India

India Men’s Cricket Team History

India’s first foray into international cricket was in 1932, when they played their inaugural Test match against England at Lord’s. However, it took over 70 years for the team to truly establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the cricket world. The team’s fortunes began to change in the 21st century, particularly under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and later Virat Kohli, as they developed into one of the game’s powerhouses.

In the early 1970s, Sunil Gavaskar emerged as one of India’s first world-beating batters, achieving the milestone of 10,000 runs in Tests. Later that decade, Kapil Dev, an all-rounder who ranked among the world’s best, broke through and became India’s finest player since Vinoo Mankad in the 1940s. The team’s popularity surged in the years following their fairy-tale win in the 1983 ODI World Cup, and by the late 1990s, India had become the world’s biggest cricket market.

The rise of Sachin Tendulkar, a world-record-setting superstar batter, helped underscore India’s growing stature in cricket. Tendulkar, along with Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, and Virender Sehwag, formed the core of a golden age of Indian batting in the 2000s. As a Test side, India have been nearly unbeatable at home for over 35 years, having lost only four full home series since 1987. Their spinners, led by Anil Kumble, gave them a significant home advantage in the 1990s.

In the 2010s, India also produced excellent fast bowlers, including Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, making them one of the most formidable teams in Test cricket, both at home and away. The team achieved notable successes, including going 11 Test series without a loss from 2008-09 and winning two Test series in Australia starting from 2018-19. They also reached the final of the World Test Championship in the first two cycles of the tournament.

In white-ball cricket, India experienced a resurgence in the 2000s, securing ICC tournament wins in 2007, 2011, and 2013. After a ten-year wait, they claimed the T20 World Cup in 2024, followed by the 2025 Champions Trophy title and the T20 World Cup again the following year. The birth and success of the Indian Premier League in 2008 marked a significant development in Indian cricket, with the league becoming the most lucrative and competitive T20 league in the world.