India's journey to supremacy in Test cricket in 2010s under Virat Kohli's leadership

The current Indian Test team has scaled new heights with each passing game and it shows in their extended run as the world's top-ranked side in the ICC rankings since June 2016. India is also sitting at the top of the World Test Championship points table with 360 points. As the decade comes to an end, let us look back at what was India’s most dominant decade at home in their Test cricket history. 

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India whitewashed Bangladesh in the 2-match Test series recently, which also meant that for the first time in their history, India are the most successful team in a decade (on win-loss ratio). Since the beginning of the 2010s, India have played a total of 107 Tests, winning 56 of them while losing 29, a win-loss ratio of 1.93. South Africa are the second most successful side in the current decade with a win-loss ratio of 1.76. Australia, with a 1.47 ratio, come third on the list.

India's Test record: Win-loss ratio in the last decade under MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli

India - 1.93 (Played: 107, Won: 56, Lost:29)
South Africa - 1.76 (Played:89, Won:44, Lost:25)
Australia - 1.47 (Played:111, Won:56, Lost:38)
England - 1.30 (Played:123, Won:57, Lost:44)
New Zealand - 1.03 (Played:80, Won:31, Lost: 30)
Pakistan - 0.89 (Played: 83, Won:33, Lost:37)
Sri Lanka - 0.77  (Played:95, Won:31, Lost:40)

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The path to being No.1 wasn't a cakewalk for India. In the first half of the ongoing decade (December 2010-November 2014), India only won 14 while lost 16 Tests out of a total of 38 matches played. This was a tough phase for Indian cricket under MS Dhoni's leadership which included a 1-3 loss in England, 0-1 loss in New Zealand and 0-1 loss in South Africa in the last year of that period.

However, things took a turn for good when Virat Kohli took over the reins from MS Dhoni in January 2015 after their 0-2 loss in Australia. India started taking huge strides as under Kohli, they won a Test series in Sri Lanka for the first time in 22 years before they commenced their impressive home run when they ended South Africa's 9-year unbeaten run in a Test series.

New Zealand were the next on the list for Virat Kohli's men as they beat the Kiwis 3-0 in October 2016 and that's when India dethroned Pakistan to reach the top of the world Test rankings. India then went on to hand Alastair Cook's England a 4-0 thrashing at home. Post beating England, India registered a 2-1 series victory against Australia at home. However, they could not capitalise on their good form and failed to grab their chances as the visiting Indian team lost to South Africa 1-2 and England 1-4. Yet, they ended 2018 in style as they beat Australia 2-1 again, this time though in their backyard 'Down Under'. There were a number of factors which led to Virat Kohli and his men become a force to be reckoned with in the longest format of the game. 

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Lethal pacers and deceiving spinners

India's arsenal is filled with arguably the best all-weather fast bowling attack in the world along with two of the world's top spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. A lot of India's recent success is due to its bowlers. Indian pacers consistently outshined their opposition counterparts, even on spin-friendly tracks at home. Indian spinners have always been dominant in home conditions and both Ashwin and Jadeja have shown on numerous occasions as to why they dominate the longest format of the game.

Strong batting line-up

After the retirement of the 'Fab 4', there was a big void to be filled but Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane have stepped up quite well. With the arrival of Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal as openers, the current Indian batting line-up not just looks solid, but could well go down as one of the best in Indian history. The Indian team are now at the pinnacle of the Test rankings for more than 36 months, which has been the team's longest run at the helm, comprehensively overtaking the 2-year reign under ex-captain MS Dhoni.

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