 3–0 in Australia and then 2–0 at home to South Africa. Tendulkar quit and said he would never lead the team again. Ganguly was made the new captain, and in 2000, former captain Azharuddin and batsman Ajay Jadeja were caught in a match-fixing scandal and banned for life and five years, respectively. This hurt the team even more. The BBC said that this time was "the worst hour for Indian cricket." But Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble, and Ganguly, the new core, swore they wouldn't let this happen again and would lead Indian cricket out of the dark times. And the first three put their own goals aside to follow Ganguly into a new era.

21st Century: 

The Indian team got much better when Sourav Ganguly was captain and India's first foreign coach, John Wright, was in charge. India has never lost a Test series at home against Australia. After winning in 2001, they kept that record. In the Kolkata Test match, India became only the third team in the history of Test cricket to win a Test match after following on. Steve Waugh, the captain of Australia, called India the "Final Frontier" because his team has never been able to win a Test series there. India won the ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka in 2002. They then went to the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, where they made it to the final but lost to Australia. After losing the Test series in Pakistan in early 2006, India won the ODI series in a very convincing way. This gave India the world record of 17 straight wins while batting second in ODIs. 

India played its first Twenty20 international in South Africa in December 2006 and won. Before the 2007 Cricket World Cup, the Indian team's luck in ODIs got better at the start of 2007. India won series against West Indies and Sri Lanka. Ganguly's return and Tendulkar's good form, along with the rise of young players like Robin Uthappa, led many experts to say that India could win the 2007 Cricket World Cup. India didn't make it to the second round because they lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

After India won the Test series against England in August 2007, Dhoni took over as captain of the Twenty20 and ODI teams. In September 2007, India beat Pakistan by 5 runs to win the first-ever Twenty20 World Cup. It was held in South Africa. In 2007–08, they went on a tour of Australia. In a very controversial home Test series, India lost 2–1, but the next month, they swept Australia in a CB series. In April 2009, India won a Test series in New Zealand for the first time in 41 years. India beat Sri Lanka in the final on April 2, 2011, to win the 2011 Cricket World Cup. This made India the third team, after West Indies and Australia, to win the World Cup twice. India was also the first team to win the World Cup on its own territory. India beat England in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy Final, and Dhoni became the first captain in history to win all three major ICC trophies: the ICC Cricket World Cup, the ICC World Twenty20, and the ICC Champions Trophy.

India almost won another ICC trophy at the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, which was held in Bangladesh but was won by Sri Lanka instead. Virat Kohli became one of the best limited-overs batsmen in the world because of this tournament. He was named the man of the series. India went to Australia at the end of 2014 for a four-match Test series that will be remembered for MS Dhoni's sudden retirement from Test cricket at the end of the second Test. After beating South Africa badly in 2015, India's new captain, Virat Kohli, led them to become the best team at home in Test matches. This series was the start of a run of 19 Test matches where they didn't lose. India lost to Australia in the semi-finals of the 2015 World Cup, which Australia went on to win. Then, to start 2016, India won the 2016 Asia Cup by going undefeated the whole time. The team was the favorite to win the 2016 ICC World Twenty20, which was held in their own country, but they lost to West Indies in the semi-final. MS Dhoni quit as limited-overs captain before the series against England, so Virat Kohli became captain for all types of cricket. India beat England in all three types of cricket. The Test series, which was a big deal, was won 4–0 by India. India beat Pakistan in their first game of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, but they lost to Pakistan in the final. It was the first time since 2007 that these two teams met at this stage of a tournament.

The Indian team's next major global tournament was the 2019 Cricket World Cup where the team finished first in the group stage with 7 wins and only 1 loss which came against host nation England. They made the semis but lost to New Zealand by 18 runs.[51] Rohit Sharma was the highest run-scorer for the team with 648 runs. India were supposed to play South Africa at home in March 2020, but the tour got canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic in India. After eight months, India played against Australia in late 2020. They were 36 all out in the first Test, which Australia won by 8 wickets. They won the second Test in Melbourne by 8 wickets; drew out the third Test in Sydney, and won the fourth Test in Brisbane by three wickets in spite of not having many frontline players. By winning the Test series in Australia, India became one of the teams alongside South Africa to win two Test series in Australia. India played its first home series of 2021 against England. The matches were played in Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Pune. They started the series by losing the first test in Chennai by 227 runs. But they won the next three Test matches by winning the Test series 3–1. Not only did they win the Test series; they also qualified for the 2021 ICC World Test Championship Final. They also played the T20I series, which they won 3–2, and the ODI series, which they won 2–1. Then, India played the 2021 ICC World Test Championship Final against New Zealand in Southampton in which they lost by 8 wickets.

A month before the T20 World Cup in 2021, Virat Kohli said that it would be his last time as captain of the T20I team. India's first game was against Pakistan, and they lost by 10 wickets. The next time they played, they lost by 8 wickets to New Zealand. After that, they beat Afghanistan and Scotland. India still had a chance to make it to the semi-finals, but it needed Afghanistan to beat New Zealand. Afghanistan lost to New Zealand, and India lost to Namibia by 9 wickets to end their seasons. Soon after, it was announced that Rohit Sharma would be the new T20I captain and that Rahul Dravid would be the new head coach. With a new captain in charge and a new coach to lead them, India beat New Zealand 3–0 at home in the T20I series and 1–0 in the Test series that followed.

The selection committee replaced Virat Kohli as India's ODI captain with Rohit Sharma before the away series against South Africa. Rohit Sharma is now India's official ODI captain. After they lost the Test series to South Africa, Kohli also quit as Test captain. India was put in Group A for the 2022 Asia Cup, which was a T20I tournament. India beat both Hong Kong and Pakistan to move on to the Super 4 stage. But they lost to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super 4 stage, so they didn't make it to the finals and can't defend their title. India got to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in 2022, but England beat them by 10 wickets.