2021 - India's greatest year in Test History
A look at what has made a "work in progress" team so incredible.
The last year when India’s test record at home was poor is 2012 when they won 3 tests and lost 2. Since then, India has been peerless at home losing just 2 tests (and winning 32) at home. But the year 2021 has been special because of India’s newfound consistency abroad irrespective of conditions or opposition.
In the team’s 2nd game (Gabba Test) of the year, WinViz predicted India had only a 1% chance of winning at the end of Day 4. They beat those odds and are now sitting in South Africa with a 1-0 lead with a fantastic chance to win their 1st ever test series in the country. The team has found ways to overcome injuries or the lack of experience to get the job done or at least stay in the game.
But how did they get here? What’s changed from the India of 2018 that (although competed well) lost in England and South Africa? Here are some key reasons:
Fast bowling effectiveness
Bowlers win you test matches and having quality fast bowlers is key to winning tests, particularly outside of Asia. Apart from Siraj who debuted down under in late 2020, most of the key pacers have been around a while but they appear to be more threatening in the last 3 years (2019-21) than the 3 before that. Since 2019, India’s pacers have taken 5 fewer balls to take a wicket and conceded 3 fewer runs in the process.
One of the reasons for this is improvement in the ability to judge the right length for a pitch. In both the aforementioned tours of 2018, India took a test or more to figure out what lengths will be optimum for the conditions. Dinesh Karthik on commentary during England’s tour in 2021 also acknowledged how Mohammed Shami took a few innings to adjust to the English conditions on the previous tour.
In addition, Indian pacers have continued to work on variations, from the wobble seam to the angled seam, to keep the batters guessing. This has ensured they are a handful, whether in batting-friendly conditions in Australia or seam-friendly contests across England and South Africa.
Openers setting a solid base
Between 2016-2018, Indian openers performed slightly at par with the openers around the world aggregating 30 in Test Cricket. Since 2019, Indian openers have averaged 5 more than the global average and an Indian opener has gone past 100 every 18th inning as compared to nearly 24 for others. Rohit Sharma’s success (averages 58 across 18 tests) has been a key part of this fantastic run.
KL Rahul now has 2 brilliant hundreds in wins in England and South Africa. Shubman Gill was impressive in his debut series in Australia and even Mayank Agarwal has batted superbly against New Zealand and now in South Africa. This has been a major reason why in spite of a relative slump in the output of India’s 3, 4, and 5, the team has managed to post competitive totals.
Between 2011 and 2020, India’s average opening stand outside of Asia was just 20 runs and a little more than 6 overs long. But in 2021, this has risen to an average of 50 and about 20 overs in duration.
Lower Order Contributions
While Wriddhiman Saha has been a valuable member of India’s test side, his contributions with the bat in away tests could not quite match that of his successor. Rishabh Pant was brought in during the 2018 tour of England and he has really come into his own over the past 3 years. The southpaw was among the top 2 run-scorers during the last 2 tours to Australia, has scored a hundred in England, and also played brilliant counter-attacking knocks at home.
His ability to score quickly has forced teams to be defensive and ensured nearly every target is gettable, as we saw at the Gabba. His 34 at Centurion a couple of days back was a fantastic contribution as well, where he controlled a number of crisp horizontal shots on an uneven pitch. This got India over the 300 mark and ensured the bowlers could attack without any hesitation.
Additionally, while Ravi Jadeja has been averaging 40 with the bat since 2016, the other Ravi - Ashwin - had a slump in his batting form similar to that of Stuart Broad. Luckily for India, there were signs of Ashwin’s resurgence as a Test batter in 2021 with a terrific 100 in Chennai as well as a fighting knock to earn India a draw at the Sydney.
In the 2018 series versus England, lower-order contributions by Sam Curran often made the difference in low-scoring matches. India’s long tail was never a primary concern, but we are now starting to see regular contributions from the likes of Bumrah with bigger contributions on occasions by the likes of Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, and even Mohammed Shami.
With all these improvements and an incredible bench strength featuring players, such as Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari, Axar Patel, and T Natarajan, it might seem that this team is set to rule test cricket for a while. However, with 6 of India’s preferred first XI players over the age of 33, the team management will surely be planning for the future and looking for chances to give younger players a chance. Some of these players will hang their boots after the Test Championship of 2023 and this incredible run might not last as long as the fans might want.
2021 - India's greatest year in Test History
Nice breakdown. India have traditionally struggled to take 20 wickets - but they now have a bowling unit that can do that and do it consistently anywhere around the world.