Ninety years ago, when England first toured India for a Test series, E.H.D. Sewell, player-turned-reporter, wrote in an Indian newspaper: “If compelled to bet, my rupee would be on India. But what a cheerful loser I should be!” Writers tend to hedge their bets. Had Sewell been writing today, he might have said much the same thing, but perhaps with greater conviction in the first half of that prediction.
In recent years India haven’t done too well when they have gone into a series or a tournament as the favourites. Most recently, there was the World Cup; earlier, following a dramatic victory in Australia, they began well in England but were held to a 2-2 draw in a Test series interrupted by Covid. But a home series is different. They haven’t lost one in a decade while winning 36 of 46 Tests played in that period.
India will cross a threshold if things go their way over the next six weeks or so. If they win by a margin of four, they will have more victories than defeats in their Test history. They now have 177 losses to 174 wins.
