IND v AUS 2020: Have India ever won in Australia?

India are all set to make a much-awaited return to international cricket, and the excitement among fans is slowly mounting. The first game of the six-match limited-overs series, which starts on November 27 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, is mere days away.

India’s 2020/21 tour of Australia kickstarts with a 3-match ODI series, followed by as many T20Is – all six matches will be hosted by the SCG and the Manuka Oval in Canberra. However, the star attraction of the tour is the 4-Test series, which will start with a pink-ball game at the Adelaide Oval on December 17.

Although Virat Kohli will return to India after the opening Test to attend the birth of his first child, India – under the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane – would aim to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which they won in 2018/19.

Virat Kohli became the first Asian captain to win a Test series Down Under when India beat the hosts 2-1. In fact, that historic tour also saw India trump the Aussies in an away bilateral series (2-1) for the first time ever.

We now take a look at the Indian team’s wins on Australian soil, over the years and across formats.

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India’s Test wins in Australia (chronologically)

Rahul Dravid aggregated 305 runs across two innings in the famous Adelaide Test in 2003

Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne (Dec 30, 1977 - Jan 4, 1978)

Brief scorecard: India 256/10 (Mohinder Amarnath 72, Wayne Clark 4/73) & 343/10 (Sunil Gavaskar 118, Wayne Clark 4/96) beat Australia 213/10 (Craig Serjeant 85, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar 6/52) & 164/10 (Gary Cosier 34, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar 6/52) by 22 runs

2. Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney (Jan 7, 1978 - Jan 12, 1978)

Brief scorecard: Australia 131/10 (Bob Simpson 38, Bhagwath Chandrasekhar 4/30) & 263/10 (Peter Toohey 85, Erapalli Prasanna 4/51) lost to India 396/8 dec (Gundappa Viswanath 79, Jeff Thomson 4/83) by an innings and 2 runs

3. Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne (Feb 7, 1981 - Feb 11, 1981)

Brief scorecard: India 237/10 (Gundappa Viswanath 114, Dennis Lillee 4/65) & 324/10 (Chetan Chauhan 85, Dennis Lillee 4/104) beat Australia 419/10 (Alan Border 124, Dilip Doshi 3/109) & 83/10 (Doug Walters 18, Kapil Dev 5/28) by 59 runs

4. Adelaide Oval, Adelaide (Dec 12, 2003 - Dec 16, 2003)

Brief scorecard: Australia 556/10 (Ricky Ponting 242, Anil Kumble 5/154) & 196/10 (Adam Gilchrist 43, Ajit Agarkar 6/41) lost to India 523/10 (Rahul Dravid 233, Andy Bichel 4/118) & 223/6 (Rahul Dravid 72*, Simon Katich 2/22) by 4 wickets

5. WACA Ground, Perth (Jan 16, 2008 - Jan 19, 2008)

Brief scorecard: India 330/10 (Rahul Dravid 93, Mitchell Johnson 4/86) & 294/10 (VVS Laxman 79, Stuart Clark 4/61) beat Australia 212/10 (Andrew Symonds 66, RP Singh 4/68) & 340/10 (Michael Clarke 81, Irfan Pathan 3/54) by 72 runs

6. Adelaide Oval, Adelaide (Dec 6, 2018 - Dec 10, 2018)

Brief scorecard: India 250/10 (Cheteshwar Pujara 123, Josh Hazlewood 3/52) & 307/10 (Cheteshwar Pujara 71, Nathan Lyon 6/122) beat Australia 235/10 (Travis Head 72, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/57) & 291/10 (Shaun Marsh 60, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/92) by 31 runs

7. Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne (Dec 26, 2018 - Dec 30, 2018)

Brief scorecard: India 443/7 dec (Cheteshwar Pujara 106, Pat Cummins 3/72) & 106/8 dec (Mayank Agarwal 42, Pat Cummins 6/27) beat Australia 151/10 (Tim Paine 22, Jasprit Bumrah 6/33) & 261/10 (Pat Cummins 63, Ravindra Jadeja 3/82) by 137 runs

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India’s ODI series wins in Australia (chronologically)

MS Dhoni led India to a CB series victory for the first time ever in 2008

1. Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket (1985)

Final – Brief scorecard: Pakistan 176/9 (Javed Miandad 48, Imran Khan 35, Kapil Dev 3/23, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan 3/35) lost to India 177/2 (Kris Srikkanth 67, Ravi Shastri 63*, Imran Khan 1/28, Tahir Naqqash 1/35) by 8 wickets

2. Commonwealth Bank Series (2008)

1st Final – Brief scorecard: Australia 239/8 (Matthew Hayden 82, Michael Hussey 45, Harbhajan Singh 2/38, Praveen Kumar 2/49) lost to India 242/4 (Sachin Tendulkar 117*, Rohit Sharma 66, James Hopes 2/42, Brad Hogg 1/38) by 6 wickets

2nd Final – Brief scorecard: India 258/9 (Sachin Tendulkar 91, Yuvraj Singh 38, Nathan Bracken 3/31, Michael Clarke 3/52) beat Australia 249/10 (James Hopes 63, Matthew Hayden 55, Praveen Kumar 4/46, S Sreesanth 2/43) by 9 runs

3. India tour of Australia (2018/19)

2nd ODI – Brief scorecard: Australia 298/9 (Shaun Marsh 131, Glenn Maxwell 48, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4/45, Mohammed Shami 3/58) lost to India 299/4 (Virat Kohli 104, MS Dhoni 55*, Marcus Stoinis 1/46, Glenn Maxwell 1/16) by 6 wickets

3rd ODI – Brief scorecard: Australia 230/10 (Peter Handscomb 58, Shaun Marsh 39, Yuzvendra Chahal 6/42, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/28) lost to India 234/3 (MS Dhoni 87*, Kedar Jadhav 61*, Jhye Richardson 1/27, Peter Siddle 1/56) by 7 wickets

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India’s T20I series win in Australia (chronologically)

India whitewashed Australia in a T20I series for the first time in 2016

1. India tour of Australia (2015/16)

1st T20I – Brief scorecard: India 188/3 (Virat Kohli 90*, Suresh Raina 41, Shane Watson 2/24, James Faulkner 1/43) beat Australia 151/10 (Aaron Finch 44, Steve Smith 21, Jasprit Bumrah 3/23, Ravindra Jadeja 2/21) by 37 runs

2nd T20I – Brief scorecard: India 184/3 (Rohit Sharma 60, Virat Kohli 59*, Andrew Tye 1/28, Glenn Maxwell 1/17) beat Australia 157/8 (Aaron Finch 74, Shaun Marsh 23, Ravindra Jadeja 2/32, Jasprit Bumrah 2/37) by 27 runs

3rd T20I – Brief scorecard: Australia 197/5 (Shane Watson 124*, Travis Head 26, Ashish Nehra 1/32, Ravichandran Ashwin 1/36) lost to India 200/3 (Rohit Sharma 52, Suresh Raina 49*, Cameron Boyce 2/28, Shane Watson 1/30) by 7 wickets

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