5 biggest Test wins for India in terms of runs

India are one of the most followed teams in world cricket. Having played their first-ever Test match in 1932, it took India almost 20 years to get their first-ever win in the format. It was in 1952 that they managed to beat England to secure their maiden Test victory.

Today, India have played 521 Test matches to emerge victorious in 144 of them. While there have been some close wins, some victories have also come off considerably big margins.

Let’s take a look at 5 biggest Test wins for India, in terms of runs:

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#5 280 runs vs South Africa (Kanpur - 1996)

Mohammed Azharuddin scored a brilliant ton in the second innings

After South Africa’s readmission to international cricket, India were the first to play against them, back in 1991. India hosted a 3-match ODI series against the Proteas. Later, they also travelled to South Africa the following year to play on a full-fledged tour there.

South Africa returned to India in 1996 to play its first Test series in the country. The series was level at 1-1 after the first two Tests. India won the toss in Kanpur (3rd Test) and elected to bat first.

WV Raman and Sachin Tendulkar struck fifties in the first innings, but India could only manage 237 at the end of it all. Paul Adams was the star with the ball for South Africa and took 6 wickets with the red cherry.

In South Africa’s first innings, Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath rattled the visitors as they shared 7 wickets between them and dismissed the visitors for just 177, due to which India managed to gain a handy 60-run lead.

In the second innings, skipper Mohammed Azharuddin struck a magnificent ton and scored an unbeaten 163 to take the hosts to a total of 400, after which they declared the innings.

Chasing a target of 461, South Africa were bowled out for 180 as Javagal Srinath and Sunil Joshi took three wickets a-piece and gave India a series-clinching victory in the match.

Brief Scores: India 237 (WV Raman 57, Sachin Tendulkar 61, Paul Adams 6/55) and 400/7 dec (Mohammed Azharuddin 163*, Rahul Dravid 56, Fanie de Villiers 2/58) beat South Africa 177 (Gary Kirsten 43, Anil Kumble 4/71, Javagal Srinath 3/42) and 180 (Hansie Cronje 50, Javagal Srinath 3/38, Sunil Joshi 3/66)

#4 304 vs Sri Lanka (Galle - 2017)

Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara hit tons to set up the game for India in the first innings

After Sangakkara’s retirement in 2015, Sri Lankan cricket was in a phase of transition. In the great left-hander's farewell series, India had beaten the hosts 2-1 in the 3-match Test series.

Two years later, India toured the island nation yet again.

At Galle, India won the toss and chose to bat first. Shikhar Dhawan absolutely demolished the Sri Lankan bowling attack to score an authoritative 190 in just 168 balls and give India early advantage in the match. Cheteshwar Pujara also chipped in to score a brilliant 153 and helped India post 600 in the first innings.

Sri Lanka, in reply, were bowled out for just 291. Angelo Mathews scored 83 while Dilruwan Perera made an unbeaten 92, but no other Sri Lankan batsmen could cope with the immense pressure from the Indians. All the Indian bowlers shared the spoils as Jadeja emerged with the best figures amongst them (3 for 67).

Despite having a lead of 309, India batted again. Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 103 and his team declared at 240/3 to set the hosts a target of 550. Sri Lanka’s second innings saw no improvement and they were bowled out for a meagre total of 245. Ashwin and Jadeja took 3 wickets apiece in this same.

Brief Scores: India 600 (Dhawan 190, Pujara 153, Pradeep 6-132) and 240 for 3 dec (Kohli 103*, Abhinav 81) beat Sri Lanka 291 (Perera 92*, Mathews 83, Jadeja 3-67) and 245 (Karunaratne 97, Dickwella 67, Ashwin 3-65, Jadeja 3-71)

#3 320 runs vs Australia (Mohali - 2008)

On debut, Amit Mishra took 7 wickets in the match

Indian and Australian cricket had developed quite a bit of rivalry in the 2000s. After the famous 2001 Test series, India drew 1-1 in Australia in 2003/04 before the Aussies won their first series in India after 35 years, back in 2004.

In 2007/08, when India toured Australia, they played excellent cricket and should have won the series but some poor umpiring saw them lose the 2nd Test, which led to a 2-1 loss for the visitors in the series. The Monkeygate saga (Harbhajan-Symonds argument) made the headlines of every sports publication of that time.

In 2008, Australia returned to India for a 4-match Test series. After a draw in the first Test, India went into the second Test without their regular skipper, Anil Kumble. MS Dhoni, who led the team in his absence, elected to bat first after winning the toss.

Tendulkar’s 88, Sourav Ganguly’s 102 MS Dhoni’s 92 helped India get to 469 in their first innings. In reply, Australia were dismantled for just 268, as debutant Amit Mishra took 5 wickets for 71 runs to spin a dangerous web around the Aussie batsmen. Shane Watson and Michael Hussey scored fifties in the innings.

In the second innings, Gautam Gambhir scored a ton while Virender Sehwag and Dhoni struck fifties to help India set Australia a target of 516. The visitors lasted for only 65 overs as all the four bowlers scalped the Kangaroo wickets. India won the second Test by 320 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the 4-match series.

Brief Scores: India 469 (Ganguly 102, Dhoni 92, Tendulkar 88, Johnson 3/88) and 314/3 dec (Gautam Gambhir 104, Virender Sehwag 90, MS Dhoni 68*) beat Australia 268 (Watson 78, Hussey 54, Mishra 5/71, Harbhajan 2/60) and 195 (Clarke 69, Harbhajan 3/36, Zaheer 3/71)

#2 321 runs vs New Zealand (Indore - 2016)

Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane starred with the bat in the first innings

The 2016 series against New Zealand kicked off a grand home season for Indian cricket, where they were to host 13 consecutive home Test matches against four different opponents.

India started off with a bang. They won the first two Tests and were on the verge of whitewashing a strong New Zealand team with a victory in the third Test. This game was played in Indore and it was the first-ever Test match in the city. India won the toss for the third consecutive time and opted to bat first.

Virat Kohli, who had had a dull series until that point, scored a majestic 211 in the first innings. Ajinkya Rahane also came to the party with a brilliant 188. These knocks helped India get to 557 before they decided to declare the innings.

In reply, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham and James Neesham struck fifties but yet, the Kiwis fell well short of India’s first innings score. They could manage just 299 runs. Ashwin took 6 wickets to derail the middle-order of the hosts.

However, India chose not to enforce the follow-on. Pujara’s superb 101 in the second innings helped India set a target of 475 for New Zealand.

Ashwin once again ran through the New Zealand batting line-up as he took 7 wickets in the second innings to finish with 13 wickets in the game. India effectively white-washed New Zealand 3-0 in the series.

Brief Scores: India 577 for 5 dec (Kohli 211, Rahane 188, Boult 2/113) and 216 for 3 dec (Pujara 101*, Gambhir 50, Jeetan Patel 2/56) beat New Zealand 299 (Guptill 72, Neesham 71, Latham 53, Ashwin 6-81, Jadeja 2/80) and 153 (Taylor 32, Ashwin 7-59, Jadeja 2/45)

#1 335 runs vs South Africa (Delhi - 2015)

Rahane was the lone

century maker

in the series

The India-South Africa Test series in 2015 will be remembered for a couple of reasons. First, India produced rank turners in the same, which lead the first and third Tests to get over within just 3 days. The pitch used in Nagpur was rated poor by the match referee as well and the batsmen had very little chance to showcase their talent.

The second next reason was the 'blockathon' displayed by South Africa in the fourth Test of the series.

The pitch in Delhi was not an out-and-out turner where the ball spun from the first ball. Already 2-0 up in the series, India won the toss and chose to bat first. On the back of Rahane’s brilliant 127 (which was the first ton of the series) and vital contributions from Ashwin (56) and Kohli (44), India reached 334 in the first innings. It was the first 300+ total of the series.

In reply, South Africa imploded. Jadeja (5/30) ran through the Proteas batting line-up as they were skittled out for just 121.

Despite having a lead of 213 runs, India opted against the follow-on and batted one more time. Rahane, once again, was the star with the bat. He scored his second hundred of the game and was supported well by Kohli, who made a very good 88 in the innings.

India declared a before lunch on Day 4 and set South Africa a daunting target of 481. The surface had deteriorated as the match progressed, hence the odds were stacked heavily against the visitors.

However, they were determined to save the game. And what followed was a magnificent blocking game by the Proteas. It had worked successfully for them three years back against Australia in Adelaide and they were at it once again in Delhi.

South Africa lost Dean Elgar in the fourth over but the batsmen who followed exhibited supreme patience, grit and determination to see off the game.

Temba Bavuma, playing just the 4th Test of his career, played 117 deliveries for 34 runs, Hashim Amla batted for almost 5 hours and scored 25 (in 244 balls), AB de Villiers was at the crease for 6 hours and made just 43 (in 297 balls). Faf du Plessis, too, fought well in the middle.

At tea on day 5, it looked like South Africa would pull off an unimaginable draw.

However, Umesh Yadav took 3/9 and to end the South African resistance and run through their lower order. Ashwin ended with figures of 5/61 in the innings. The visitors batted for 143.1 overs and scored 143, but lost by a huge margin of 335 runs, eventually.

Brief Scores: India 334 (Rahane 127, Ashwin 56, Abbott 5-40, Piedt 4-117) and 267 for 5 dec (Rahane 100*, Kohli 88, Morkel 3-51) beat South Africa 121 (de Villiers 43, Jadeja 5-30) and 143 (de Villiers 43, Ashwin 5-61, Umesh 3-9)