2024 presented plenty of ups-and-downs for India, even within Test cricket alone. A strong start to the year saw them win a Test in South Africa to level that series, before brushing past England with a routine and comfortable 4-1 win despite missing some big name players.
The end of the year was a different story altogether, as India won one, drew one, and lost as many as six matches in their final eight Tests of the year. First with the 3-0 whitewash at home against New Zealand, which was already a low point as it snapped India’s 12-year home dominance, followed by a chastening 3-1 loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as India relinquished that to their opponents for the first time in a decade.
This also marked the first time in 46 years that India have lost three matches in consecutive series, indicating just how rare it is for the Indian team to drop two consecutive series in such a fashion. On that occasion, India hosted England at home in 1976-77, losing 3-1 at home, before a long break and subsequently travelling to Australia in 1977-78, going on to lose dramatically 3-2 to an Aussie team weakened by Kerry Packer World Series of Cricket absentees.
Close shaves catch up with India
On the infamous occasion of losing and getting whitewashed 4-0 each by England and Australia while touring in 2011-12, India got away with a couple of wins in a home series against the West Indies under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.
While that year is often considered the worst of Indian Test cricket in recent years due to the toothless performances of India, there will be an equal amount of disappointment from this year given India’s position as favourites, particularly against New Zealand.
India also came close in 2014-15, when they lost a tight series 3-1 against England, before flying to Australia and losing the first two matches of the series to go down 2-0. However, thanks to some Virat Kohli magic, India were able to hang on for a pair of draws and just narrowly avoid this unwanted result.
India’s run of six losses also has had the effect of knocking them out of the running, and now India’s focus will turn to the Champions Trophy. India’s next Test assignment is a five match series in England, and the hope will be that India don’t continue building on this disappointing statistic.
