Road to the glory

25 June, 1932 the day when India started the chase for the No.1 spot in test cricket led by C.K Naidu First captain of the Tri-colours.This was India’s Debut test at Lords. After, 88 long years Dhoni’s men have achieved this glory. Its been a very long march towards capturing this pride.

"About 18 players speaking 4 to 8 different languages….belonging to different caste…Each take different variety of food and follow different religious principles but have come together to play cricket" one famous quote in Victoria about the Indian team which cannot be laid off from the memories that easily. But now they are the Champions of the test cricket.

Running through the history books takes us back to the days of Vijay Hazare who captained India during its First ever test victory. This was against England in 1952. The venue was Chennai which is also famous for its second tied test match ever in the history of the game.

Lala Amarnath led India to its First ever Series win in 1952-53 against the rival Pakistanis.Tiger Pataudi who once held the record for the youngest test captain to see of India in its first ever overseas test series victory against kiwis in 1968.

Soon, India faced a white wash 5-0 by the Windies. Ajit wadekar one of India’s successful captains took India for back to back test series wins playing against the fearsome West Indies and later on England in 1971. "Sunny" the original little master Sunil Gavaskar showed his class to the world during this period.

1976, Port-of-spain the venue which Indians can never forget. History was made when India chased down 403 runs on the final day of the third test match. It took nearly 40 years to break this mammoth record.It was the spin quartet of Bishen Singh Bedi, E A S Prasana, B S Chandrasekar and S Vengataragavan along with solid bastmen Sunny and G Vishvanath helped India to dominate the proceedings.

1980's saw India becoming world champions. Some promising batsmen came into the arena. Md Azharuddin, D Vengsarkar all rounders like Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri where dominating the field.But India had a very lean patch during 80's when they lost 28 test matches on a trot. India then managed to win a test series in England which remained the only test victory for India outside the subcontinent for the next 19 years. Next India won a test series outside the sub-continent in 2005 during the Zimbabwe series.

1989 onwards India started getting some world class players in the line-up. First on the row was the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, then on Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath,Amar Singh, Hirwani got into the side. There weren't enough spirit within the team to grasp the momentum. Lost 33 test overseas and won only 17 out of 30 at home during mid 90's. Following that India did relatively well against the Australians during the inagural Border-Gavasker throphy and the South Africans at home.

In between India gave some decent performances at home but the match-fixing scandals put a break on some firm followers of the game. Md Azharuddin, Manoj Prabakar, Ajay jadeja and few others were on the list. This seemed to be a very low period in the Indian cricketing History.

It was during the 3rd day of the second test match versus the Aussies in 2001 When the NEW ERA began at the Eden Gardens. Laxmans sizziling knock along with the" Wall" Dravid took India to a win from no where. Bajji started looking exceptional. India won matches outside the sub-continent. Adelaide test victory in 2003 set the tone.Then on victories in England,Zimbabwe,west indies,Pakistan and not long before against the New Zealand.The Marathon innings from Gautham Gambir on the final day which helped India to draw the match and seal the Series 1-0. Triple ton knocks of sehwag was like cherry on the cake.

Kumble had a very good tenure as captain.Its Dhoni the only person who can hier him. Dhoni after the success at the inagural T20 WC was given the capataincy inbetween the Australian test series in 2009. This happened to be Jambo's last test series and India won it 2-0.

Win in the 2009 Sri Lankan Series saw India becoming the Champions of Test Cricket.India had played some wonderfull cricket then on. Victory in Bangladesh. The crucial win against SA at Eden Garden's during the dying moments of the match saw India retain its TOP SPOT in the long format.Wish Team India continues to be in this prime and be the champions of the game.