Until the recent Test series versus New Zealand, India held a proud 12-year unbeaten run in Test series at home, which looked unbreakable. The young Australian team of 2017 was the only team that made them sweat at home. All the other teams came, saw and lost badly. The Indian template, as comically explained by Faf du Plessis, was to win the toss, bat big, then put the opposition to bat in the twilight and run over them. Many teams batted first and made 400 runs against them in the first innings, only to find India outscoring them by 200 or more.
However, in the last couple of years, this Indian batting juggernaut has looked vulnerable, often rescued by lower-order batters from bad positions. The ability of the top-order batters to survive and thrive in challenging conditions has been found wanting. On top of the batting woes, there have been some Test matches like the one in Indore against Australia, where the opposition bowlers outbowled Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja. The chinks were there, and it finally took an unassuming New Zealand side to break through. If you dig deeper into how they beat this Indian team, you will notice that their team followed the historically successful template, even then only a few times, against India in a series.
Making history in India
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) October 28, 2024
The team’s first Test series victory in India in 13 attempts. #INDvNZ #CricketNation pic.twitter.com/Lb0fAdarVV
A risk-free, non-flamboyant left-handed opener
Among all the teams that have troubled the Indian attack at home, there has been a left-handed opener often with a dour, risk-free batting style holding fort. We saw Devon Conway and Tom Latham in this 2024 series, Alastair Cook in the 2012 series, Gary Kirsten in the 2000 series, and Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden in the 2004 series. In other close encounters, lefty openers like Usman Khawaja, Saeed Anwar, Travis Head, Matt Renshaw (initially) and others have troubled India enough to run the series close. So, having a left-hander at the top is necessary to beat India in India over a series. Also, having a few more southpaws in the top six has helped matters further. Adam Gilchrist in 2004, Nicky Boje and Lance Klusener in 2000, and Rachin Ravindra in 2024 have played stellar roles in taking their teams to big first-innings scores.
A slow left-arm spinner
Indian tracks have been a graveyard for wrist spinners. Big-name bowlers like Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan have struggled to run through the Indian batting order. However, the finger spinners, primarily the slow left-arm bowlers, have greatly succeeded against the Indians. Nick Boje in 2000, Mitchell Santner in 2024, and Monty Panesar in 2012 defeated the Indians over a Test series.
Bowlers like Steve O’Keefe, Matthew Kuhnemann, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach and other SLAs have troubled the Indian batters enough to register wins on Indian soil. Ajaz Patel managed to pick up all ten wickets in an innings in Mumbai during the 2021 series.
An uncertain batting unit
Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma were the mainstays of the Indian top order during the flourishing period. India has already lost Pujara and Rahane to father time. Shubman Gill and Sarfaraz Khan, who have replaced them, are yet to establish their credentials in tough batting conditions. In the last couple of years, there has been a steady decline in the runs accumulated by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in Test matches. This uncertain batting unit found itself exposed by the quality and accuracy of the Kiwi bowlers. When the lower order failed to rescue, the Indian batting order collapsed under its weight. We saw the 2012 Indian batting unit similarly hamstrung by the out-of-form and ageing Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, and Gautam Gambhir, accompanied by tyros like Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli. Similarly, the Indian batting unit of 2000 involved young players whose confidence was completely knocked off by the Australians in the 1999/00 series whitewash.
Virat Kohli. (Photo by Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images)
An ageing and in-transition spin bowling unit
The ageing stars, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, were outplayed by the Kiwi batters in the Test matches in this series. Their technique of bowling faster into the pitch, extracting vicious turn, was negated by the Pune pitch that required the spinners to bowl slower. Jadeja and Ashwin could not pick many cheap wickets on a flat deck in the Bengaluru Test. Similarly, in 2012, the bowling unit comprising the ageing Harbhajan Singh and tyros like Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha and Piyush Chawla struggled against English batters like Kevin Pietersen, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and others from the second Test in Mumbai. In the 2000 series against South Africa, Anil Kumble was accompanied by tyros like Nikhil Chopra and Murali Kartik against the highly experienced South African batting unit. The 2004 loss to Australia was the aberration to this rule when the champion side subdued the Bhajji-Kumble combination successfully in their pomp.
In the olden days, an ageing and decaying empire would often end after being sacked by the young and agile powers. Similarly, as successful dynasties or individuals reach their mature stage in sports, the end starts gradually and then happens suddenly. Indian supporters must get ready to bid goodbye to their successful Test dynasty of 2012-2024 and hope to see their aged warriors soon replaced by younger and able-bodied replacements.
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