Putting this T20 win in perspective

India’s win over Australia at the MCG in the second Twenty20 International was the first away win in an international match for India since 23rd June 2011, which was the 4th day of the First Test on the tour of West Indies. That is a gap of a whopping 225 days!

Since the turn of the millennium, this was just the 4th occasion when India has had to wait for more than 200 days for an away (including neutral matches) win. The earlier three occasions were

• From 13th November 2000 (Test win over Bangladesh at Dhaka) to 10th June 2001 (Test win over Zimbabwe at Harare) – 209 days.
• From 16th April 2003 (ODI win over Bangladesh at Dhaka) to 16th December 2003 (Test win over Australia at Adelaide) – 244 days.
• From 27th December 2004 (ODI win over Bangladesh at Dhaka) to 30th July 2005 (ODI win over West Indies at Dambulla) – 216 days.

But while these numbers of over 200 days may look very large at first, none of those droughts were half as bad as the recently-ended one! In the 209-day gap of 2000-01, there was no away match played by India. That gap was a result of scheduling, not performances! In the 244-day gap of 2003, India played just 2 neutral ODIs against South Africa at Bangladesh (1 lost and 1 no result) and 1 Test against Australia (draw) at Brisbane. And in the 216-day gap of 2004-05, India played and lost just one ODI against Sri Lanka at Dambulla.However, in this recently-ended drought of 225 days, India played 10 Tests (losing 8, drawing 2), 2 Twenty20 Internationals (lost both), and 5 ODIs (3 lost, 1 tied and 1 no result). That is a run of 17 win-less away internationals!

The most staggering fact is this – after the first ever away win against New Zealand at Dunedin Test of February 1968, India has never had a win-less streak of away international matches as big as this 17-match one! India played 43 away Test matches from June 1932 to January 1968 without a win, which remains India’s longest win-less streak in away international matches, but since then, the largest one was the one that ended a few hours ago!