India’s 250th Test at home: How India fared in milestone Tests in their backyard

Having made their Test debut in 1932, the 2nd Test of the series between India and New Zealand at Eden Gardens, Kolkata is India 250th Test played by them at their home.

The 2nd Test of the series between India and New Zealand at Eden Gardens, Kolkata is India 250th Test played by them at their home. India made his Test debut back in 1932 at Lord’s but their home debut came one year after in 1933 at Bombay. The ground was Bombay Gymkhana. Since then, there has been no looking back for the Indian side and they did not take much time in mastering the home conditions in order to dominate the world-class teams at least at home. This iconic 250th match is underway at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, which has held many memorable matches and wins for India. Yes, it’s a fact Lord’s is called as Mecca of Cricket and if that is so, then Eden Gardens is Lord’s of India.

The side will play this Test under the captaincy of young Virat Kohli. Let us go back and see how India did in milestone Tests at home. Starting from the first Test at home, which was against England in 1933, mostly remembered for Lala Amarnath’s debut and his century. He became the first Indian cricketer to hit a ton on Test debut and also the first centurion from India. Mohammad Nissar claimed a 5-for as he went on to become the first Indian to do so at home and second to have done this twice in his career. His first 5-for came at Lord’s, which was India’s debut Test. Although, India lost that match by 9 wickets, the glimpse of becoming world class team was there.

Moving further, it took more than 30 years for India to play their 50th Test at home, which was again played against England but not at the same venue as game went in the capital city of the nation — Delhi. Till this time, India had become a strong side when it comes to playing at home as they did not lose this time and managed to draw it. Debutant Hanumant Singh did what Lala Amarnath did in 1933 by becoming another Indian to score a hundred in his first Test. Later, that match become more eventful with Budhi Kunderan century and captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi’s double ton in the second innings of the match, which led to draw. Also, there was an excellent spell of bowling by Bapu Nadkarni, who sent down 30 maidens from 57 overs with three wickets to his name.

The 100th Test came against India’s biggest rival — Pakistan in 1979 at Bengaluru. This milestone match took 15 years and this was the first Test of one of the longest series to be played in India. Like the previous one, this too ended in a draw with as both teams scored above 400 in their first innings but thanks to Imran Khan who brought some excitement in the game with his fiery bowling by scalping four wickets.

The 150th Test of India at home is majorly remembered for Vinod Kambli’s double ton against Zimbabwe at Delhi in 1993, which was his second. In that Test, Kambli became the only Indian to have scored two back to back double ton in Tests. Beside his double ton, there were some brilliant bowling by Anil Kumble and Maninder Singh throughout the Test which was actually overshadowed by the Kambli’s knock. India won that match quite comfortably by an innings and 13 runs.

The 200th Test was probably the most interesting of all the previous milestone Tests at home. Once again it was against Pakistan at Kolkata in which India scored 407 in both the innings of a Test and Rahul Dravid scored hundreds in both the innings. He became the second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to score two tons in a Test but the most interesting part of the match was Kumble’s spell in the fourth innings, where he grabbed 7-wickets and turned the game in India’s favour as they won it by 195 runs.

India play their 250th Test at home against New Zealand. They are a clever side when it comes to understanding Indian conditions. They proved the same in the Kanpur Test. The injuries have not helped them and they are missing their captain Kane Williamson from this Test. India will like to ensure a series win at the iconic venue.

(Abhishek Kumar is a cricket devotee currently staffing with CricketCountry.com. He can be followed on Twitter @abhik2593 and on Facebook at abhicricket.kumar)