India start their campaign in the World Test Championship 2021-23 from the upcoming Test series against England. Virat Kohli’s men will square off against England pacers and batsmen in the latter’s home conditions. Test cricket between these two teams is always one of the iconic battles which keeps the cricket fans glued to the action on the field.
Let's have a look at the top individual performers over the course of history of Test battles between these two cricketing nations.
Kick-off of The Rivalry: IND vs ENG: Initial days
This rivalry started long back in 1932. It was 89 years ago when the Indian team played their first-ever Test match, coincidentally against England.
Even if England beat the Indian team in their first-ever endeavour at the highest level at the iconic stadium of Lords, Indian cricketers impressed the spectators. All-rounder Amar Singh, fast bowler Mohammad Nissar, pacer Jahangir Khan and skipper CK Nayudu played creditably for India in their debut match.
Later, India drew their first Test match against England in 1934 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The first win for India against England or for that matter in any Test match came in February 1952 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai when all-rounder Vinoo Mankad registered the best bowling figures of 8-55 for an Indian bowler against England which is still a record for India. Legendary batsman Vijay Hazare was the captain of the team who led the side to their first victory.
After around 30 years from the day India played their first Test match, they defeated England for the first time in a Test series by 2-0 in the season of 1961-62. They were led by Nari Contractor then. India first registered an away series win against England in 1971 by 1-0 under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar.
As India lost their last three Test series played in England, they are sure to put their best foot forward to defeat the latter in the upcoming five-match Test series.
Head-to-Head
When we see the record between India and England, England have won 19 Test series while the Indian team grabbed the silverware 11 times with 4 Test series resulting in draw. In terms of matches, England trounced India 48 times whereas India beat England in 29 Test matches; a total of 49 Tests have resulted in draw.
Head-to-Head in England
It's not surprising that England defeated India at home comfortably in many Test series, mainly due to extremely favourable swing bowling conditions there. England have won 14 Test series against India at home while India could snatch victory in England only three times while one series resulted in a draw.
In terms of matches, India have managed to emerge victorious against England in only seven Test matches at the latter’s home, while England bested India in 34 Test matches. There have been 21 occasions in England where Tests between India and England have ended in a draw.
Batting Records
Sachin Tendulkar leads the run-scorers table with 2535 runs against England.
Top Run-scoers in Ind-Eng Test cricket
As we can see in the chart above, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar leads the table of run-scorers in India-England Test cricket with 2535 runs. Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar and former English skipper Alastair Cook also amassed 2483 and 2431 runs respectively to take the next two spots in the run-scoring chart.
Among current Indian cricketers, only Indian skipper Virat Kohli could make this chart with 1742 runs. The dashing batsman would hope to surpass Rahul Dravid (1950 runs) and GR Vishwanath (1880 runs) in the upcoming series and reach close to Tendulkar and Gavaskar. For England, Joe Root, the current skipper leads the chart with 1789 runs just a spot ahead of Indian captain, Virat Kohli.
Top run-scorers for India against England in Test cricket
Top run-scorers for England against India in Test cricket
Highest partnerships
In the partnership table, former English cricketers Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen have a record of the highest partnership in India-England Test cricket - 350 runs for the third wicket at The Oval in 2011.
Former India batsmen, Gundappa Viswanath and Yashpal Sharma, created history by stitching the highest-ever partnership for India against England at Chennai in 1982 when they added 316 runs for the third wicket in the Pongal Test that winter. Astonishingly, current Indian skipper Virat Kohli stitched together a huge partnership of 241 runs for the eighth wicket with spinner Jayant Yadav at Mumbai in 2016.
Highest partnerships for India against England in Test cricket
Highest partnerships for England against India in Test cricket
Most centuries
Former Indian batsmen Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and former English skipper Alastair Cook top the chart of century-makers in India-England Tests while current Indian skipper Virat Kohli and number three batter Cheteshwar Pujara have scored five centuries each. So, it may be interesting to see which batsman among these two batsmen can match the record of Dravid, Sachin and Cook in the upcoming series.
Most centuries for India against England in Test cricket
Most centuries for England against India in Test cricket
Bowling Records
James Anderson leads the wicket-takers table with 118 scalps.
Top Wicket-takers in India-England Test cricket
England team is blessed with two legendary pacers, James Anderson and Stuart Broad, in their lineup for the upcoming Test series against India. Anderson is leading the chart of wicket-takers across both the nations with 118 wickets while spinners BS Chandrasekhar and Anil Kumble take the next two spots with 95 and 92 wickets respectively. Also, current Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is close to a century of wickets against England with 88 wickets to his name.
Top wicket-takers for India against England in Test cricket
Top wicket-takers for England against India in Test cricket
Best Bowling Figures
As we saw at the start of the analysis, former Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad registered the best bowling figures for an Indian against England in India’s first-ever Test win over England at Chennai in 1952. Among current cricketers, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja made the list with bowling figures of 7-48 at the same venue in 2016 against the old enemies.
From England, fast bowler Fred Trueman bowled a destructive spell in 1952 to bowl out India on 58 which is their lowest total against England.
Best bowling figures for India against England in Test cricket
Best bowling figures for England against India in Test cricket
Wicketkeeping Records
Among wicket-keepers, MS Dhoni is leading the dismissals chart across both nations with 67 scalps at an incredible rate of 1.8 dismissals per innings while legendary English wicket-keeper Alan Knott and Matthew Prior also made over 50 dismissals each for their country.
Most wicket keeping dismissals for India against England Test cricket
Most wicket keeping dismissals for England against India in Test cricket
India is scheduled to play a five-Test series against England starting with the first Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham from August 4-8. The second Test will be played at Lord’s in London from August 12-16. The third Test will be played at Headingley in Leeds from August 25-29. The fourth Test will be played at the Oval in London from September 2-6 while the fifth and final Test of the series will be played at the Old Trafford in Manchester from September 10-14.
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