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India entered the third Test against Sri Lanka with the series already in their bag, having won the first two Tests at Galle and Colombo respectively, the latter one being their first innings victory in Sri Lanka.
This is India’s 18th series win overseas out of the 78 series they have played.
Over the last half a century, India have won against all Test playing nations in their own backyard and have registered many memorable Test wins overseas.
Let’s take a look at India’s first Test win in every overseas country.
#1. New Zealand, 1968
After being whitewashed at Australia, India travelled to New Zealand to play their first Test series in the country. India had an unbeaten record against the Kiwis coming into the series as they had won both their home series against them in 1956 and 1965.
The first Test of the series was held in Dunedin on February 15th, 1968. New Zealand won the toss and captain Barry Sinclair opted to bat first. A brilliant 143 from Graham Dowling assisted by fifties from Bevan Congdon and Mark Burgess took New Zealand to 308 in their first innings. Amongst the Indian bowlers, Syed Abid Ali was the pick of them with 4/26.
In reply, MAK Pataudi-led India scored 359 thanks to half-centuries from Ajit Wadekar and Farookh Engineer. All 11 of India’s batsmen scored in double figures, thus making it only the second time this happened. The first instance when all 11 Indian players scored in double figures was against Pakistan in Kolkata in 1952.
Dick Motz was the pick of the Kiwi bowlers, picking up 5 wickets for 86, his second five for in Tests.
In the second innings, Erapalli Prasanna’s 6/94 limited New Zealand to only 208, thus giving India a target of 200 to chase to win the match. India did not have a very good start as they were 49/2 at a time. However, a partnership of 103 between Ajit Wadekar (71) and Rusi Surti (44) turned the match back into India’s favour.
India eventually won the match by 5 wickets, thus registering their first ever win away from home. India eventually went on to win the four-match series 3-1 which subsequently became their first series win overseas.
#2. West Indies, 1971
More than a year after being beaten by Australia at home, India travelled to the Caribbean to take on the mighty West Indies side led by Gary Sobers and consisting of world class players like Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai, Roy Fredericks, and Lance Gibbs. India were heavy underdogs as they had been whitewashed 5-0 in their previous Tour of West Indies nine years ago.
The first Test at Kingston (where Dilip Sardesai scored 212 in the first innings) ended in a draw. The second Test was held at Port of Spain with Sobers winning the toss and deciding to bat first. India got a very early breakthrough when Syed Abid Ali bowled opener Roy Fredericks in the first over. Barring Charlie Davis (who scored 71), none of the other Windies batsmen were able to stay at the crease for long thanks to the spin duo of Erapalli Prasanna and Bishan Singh Bedi who took 4/54 and 3/46 respectively as the hosts were bowled out for 214.
In reply, India scored 352 with Dilip Sardesai carrying his good form from Kingston, scoring 112, with debutant Sunil Gavaskar and Eknath Solkar scoring 65 and 55 respectively. Amongst the Windies bowlers, Jack Noreiga bowled one of the greatest spells in Test cricket history, picking up 9 wickets for 95 which is yet to be bettered by any other Windies bowler.
In the second innings, West Indies were off to a good start with Fredericks and Rohan Kanhai adding 73 before the latter was dismissed by Bedi. Charlie Davis joined Fredericks at the crease and the duo added 77 for the second wicket before the former got injured and left the field. This triggered a collapse as Fredericks was run out for 80.
India then got the prized wicket of Gary Sobers after Salim Durani of all people dismissed him for a duck. Durani got another big wicket as he dismissed Clive Lloyd following which, Srinivas Venkatraghavan dismissed Steve Camacho and West Indies were 169/5. At this point, Davis returned to the crease to keep the Windies in the match but nothing was stopping Venkat that day. He went on to bring the West Indies lower order down like an avalanche, picking up 5/96 as West Indies were dismissed for 261.
India needed only 124 to win the match. Sunil Gavaskar steered India to a historic victory, scoring 67 and ending his debut Test in style. This was India’s first ever win against and in West Indies and they eventually went on to win the 5-match series 1-0. This remains to be one of India’s most historic Test wins overseas.
#3. England, 1971
A few months after their historic series win in West Indies, India travelled to England for a three-match series. India’s last two series against England in 1959 and 1967 had both ended in whitewashes but this time, India were more confident.
The first Test at Lord’s had a controversial incident when Sunil Gavaskar collided with England bowler John Snow, losing his bat in the process. Snow was reported to have tossed back the bat to Gavaskar whereas the batsman himself admitted in 2000 that the bowler simply handed him the bat.
However, the match was drawn due to rain intervening when India needed 38 runs to win with two wickets left. However, it ended India’s 8-match losing streak against England. The second Test at Old Trafford was also drawn and now, all eyes were on the final Test at the Kennington Oval.
Thanks to scores of 90, 82, and 81 from Allan Knott, John Jameson, and Richard Hutton, England scored 355 in their first innings. In reply, India lost Gavaskar early who was bowled by John Snow but not before having his chain and medallion zipped out by a bouncer from the 5ft 11 bowler.
Fifties from Farookh Engineer and Dilip Sardesai assisted by captain Ajit Wadekar’s 48 and Eknath Solkar’s 44 could take India to only 284, thanks to Wadekar’s opposite number Ray Illingworth’s spell of 5/70.
However, India responded brilliantly in the second innings with Bhagwat Chandrasekhar picking up 6 wickets as England were skittled for 101, giving India a target of 173 to win. India lost Gavaskar and Mankad early but Wadekar and Sardesai brought back stability to the Indian innings by scoring 45 and 40 respectively. Gundappa Viswanath and Farookh Engineer added 33 and 28 respectively to steer India to victory by 4 wickets, thus clinching a hat-trick of overseas series wins.
#4. Australia, 1977-78
After being trounced by England 3-1 at home, India would be travelling to Australia to play a five-match series against the Bobby Simpson led team. The first Test at Brisbane was a close contest with Australia edging out India by 16 runs. The second Test at Perth was another thrilling contest with Australia once again prevailing, this time by two wickets, thus extending their winning streak against India at home to 9 Tests.
The third Test was held in Melbourne from 30 December- 4 January and Indian skipper Bishan Singh Bedi decided to bat first after winning the toss. India lost openers Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan for ducks before Mohinder Amarnath and Gundappa Viswanath added 105 for the third wicket. Amarnath scored 72 while Viswanath scored 59.
The middle order batsmen made some contributions but they could not stay for long. The lower order batsmen got out quickly and India’s innings ended at 256 with Wayne Clark and Jeff Thomson picking up three and four wickets respectively.
In reply, Australia also lost two early wickets thanks to Karsan Ghavri but Gary Cosier and Craig Serjeant added 104 runs for the third wicket to keep the hosts in a good position. At this stage, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar came in and broke the partnership by dismissing Cosier. This wicket triggered a collapse in the Australian batting as they lost their remaining seven wickets for only 89 runs with Chandrasekhar doing most of the damage as he took 6 wickets for only 52 runs.
In the second innings, Sunil Gavaskar’s 118 assisted by Gundappa Viswanath’s 54 and chippings from Mohinder Amarnath and Ashok Mankad took India to 343, thus giving Australia a target of 387 to chase in order to seal the series. However, once again the Chandrasekhar show came into action with another spell of 6/52 from the Mysore spinner as Australia were skittled for 164 and India won the match by 222 runs, thus registering their first ever victory in Australia.
#5. Sri Lanka, 1993
After a successful Test and ODI series at home against Zimbabwe, India would travel south to play Sri Lanka in a three-match Test series. The first Test at Kandy saw only 49 minutes of play on Day-2 as the remaining days were washed out due to rain, thus making it the shortest Test in history.
The second Test was played at Colombo with Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin opting to bat first. A brilliant century from Vinod Kambli assisted by Navjot Singh Sidhu’s 82 took India to 366 in their first innings. In reply, Sri Lanka could score only 254 with skipper Arjuna Ranatunga top scoring with 88 while the other batsmen could not contribute much mainly due to Anil Kumble who bowled a spell of 5/87.
In the second innings, centuries from Sidhu and Sachin Tendulkar (both scoring 104) and a 95 from Manoj Prabhakar took India to 359/4 after which Azharuddin declared. Thus Sri Lanka needed to script the highest Test run-chase in Test match cricket to win the match, needing 472 to win.
Aravinda de Silva was the only Sri Lankan player who tried to stay on the crease with little resilience being shown by Chandika Hathurusingha and Asanka Gurusinha as the Indian bowlers were wreaking havoc. De Silva’s 93 wasn’t enough as India bowled out Sri Lanka for 236, thus registering their first win in the country.
Amongst the Indian bowlers, both Kumble and Prabhakar took three wickets while Kapil Dev took two with the remaining two wickets being taken by Javagal Srinath and Rajesh Chauhan. Manoj Prabhakar was adjudged the Man of the Match for his brilliant all-round performance throughout the match.
#6. Bangladesh, 2000
India’s visit to Bangladesh in 2000 was a historical moment in Bangladesh cricket as this would be their first ever Test match. The Bangladesh side had a lot of layers who played at the 1999 World Cup including their then skipper Aminul Islam, Mohammad Rafique, Akram Khan, and Khaled Mashud.
Bangladesh won the toss and skipper Naimur Rahman opted to bat first. The hosts were off to a horrible start as they lost openers Shahriar and Mehrab Hossain early, the latter being Zaheer Khan’s first Test scalp. However, Habibul Bashar and Aminul Islam batted calmly to keep the scoreboard ticking for Bangladesh. The duo added 66 for the third wicket before Habibul Bashar was dismissed by debutant Zaheer Khan for 71.
Aminul Islam batted his way to his century, thus becoming Bangladesh’s first Test centurion before being dismissed for 145. They ended their innings at 400 which was quite an impressive total for a first-timer. Amongst the Indian bowlers, Sunil Joshi picked up 5 wickets while Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan picked up two wickets each.
In reply, India scored 429 thanks to a brilliant 92 from Sunil Joshi towards the end of the innings in addition to skipper Sourav Ganguly’s 84 and Sadagoppan Ramesh’s 58. Bangladesh captain Naimur Rahman bowled a spell of 6/132 that included the wickets of both Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
In their second innings, some sensational bowling from the Indian bowlers, mainly Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar, and Sunil Joshi blew away Bangladesh for just 91, giving India a target of only 63 to chase down.
India comprehensively chased down the total with nine wickets to spare to win their first Test at Bangladesh. Sunil Joshi was unsurprisingly adjudged the Man of the Match for his wonderful all-round effort that comprised 92 in the first innings and 8 wickets in the match.
#7. Zimbabwe, 2000
After narrowly losing to Australia in the home ODI series, India would travel to Zimbabwe to play two Tests. The Zimbabwe side consisted of four players from the team that defeated India in a one-off Test at Harare in 1998.
The first Test was held in Bulawayo and Zimbabwe won the toss and captain Heath Streak opted to bat first. The hosts were bowled out for 173 with only Andy Flower managing to score a half-century. Ashish Nehra was the pick of the Indian bowlers while Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh picked up two wickets each.
In reply, India scored 318 thanks to Sachin Tendulkar’s 74 and Harbhajan Singh’s 66 with Rahul Dravid and Sameer Dighe also contributing with 44 and 47 respectively. Heath Streak and Brighton Watambwa both took three wickets.
In the second innings, Zimbabwe put on a much better batting performance with the Flower brothers scoring 50s each; Andy scoring 83 and Grant scoring 71 while Stuart Carlisle scored 52. However, Zimbabwe could only manage 328. This time, Javagal Srinath picked up three wickets while Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra both picked up two scalps apiece.
India needed 184 to win and they chased down the target easily, losing only two wickets with Shiv Sunder Das scoring an unbeaten 82 which eventually won him the Man of the Match award. India thus won their first Test at Zimbabwe but they lost the second Test at Harare and the series was drawn.
#8. Pakistan, 2004
After winning an ODI series in Pakistan for the first time, India were eager to win their first Test at Pakistan. The first Test of the three-match series was held at Multan and India’s stand-in captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and decided to bat first.
The first innings saw history being created as Virender Sehwag smashed each of the Pakistan bowlers to all parts of the ground to become the first Indian batsman to score a triple-century in Test cricket. Sachin Tendulkar also batted brilliantly as he scored 194 but with the departure of Yuvraj Singh for 59, Rahul Dravid declared the Indian innings at 675/3 thus denying Sachin Tendulkar the chance to score a double hundred.
In reply, Pakistan were bowled out for 407 and Dravid forced them to follow-on. In the second innings, Mohammad Yousuf batted valiantly, scoring 112 but other Pakistan batsmen were unable to assist them with Anil Kumble being the root cause. Kumble picked up 6 wickets for 72 as Pakistan were dismissed for 216 thus handing India a win by an innings and 52 runs.
Virender Sehwag was adjudged the Man of the Match for his monumental knock of 309 as India won their first Test on Pakistan soil.
India eventually went on to win the series 2-1, thus recording their maiden Test series win in Pakistan as well.
#9. South Africa, 2006
Following a disastrous drubbing at the ODI series, India would play three Tests against South Africa with the first one of them being held in Johannesburg. India won the toss and skipper Rahul Dravid decided to bat first.
India scored 249 in their first innings with Sourav Ganguly scoring 51 in his comeback to the national team. Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini were the pick of the South African bowlers, taking 4 and 3 wickets respectively.
In reply, the Proteas were bundled out for only 84 thanks to Sreesanth’s five-wicket haul while Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble took two wickets each.
In their second innings, India scored only 236 with VVS Laxman scoring 73 while Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag added 37 and 33 respectively. Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, and Andre Nel took three wickets each for South Africa. The second innings also witnessed a hilarious moment when Sreesanth replied Andre Nel’s sledging by hitting a six and dancing down the wicket while whirling his bat.
South Africa needed 402 to win the match but the Indian bowlers produced another fine performance with Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, and Sreesanth picking up three wickets apiece. Ashwell Prince and Shaun Pollock tried to keep South Africa in the match with their scores of 97 and 40 but it was India’s day and the hosts were dismissed for 278, thus handing the visitors their first win in South Africa.
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