The 5 Test venues for the India-England Series – A refresher

Mohali

The IS Bindra Stadium in all its glory

The Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Chandigarh will forever hold a special place in the hearts of Indians for being the venue of India’s famous Semi-Final victory over Pakistan during its victorious 2011 World Cup campaign.

India has won 10 and lost 4 ODIs at this famous stadium, where it has also won both its T20Is. However, the interesting stat is the Test record at this stadium. So far, India has played 12 Tests at this stadium. 5 have been drawn. India lost the inaugural Test at this stadium against West Indies way back in 1994 by a whopping 243 runs.

However, India hasn’t lost at Mohali since then. Of the 6 wins, three have come against Australia and 2 against England. The most recent win was against South Africa in the first Test of the Freedom Trophy that India won by 108 runs on an extremely spin-friendly track.

That was a surprise considering Mohali has traditionally been a pacer-friendly track with bounce, swing and seam movement available for the fast bowlers. However, the latest trend is likely to continue given India will play to its strengths and wouldn’t want to dish out a green track to aid the English bowlers. The ground has witnessed 4 scores in excess of 500, 3 from India, and 10 more scores in excess of 400. India were also dubiously dismissed for just 83 at the same ground in 1999, the lowest completed total at the venue.

Of the present set of players, Murali Vijay has the most runs at the ground, 301 in 2 outings.