Team India, led by Rohit Sharma, reached a significant milestone in Test cricket after their win over Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. India won the first Test by a margin of 280 runs and thus took a 1-0 lead in the series which is a part of the 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
This victory against Bangladesh marks the first time in their 92-year Test history that India have recorded more wins than losses. They now have a total of 179 wins compared to 178 losses. With this achievement, India are placed among a group of elite teams that have accomplished this feat earlier. In the 147-year history of Test cricket, there are only seven teams that have ever had more wins than losses at any point. Currently, just five teams maintain this record, including India.
The other teams that have achieved a winning record in Test cricket include Australia, England, South Africa, and Pakistan. Australia are leading the list with an impressive 414 wins against 232 losses, followed by England with 397 wins and 325 losses. South Africa have registered 179 wins and lost 161 games, while Pakistan has 148 wins compared to 144 losses.
It is worth noting that, India took longer than the other teams, playing 580 matches to achieve this feat. They thus became the slowest among the seven teams to do so at least once. Meanwhile, Australia reached this milestone considerably quicker, after defeating England in their first-ever Test match in 1877.
At one point, both Afghanistan and West Indies also had more wins than defeats in their Test history. In addition, there are five Test-playing nations that have yet to achieve this feat– New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and Ireland.
Additionally, India will seek a win as they set to play the second Test of the series in Kanpur, starting on September 27. They will play the same squad which they have employed for the opening Test in Chennai. Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin emerged as India’s standout performer, scoring a hundred and claiming a six-wicket haul.
Winning the first Test match, Rohit Sharma, India captain, said,” It was a great result looking at what lies ahead for us. We are playing after a long time, but you are never out of cricket. We came here a week before, we had a good lead up to the Test match and we got the result that we wanted.”
