India is now the No. 1 ranked team in Test Cricket

UPDATE: Dec6 2009: INDIA is now the NO. 1 Ranked Test Team basis official ICC rankings! This phenomenal achiement came when India defeated Sri Lanka in the recently concluded Test in Mumbai.

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India’s 100 Test Match Wins – Growing Win%

Have a look at India’s decade wise Test match performances, and we can easily understand that India’s win rate is increasing every 10 year years. More importantly, the more tests we play, the more we win. This chart also probably highlights how Indian team selection over the last few years has improved. The more merit involved in team selection, the better the results.

More than anything else, this coincides with the entry and rise of the Big 5 batting superstars:  Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and  Saurav Ganguly. India’s bowling strengths were Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. The youngsters, Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth will hopefully carry the pace bowling torch forward.

In terms of captaincy, India’s winning streak started with Azharuddin in a series of Home Wins… and Saurav Ganguly started India’s Overseas Wins.  Dravid/Kumble maintained the win rate for their brief stints. The new captain, M.S. Dhoni has taken over from the previous generation and consolidated the win percentage.

Decade	No. of Tests	No. of Victories	Win %	Cume Tests	Cume Victories	Cume Win %
1931-1940	7	0	0	7	0	0%
1941-1950	13	0	0	20	0	0%
1951-1960	50	6	12%	70	6	9%
1961-1970	46	9	20%	116	15	13%
1971-1980	67	18	27%	183	33	18%
1981-1990	86	11	13%	269	44	16%
1991-2000	69	19	28%	338	63	19%
2001-2010	96	37	39%	434	100	23%

Filed under: Sport, 100 test wins, azharuddin, brabourne stadium, captaincy, cricinfo, cricket, dhoni, dravid, gambhir, gautham gambhir, icc test ranking, India cricket, india cricket statistics, india no 1 ranked test team, India statistics test match, India Test Match, India test match stats, India wins 100 tests, India wins 100 tets matches, India's 100th test match victory, India's 100th test match win, India's wins in tests, kumble, laxman, MS Dhoni, mumbai test, rahul dravid, rank 1, sachin tendulkar, sehwag, sehwag 293, sreesanth, srisanth, tendulkar, Tets match cricket, viru, zaheer khan