Where to from here for India?

[don_corleone840]

Some stats about India, the No.1 Test team: Series without a loss-10 Last Series loss- Aug 2008 in SL Home Series- 6 (5 won, 1 drawn) Away Series- 4 (2 won, 2 drawn) Series Won- 7 Reign at top spot- 1 year and counting Tests played (from Nov 2008 BG Trophy till present- India's period of unbeaten series) 27 Tests 14 Won 3 Lost Excluding Bangladesh from the above, 25 Tests 12 Won 3 Lost Home Record: Last Series Lost- BG Trophy 2004 (Oct-Nov) 6 yrs since India were beaten at home Since that date, India have lost 4 Tests out of 33 in that period, winning 16. And each time they have lost a Test- a series has been drawn. Alright, now to the point- where to from here? Well, the WI of the 80s were unbeaten (in a series) for 15 years and more importantly- over 29 series. India have 20 more series to go before they overhaul that record. So can they do it? Considering the modern schedules (with 2-Test series etc), each team plays about 4-5 series every year. So it would be just a matter of another 3-4 years (at most 5) of being unbeaten. Not a mean task, but considering India only have one more testing series in England before the weather gets fair (they won't have to tour SA/Eng for another 4 years), they would back themselves to get there. That is, India would face SA,Eng at home before the next cycle begins and would mostly tour Aus,WI etc. Even if the old guard retires in 2-3 yrs (say), the new players would have enough in them to keep it up for another year or two before any decline (if at all there will be one). In 2011, India face WI (away I think), Eng (away), Aus (away) India have a long way to go though- 10 down, 20 to go! Of course, even if India do get there, they cannot be compared to the WI of the 80s simply because of that- the WI team played a minimum of 3-Tests every series and sometimes 5-6 Tests. But it would still be a remarkable achievement if India get it- considering how professional cricket has changed immensely since the 80s and considering how many teams have become better since the 80s- most importantly Aus (rose up only in the 90s), Eng(rose up only in the late 2000s), SL(were a complete minnow in the 80s), SA (were non-existent during the 80s), Bang (a minnow, but getting better fast)

[Roshanrocks]

great post :clap: i likes it

[coffee_rules]

I think before the 2000 loss to SA, India had previously lost a Home series to Pak in 1987. That's a record to beat for this team.

[vaibhav_delhi]

Don kabhi wrong nahi hota!! Good post Don. Though Winning more n more series' give fans more joy than just staying unbeaten. So if india drops a series or two but wins 70% of them in the next 3-4 years, people should be happy.

[jeetu]

I hope we stay at stop for atleast next 3 years.