Stat Speak: India vs. England

In the recently concluded India England series in India, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni put it aptly after winning the third match. When asked about routing England back at home after losing each and every test match and ODI’s back in England a month ago, Dhoni said “But we always defeat England in India, don’t we?” It described what the actual scenario was. India, has through the history of cricket, defeated England many times and so the ones boasting of how great England is over India, as was the case last month, should first view the facts.

India in Tests Against England in India:

Right from England India series in 1951/52 in India, India has lost a series to England in India only once, in the 1976/77 series. In a lone test match, called the Golden Jubilee Test at Wankhede stadium, India did suffer a defeat, but being a stand-alone test it cannot be referred to as a series. Thus, aside from that one series lost, India has never lost a series to England in India after the 1951/52 series. India drew three times with England, in the 1951/51 series where India and England were both tied at 1-1 after the series, then in 1964 where all 5 test matches played between the two ended in a draw and then in 2005-06 where India and England won a match each with another one being drawn.

All except that, India has always overtaken the English at home, even giving them plenty of series where England has not managed to win even a single match. After the 1951/52 series India played England in India in eleven series. In 1961-62 series, India won twice, drew 3 while England couldn’t win even one. In 1981/82 series, the first match was won by India while the next 5 matches were drawn. In the 1992/93 series, India did a complete whitewash of the English, winning 3-0. In 2001-02 series too, India won one of the matches while the other two were drawn. In the Pataudi Trophy, in 2008-09, India again won 1-0 with another match drawn.

In ODI’s – India at home

The ODI series has been pretty one sided too, though bit less than in the tests. Among the notable series are the one of 2005/06 where India routed England 5-1, in 2008/09 where India whitewashed England 5-0 and of course the recently concluded series now in 2011, where England again faced the humiliation of a 5-0 whitewash.

England in Tests against India in England

England was and even now is the masters in their backyard, winning every series against the Indians. In fact, each time India has toured England, most of the times India has bee whitewashed. In the 1959 series, the disgrace was the most with India losing 5-0. Then, from 1971 fortune began to change a bit for India. In 1971 India won its first ever test match and series against England in England. India won the three match series 1-0 with other two matches being drawn. From then on India has provided stiff resistance in each of the tour to England and though it could not win series again till 2007, India has managed to win or draws in plenty of matches. Perhaps the hoopla and expectations from the Indian team in their recent disastrous tour of England stems from the fact that India are now the world champions and the last time India toured England in 2007, India had won a series there after 21 years.

In ODI’s – England at home

England has had a stronger run in the ODI’s in the past having defeated India at home too. Out of all bilateral series between the two, England has won in 7 of them and India in 5. England whitewashed India in many of the series at home including:

Prudential Trophy (India in England) 1974 England 2-0 (2)

Prudential Trophy (India in England) 1982 England 2-0 (2) and

Texaco Trophy (India in England), 1996 England 2-0 (3).

But the trend here too has been on the reverse and if one looks at the recent past India has gained an upper hand. The last four series score line between the two is thus:

England in India ODI Series 2005/06 India 5-1 (7)NatWest Series [India in England] 2007 England 4-3 (7)England in India ODI Series 2008/09 India 5-0 (5)India in England Series 2011 England 3-0 (5)

Thus, even when India lost to England in 2007, it did so by giving a very close fight. In 2011 this year, two matches were abandoned and one match was decided by Duckworth Lewis method, so that the final score line emerged 3-0 in favor of the English. The frequent disruptions and the rainy weather ensured that the true potential of the two teams couldn’t come out in the open. Even if one looks at the total stats, out of 108 matches played between the two teams, England have won 33 while India has won 48 of them while 2 matches have been tied and in 3 no results produced.

Conclusion

The statistics show many things. One, that India and England are both masters at home but losers overseas. The tag of not being able to play good cricket abroad should not only be available to India as statistics show England too have had their fair share of losses outside home. Second, both have been subject to whitewashes at the hands of the other. Winning a series away from home has been an aberrant and not a custom for either of them.

But statistics favor India slightly as a whole as to who was and is a better team historically. India has only lost a test series once in the post independent era to England at home. England has lost two at home to India till date. Though pre Independence era, and rather till 1961-61, England did enjoy a clear upper hand the trend has now reversed. If the last series is not taken into count, from the 1961-61 series, in case of test matches, India has won 18 while England 19. This has come down significantly when one looks at the total number. Statistically speaking as a whole, out of 103 test matches between England and India, India has only won 19 while England won 38. Thus, as can be seen from historical statistics in both the formats of the game, though the English were stronger at one point of time in the cricketing world versus India, there exists no doubt as to the real champions between the two in the present.