Playing a Test match in India is a challenge for any foreign team. The combination of challenging conditions and facing some of the world’s premier bowlers makes it one of the most daunting venues for batting in Test cricket.
Historically, Indian batters have thrived in their home conditions, capitalising on the familiar pitches to great effect. However, recent trends suggest that their dominance is not as pronounced as it once was.
Indians dominating in tests at home
Since 2013, India has a 40-4 record in Tests at home, which is the best in the world. However, the performance from our batters at home has witnessed a decline.
While the batting averages from 2013 to 2020 for Indian batters in Tests was 44.05 runs, it declined to 33.40 runs per wicket from 2021 onwards.
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Batting averages of Indian batters at home |
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|
Period |
Matches |
Won |
Lost |
Batting Avg. |
Rank |
|
2013-2020 |
34 |
28 |
1 |
44.05 |
1 |
|
2020-present |
17 |
21 |
3 |
33.4 |
5 |
Conditions getting tougher for batters
The decline is also suggestive of the fact that the conditions in India are getting tougher even for the Indian batters nowadays.
If the averages on Indian pitches of the top seven batters in each country are to be seen, they have shown a decline after the 2016-2020 period.
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Batting averages of all countries in Tests at home (Top 7 batters) |
||
|
Teams |
From 2016-2020 |
2020 onwards |
|
Pakistan |
45 |
43.8 |
|
Sri Lanka |
33.6 |
40.1 |
|
New Zealand |
38.1 |
37.1 |
|
England |
32.5 |
35.2 |
|
Bangladesh |
32.2 |
34 |
|
Australia |
38.3 |
32.9 |
|
India |
39.2 |
31.7 |
|
UAE |
37 |
31.4 |
|
West Indies |
28.3 |
30.9 |
|
South Africa |
32.8 |
26.8 |
While India has continued to get the results even after the teams failed to take advantage of the conditions, it could be time for the side to focus on this objective in the future and try to scoop out any advantage they can have over their opponents in familiar territory.
Virat Kohli batting average comparison
One of the batters that has seen a decline in their average is Virat Kohli, who had an average of 86.17 during 2016-2020, with 10 hundreds in 22 games to his name.
However, since 2021, his average has dropped to 34.47, with the 37-year-old scoring just one hundred in 11 games at home.
Jaiswal looking to continue brilliant home run
One batter who has recently excelled in home conditions is Yashasvi Jaiswal. In just five Test matches played on Indian soil, he has already notched up two double centuries.
Indians failing to play spin like before
The main reason for this drop can also be credited to the Indian batters failing to take advantage of spin bowling like they used to do in the past.
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Top 7 India batters against pace and spin at home in Tests |
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|
|
vs pace |
vs spin |
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|
Period |
Dismissals |
Avg |
Dismissals |
Avg |
|
2013-2020 |
108 |
47.36 |
110 |
63.36 |
|
2021-present |
44 |
45.79 |
134 |
37.56 |
Going into another home Test series against Bangladesh, the likes of Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal would be looking to bring some consistency into their batting and not lose wickets carelessly on the day.
First Published: Sep 18 2024 | 1:05 PM IST
