Are India as great as they are in their own backyard? (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
What is common between Mumbai 2000, Mumbai 2001, Bengaluru 2004, Nagpur 2010, Pune 2017, Chennai 2021, Hyderabad 2024 and Bengaluru 2024?
These are the eight losses for India in the first Test of a home series in the last two and a half decades. Is this a worrisome trend or just a coincidence? Are India as great as they are in their own backyard, poor starters even in home conditions? RG takes a deep dive on the subject.
New Zealand defeated India by eight wickets in Bengaluru winning only their third Test in India and the first since 1988! Not only is the loss a blemish on India’s sensational record at home since the start of 1990 but a closer analysis reveals the emergence of a disturbing trend for the country. India has lost the opener in as many as three of the last seven home series! And in four of their last 13 series from 2017! That has to be a setback for a team which boasts of the most dominating record in home conditions in Test cricket history!
Slow left-arm orthodox, Stephen O’Keefe ran through the Indian line-up in the first Test of the 2017 series in Pune. India were routed for 105 in the first innings and that was pretty much Game, Set and Match! Australia maintained their stranglehold and thrashed the hosts by 333 runs.
Joe Root’s double hundred Dom Bess’ four-wicket haul in the first innings gave England a 200-run lead in the first Test in Chennai in 2021. India were always playing catch-up from there and went down by a massive 227 runs.
More recently, India lost again to England in the series opener in Hyderabad earlier this year despite gaining a 190-run lead in the first innings. Again, a slow-left-arm orthodox—Tom Hartley, also on debut—wreaked havoc on the famed Indian line-up in the second innings, returning with 7-62!
Statistically, India may have lost just eight ‘first’ Tests in 42 home series since the beginning of 2000, but when seen in the overall context of their dominance at home, it throws up some interesting questions. India has only faced defeat in 16 home Tests in the last quarter of a century. And eight of these have been the first Test of the series! This raises the question – are India poor starters, under-prepared or over-confident at the start of a home series? Is there a similarity in the nature of the pitches in these eight defeats?
The ‘poor starters theory’ seems to be the most plausible explanation, and that is not restricted to home Tests. India has lost the opening Test in four of its last eight ‘away’ series in SENA! Moreover, in each of these four series, India has tasted success, but that has come after the setback of losing the first Test!
South Africa beat India by 72 runs in the series opener in Cape Town in 2018 but the visitors won the third Test in Johannesburg. England overcame India in a thriller in Birmingham in the summer of 2018 but India came back to register a big win at Trent Bridge. After the debacle of ‘36’ in Adelaide in 2020, India staged one of the greatest comebacks in Test history to register wins in Melbourne and Brisbane for a historic 2-1 series win Down Under. South Africa routed India by an innings in the first Test at Centurion in 2023 before India levelled the series winning by seven wickets in Cape Town.
Visiting teams take time to adjust to the hostile conditions in SENA and with very few or hardly any tour matches in a packed cricketing calendar, are often under-cooked for the series opener.
But surely, that logic cannot be extended to series at home where you already have the advantage of knowing the local conditions. And especially in the case of India, whose record at home in the last 12 years has been nothing short of sensational!
Thus, the only plausible explanation for India’s slightly underwhelming performance in the first Test of a home series could be that the team, as a collective, takes time to switch on and unleash their A-game. They almost need a shock upfront before they showcase their might and annihilate the opposition.
India might have lost the series opener against New Zealand in Bengaluru but they can take inspiration from the fact that they have bounced back and won four of the previous seven home series where they faced defeat in the first Test of the series. South Africa – 2000 and Australia – 2004 were the only exceptions while the two-match series against South Africa in 2010 was tied at 1-1.
Expect nothing less than a big fightback from India in Mumbai and Pune.
Nikhil Narain is a die-hard cricket romantic, published author, and has worked for some of the leading digital websites and broadcasters in India and overseas. An alumnus of the London School of Economics, Nikhil's forte is using data and numbers creatively to weave interesting stories and revolutionize the way cricket statistics are generated and analyzed.
