Five venues where India are yet to win a Test

Ashish Pant01-Jul-2025

Edgbaston, Birmingham

The last time they played a Test at Edgbaston, in 2022, England chased down 378, their highest successful chase in Test cricket, with Jonny Bairstow getting a century in each innings.India’s heaviest defeat in Edgbaston came in 2011 when they lost to England by an innings and 242 runs. Sent into bat, India were bowled out for 224. In reply, Alastair Cook’s career-best 294 and Eoin Morgan’s 104 helped the hosts declare on 710 for 7, with a lead of 486. India were cleaned up for 244 in the second stint.The closest they came to winning in Edgbaston was in 2018. Chasing 194 in the fourth innings, they started day four on 110 for 5. Virat Kohli, fresh from a majestic 149 in the first innings, was unbeaten on 43 and had Dinesh Karthik with him. But England kept at it and despite Kohli’s brilliance, India fell short by 31.West Indies bowled out India for 81 at the Kensington Oval in 1997•Associated Press

Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados

Of their nine Tests at the Kensington Oval, India drew only two – in 1971 and 2011. Two of India’s seven losses were innings defeats, the heaviest being by an innings and 97 runs in 1976. This was the first game of the four-Test series and batting first, India were bowled out for a mere 177, with legspinner David Holford grabbing a five-for. West Indies declared on 488 for 9 and cleaned up India for 214 in their second innings.The 1997 Test here is among India’s most heartbreaking losses. They took a first-innings lead of 21, with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid scoring fifties. West Indies were then bowled out for 140 in the second innings, leaving India 120 to chase in the fourth innings. But a spectacular collapse ensued. Only VVS Laxman managed a double-digit score as India were skittled for just 81.Sachin Tendulkar helped India salvage a draw at Old Trafford in 1990•Getty Images

Old Trafford, Manchester

The venue for the fourth Test in the ongoing series, Old Trafford is another ground where India have not had much success. India’s heaviest defeat came in the 1952 Test, when they lost by an innings and 207 runs. England batted first and, led by Len Hutton’s 104, declared on 347 for 9. In reply, India were blown away for 58 in the first innings and 82 in the second, going down well inside three days.In the 1990 Test, a 17-year-old Tendulkar helped India salvage a draw with a fourth-innings hundred, his first in Test cricket. His 119 not out took India to 343 for 6 in their chase of 408.India lost the 2006 Karachi Test despite Irfan Pathan’s first-over hat-trick•AFP

National Stadium, Karachi

India’s heaviest defeat in Karachi came in 1982, with Imran Khan putting up a bowling masterclass. Sent in, India were bowled out for 169 with Imran picking up 3 for 19 and Abdul Qadir 4 for 67. Zaheer Abbas and Mudassar Nazar then scored centuries as Pakistan took a lead of 292. In the second innings, India were bowled out for 197, losing by an innings and 86 runs, with Imran picking up 8 for 60.In 2006, India let the game slip away. Irfan Pathan wreaked havoc with a first-over hat-trick as the hosts were reduced to 0 for 3 and then 39 for 6. But Pakistan staged a comeback thanks to Kamran Akmal’s 113 and posted 245. India were bowled out for 238 in their first innings with Pakistan responding by scoring 599 for 7 declared. India, chasing 607, were bowled out for 265.Virender Sehwag scored a double-hundred in Lahore in 2006•AFP

Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

India and Pakistan have played plenty of high-scoring encounters in Lahore. India’s heaviest defeat at this venue came in 2004. India batted first and while Yuvraj Singh scored his maiden Test century, he didn’t get much support as the visitors folded for 287. Pakistan, led by centuries from Imran Farhat and Inzamam-ul-Haq, racked up 489, ensuring a 202-run lead. India were then bowled out for 241 as Pakistan chased down the 41-run target with little fuss. The last time these two teams played in Lahore, in 2006, only two innings were possible and there were six centurions across the two teams. Virender Sehwag top-scored with 254.

No.3 once epitomised the power of good vibes, but now his failings are engulfing the project

Vithushan Ehantharajah06-Dec-2025

Ollie Pope looks forlorn after his soft dismissal•AFP/Getty Images

The bad bit about Ollie Pope’s dismissal was the crushing inevitability. The worst was, at this juncture, 63 Tests into a seven-year career that has had plenty of stanzas for growth and foresight, only he did not see it coming.An inevitability that Pope – despite being England’s established No.3 in an Ashes series – was always likely to be the first batter to fall, in what turned out to be a collapse of 5 for 38. His missed booming drive off Mitchell Starc, his loft just over cover and the edge that cleared second slip off Brendan Doggett; all were signs he should have heeded. When he bunted his drive back to Michael Neser, there was novelty to be had in Pope’s first caught-and-bowled dismissal off a seamer, but it was lost in the certainty that he was not long for this Saturday night at the Gabba. And once he was gone, he certainly wasn’t going to be alone.An innings of 26 of 32, with the pink Kookaburra zipping as it does under floodlights, neatly encapsulates the chaotic nature of Pope’s stay, at a time when calm was the order of the day. It was reminiscent of his second go in the first Test at Perth when, having flashed five times, a sixth wild drive brought about his end on 33.Of all the top seven batters with 500 or more second-innings runs to their name, Pope’s average of 20.24 is the fourth worst: a damning statistic ripe for extrapolation, given that questions about Pope’s character and stomach had been peddled long before this latest misstep.Related

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Speaking on The Grade Cricketer podcast prior to the series, Mark Waugh stated Pope would not score a run. On Thursday, Waugh, while commentating on Triple M, dismissed Pope as “just a player” moments before the right-hander danced across to the off-side and chopped Mitchell Starc onto his own stumps for a duck.In the build-up to this series, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum reiterated to the team that the coming weeks were an opportunity to define their legacy. The fact that they (understandably) hid from their players was that Ashes tours can rob you of your dignity and self-worth. Worst still, they can undo whatever goodwill you have with your own fans.That in itself makes Pope an interesting case study of where we are all are, after just five days of actual cricket. From the moment he called a newly appointed Stokes at the start of the 2022 summer to pitch for the No.3 position, Pope became emblematic of the initial merits of the project and, now, of the flaws that are threatening to bubble over and scald English cricket.The highs of the 196 in Hyderabad, an impressive assumption of both that first-drop position and trust he’d been given as vice-captain, feel a world away. He had to reinforce his position in the XI with another century against India in June, but has since averaged 27 across 11 innings with a sole half-century. His average at three is heading the wrong way, likewise that number in Australia (17.20) and against them (18.71). And before we’d even reached the end of the English summer, he was removed as Stokes’ deputy in favour of Harry Brook.Pope’s first-innings duck left England floundering at 5 for 2•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesAll of which made Pope more susceptible for the chop, with Jacob Bethell seeming to offer a more attractive proposition to the selectors, who admired the young left-hander’s cockiness and crisp shapes. Bethell’s disappointing white-ball tour of New Zealand kiboshed that prospect, along with his overall lack of cricket (his first-class best remains the 96 he made against New Zealand last year), while Pope’s 100 and 90 at Lilac Hill had seemingly secured his side of the bargain.Now, that debate may be back on the agenda, and not unreasonably. But perhaps it is important to step back and see the bigger picture. England’s dream-weaving over the last three years, while not without merit, has somehow trapped Pope – one of the most popular players in a closed-off dressing room, and the ultimate team man – in a nightmarish web of doubt and technical uncertainty, even while it continues to masquerade as a never-ending pursuit of clarity and a unwavering desire to be assertive.It is important to state that Pope has spent the last couple of months working hard to correct the flaws that he would never publicly admit. In the first innings at Perth, he was crisp with his straight driving, having overcome a tendency to fall away to the off side, while seemingly ridding himself of his tick outside off stump. Both traits seem to have returned, which does not suggest Pope has been slacking behind the scenes since arriving in Australia, but that the work he’s done is not quite ingrained. By the time he’s comfortable with his tweaks, he may well be out of the team.You wonder, also, about what this says about the more serious elements of this England set-up. At his best, Pope is a ball of energy, a shooter who shoots. Amid so much positivity, how has it come to be that he is suddenly anxious? His esteem is wilting like unwatered flowers. His toil is instructive of the contradiction between messaging and methods that always gets murkier in defeat. Commit to your way and stay true. If that fails, commit harder. Be truer.It may be too late for all this to correct itself: the match situation in this second Test and thus the Ashes itself. There will be deep introspection and, when the worst is confirmed, casualties.Pope is likely to be one of them, but he should also be seen as a lesson to heed. The biggest advocate for what Stokes and McCullum have created is now one of its more serious problems. The sparkle he once had has been lost. The joy with which he played the game is a distant memory.Pope arrived on this tour looking to make up for his own torrid time in 2021-22 when – as a bit-part player – he averaged 11.17 and ended up out of the team. Little did he know that, four years later, he’d return as the centre-piece of the top five, as an ambassador of the good work done over the last three years, only for his ordeal to be so much worse.

This relationship has always sent sparks flying in pivotal World Cup moments. What does Navi Mumbai have in store for us?

Sruthi Ravindranath29-Oct-2025When Harmanpreet Kaur tore Australia’s bowling apart with a sensational unbeaten 171 off 115 balls in the Derby semi-final of the 2017 World Cup, she did more than win India a match. She tore a hole in Australia’s cloak of invincibility. It remains one of the greatest innings ever played in a knockout game, and it marked the turning point of women’s cricket in India.That innings even changed Australia a little bit.”Look, I’ve forgotten a lot about the game, but you guys are pretty, pretty good at putting it on the telly at every opportunity possible, so it brings back the memory a little bit,” Alyssa Healy said before Australia’s league-stage meeting with India at this World Cup. “But we’ve spoken a lot about how it’s just drove us to rethink our standards and the way we wanted to approach our cricket. It made us rethink what we were doing and how we could do it better. And I think we’ve been really successful since that point.”It isn’t surprising, then, that whenever India and Australia have met in a global tournament since that day, one question has always hung in the air: what will Harmanpreet do this time?Harmanpreet cannot believe her luck: the heartbreaking run-out in Cape Town•ICC/Getty ImagesEight years on, that question still defines her. Between Derby and Thursday’s semi-final in Navi Mumbai, the journey of Harmanpreet and India in World Cups has been one of agonising near-misses. Whenever these have involved Australia, Harmanpreet has been front and centre.In the T20 World Cup semi-final in Cape Town, her 52 was set to become a career-defining innings, as she batted through illness and set India up for what looked like a famous chase. All until a freak run-out with her bat stuck in the pitch. At the post-match presentation, Harmanpreet wore sunglasses to hide her tears.Then came Sharjah, October 2024, where India met Australia again, this time with a semi-final berth hanging in the balance. Batting on 52 with India needing 14, Harmanpreet nudged a single off the first ball of the final over, and watched helplessly as four wickets tumbled in the next five balls. India had fallen short once more.In the years since that 171*, Harmanpreet has remained an exceptional ODI batter, averaging 38.73 and striking at 85.71 – both improvements on her career figures – while scoring five hundreds and 13 fifties in 80 innings. Yet, the conversation almost always circles back to Australia, against whom she seems to reserve her most memorable performances in ICC tournaments. She has scored more runs against them than any other opposition in both ODI and T20 World Cups, but Derby only showed how rare it is for one player to bend a result to her will. Since that match, India have won only two of their seven matches against Australia in ICC events.Sharjah, 2024. Another missed opportunity for Harmanpreet and India•ICC/Getty ImagesLeadership has added another layer to Harmanpreet’s story. Since taking over as India’s full-time white-ball captain in 2022, she has led the team through a transition from a group of bright but incomplete parts to one with more battle-hardened depth than ever, but for whom the ultimate prize has always seemed just out of reach.That prize is now two games away.This World Cup has been a patchy one for India, who stumbled to three successive losses after a bright start, all of them tight and therefore viewed from outside as avoidable and indicative of tactical and temperamental cracks. Questions arose over the team’s balance. Harmanpreet’s own form was up-and-down, intensifying the scrutiny around her decision-making. Her dismissals seemed like opportunities lost, particularly the late dab straight to short third, on 70, at a pivotal moment of India’s chase against England.But India are in the semi-finals now, and the sense of occasion feels heavier than ever. Here is another shot at breaking free of a cycle of close losses, this time in a home World Cup. For Harmanpreet, now 36, this could well be the final ODI World Cup. And perhaps the final World Cup showdown with the opposition that has defined her legacy.It’s India vs Australia, and the eternal question hangs in the air once more: what will Harmanpreet do?

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