Early history (1700s–1918) The British first brought
cricket to India in the early 1700s, with the first cricket match played in 1721. It was played and adopted by
Kolis of
Gujarat who were sea
pirates and
outlaws who often looted the
British ships. The
East India Company tried to manage the Kolis through cricket and were successful. In 1848, the
Parsi community in Mumbai formed the Oriental Cricket Club, the first cricket club to be established by Indians. After slow beginnings, the Europeans eventually invited the Parsis to play a match in 1877. By 1912, the Parsis,
Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims of Bombay played a
quadrangular tournament with the Europeans every year.
Test match status (1918–1970) India was invited to the
International Cricket Council in 1926, and made their debut as a Test-playing nation in
England in 1932, led by C. K. Nayudu, who was considered the best Indian batsman at the time. The one-off Test match between the two teams was played at
Lord's in
London. The team was not strong in their batting at this point and went on to lose by 158 runs. India hosted its first men's
Test cricket series in 1933 when
England toured India. The visitors won the three-Test series 2–0 with the matches held at
Bombay (now Mumbai),
Calcutta (now Kolkata) and
Madras (now Chennai). The Indian team continued to improve throughout the 1930s and 1940s but did not achieve an international victory during this period. In the early 1940s, India did not play any men's Test cricket due to
World War II. The team's first
series as an independent country was in late 1947 against
Don Bradman's
Australia. It was also the first Test series India played which was not against England. Australia men's cricket team won the five-match series 4–0, with Bradman tormenting the Indian bowling in his final Australian summer. India subsequently played their first Test series at home not against England, but against the
West Indies in 1948. West Indies won the five-Test series 1–0. India recorded their first Test victory, in their 24th match, against England at Madras in 1952. Later in the same year, they won their first Test series, which was against
Pakistan. They continued their improvement throughout the early 1950s with a series win against
New Zealand in 1956. However, they did not win again in the remainder of the decade and lost badly to strong Australian and English teams. On 24 August 1959, India lost by an innings in the Test to complete the only 5–0 whitewash ever inflicted by England. The next decade saw India's reputation develop as a team with a strong record at home. They won their first Test series against England at home in 1961–62 and also won a home series against New Zealand. They managed to draw home series against Pakistan and Australia and another series against England. In this same period, India also won its first series outside the subcontinent, against New Zealand in 1967–68. The key to India's
bowling in the 1970s were the
Indian spin quartet –
Bishan Singh Bedi,
E. A. S. Prasanna,
B. S. Chandrasekhar and
Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan. This period also saw the emergence of two of India's best ever batsmen, Sunil Gavaskar and
Gundappa Viswanath. Indian
pitches have had the tendency to support
spin and the spin quartet exploited this to create collapses in opposing batting line-ups. These players were responsible for the back-to-back series wins in 1971 in the West Indies and in England, under the captaincy of
Ajit Wadekar. Gavaskar scored 774 runs in the West Indian series while
Dilip Sardesai's 112 played a big part in their one Test win.
One-day cricket and ICC Cricket World Cup success (1970–1985) The advent of men's
One Day International (ODI) cricket in 1971 created a new dimension in the cricket world. However, India was not considered strong in ODIs at this point and batsmen such as the captain Gavaskar were known for their defensive approach to batting. India began as a weak team in ODIs and did not qualify for the knockout stage in the first two editions of the
Cricket World Cup. Gavaskar infamously blocked his way to 36 not out of 174 balls against England in the inaugural
1975 Cricket World Cup; India scored just 132 for 3 and lost by 202 runs. In contrast, India fielded a strong team in test matches and was particularly strong at home, where their combination of stylish batsmen and beguiling spinners were at their best. India set a then Test record in the third Test against the West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1976, when they chased 403 to win, thanks to 112 from Viswanath. In November 1976, the team established another record by scoring 524 for 9 declared against New Zealand at Kanpur without any individual batsman scoring a century. There were six fifties, the highest being 70 by
Mohinder Amarnath. This innings was only the eighth instance in Test cricket where all eleven batsmen reached double figures. India performed worse in the
1979 Cricket World Cup, failing to win a single match. During the 1980s, India developed a more attack-minded batting line-up with stroke makers such as the wristy
Mohammad Azharuddin,
Krishnamachari Srikanth,
Dilip Vengsarkar and all-rounders
Kapil Dev and
Ravi Shastri. On 25 June 1983, India won the
1983 Cricket World Cup, defeating the favourites and the two-time defending champions West Indies in the final at Lord's, owing to a strong bowling performance. Bowler
Roger Binny was the leading wicket taker of the tournament with 18 scalps. In spite of this, the team performed poorly in the Test arena, including 28 consecutive Test matches without a victory. In 1984, India won the
inaugural edition of the
Asia Cup and in 1985, won the
World Championship of Cricket in
Australia.
Late 20th century (1985–1999) Despite winning major tournaments in the first half of the 1980s, India remained a weak test team. India's Test series victory in 1986 against England remained the last Test series win by India outside the
subcontinent for the next 19 years. The 1980s saw Gavaskar and Kapil Dev (India's best all-rounder to date) at the pinnacle of their careers. Gavaskar made a Test record 34 centuries as he became the first man to reach the 10,000 run mark. Kapil Dev later became the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 434 wickets. The period was also marked by an unstable leadership, with Gavaskar and Kapil exchanging the captaincy several times. India co-hosted the
1987 Cricket World Cup, the first instance when the tournament was hosted outside England. In the semi-finals, India was defeated by England, after having defeated them on the same stage four years prior. The addition of
Sachin Tendulkar and
Anil Kumble to the national team in 1989 and 1990 further improved the team. The following year,
Javagal Srinath, India's fastest bowler since
Amar Singh made his debut. Under Azharuddin, India played in the
1992 Cricket World Cup, failing to make the knockout stage in the tournament for the first time since 1979. During the 1990s, India did not win any of its 33 Tests outside the
subcontinent while it won 17 out of its 30 Tests at home. Notably, India won a hat-trick of
Asia Cups in
1988,
1991 and
1995. India was eliminated by neighbours
Sri Lanka on home soil at the disastrous
1996 Cricket World Cup semi-final, where rioters burnt section of the stadium at
Kolkata after India were set to face a crushing defeat. Tendulkar was the tournament's leading run scorer, with this the first time an Indian being one in the tournament; and Kumble leading the wicket-taking charts. Following the World Cup, the team underwent a year of change as
Sourav Ganguly and
Rahul Dravid, later to become captains of the team, made their debut in the same test at Lord's. Tendulkar replaced Azharuddin as captain in late 1996, but after a personal and team form slump, Tendulkar relinquished the captaincy and Azharuddin was reinstated at the beginning of 1998. India lost the final of the
1997 Asia Cup, losing the tournament for the first time in editions they had participated in. In order to play a
bilateral ODI series against Pakistan, India split its squad into two and sent a weak squad to feature in the
cricket tournament of the
1998 Commonwealth Games. As a result, India failed to progress from the group stage. In the
inaugural edition of the
Champions Trophy in 1998, India were knocked out in the semi-finals by West Indies. The team had yet another disastrous World Cup in
1999. Despite Dravid being the tournament's leading run scorer, India failed to reach the knockouts. Following this, Tendulkar was again made captain, and had another poor run, losing
3–0 on a tour of Australia and then
2–0 at home to South Africa. Tendulkar resigned, vowing never to captain the team again.
Captaincy changes and dominance on global stage (2000–2013) The team was further damaged in 2000 when former captain Azharuddin and fellow batsman
Ajay Jadeja were implicated in a
match-fixing scandal and given life and five-year bans respectively. This period was described by the BBC as "the Indian cricket's worst hour". However, the new core – Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble and Ganguly – swore not to let this happen to them again, and led Indian cricket out of the dark times. The first three put aside personal ambitions to let Ganguly lead them into a new era. The Indian team underwent major improvements under the captaincy of Ganguly and the guidance of
John Wright, India's first foreign coach. Ganguly led India to the
final of the
2000 Champions Trophy, India's first ICC final after the 1983 World Cup. Despite his century, India was defeated in the final by New Zealand. He was the leading run scorer in the tournament, and
Venkatesh Prasad the leading wicket taker. In the
Kolkata Test match, India became only the third team in the history of Test cricket to win a Test match after following on.
Australian captain Steve Waugh labelled India as the "Final Frontier" because of his team's inability to win a Test series in India. In 2002, India took part in the
2002 NatWest Series against England and Sri Lanka, where after topping the table they faced hosts England in the final. India ended up chasing 326 to win what is widely regarded as one of the greatest ODI matches of all time, winning the series. On 30 September 2002, India and Sri Lanka were crowned undefeated joint-winners of the
2002 Champions Trophy after the
final was rained off following 2 days of play. This was India's first ICC title after the 1983 World Cup, and India and Sri Lanka became the only countries to have won both the tournaments.
Virender Sehwag was the tournament's leading run scorer. India then went to the
2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, where they reached the final, India's third consecutive ICC final, only to be beaten by Australia. Tendulkar, the player of the tournament, set the record for the most runs scored in a single world cup. A convincing ODI series win in Pakistan in early 2006, following a loss in the Test series, gave India the world record of 17 successive ODI victories while batting second. India had poor performances at the Champions Trophies in
2004 and
2006, and most notably at the
2007 Cricket World Cup under Dravid's leadership which led to significant changes in the team's structure. India found a new core in players like
MS Dhoni,
Yuvraj Singh,
Harbhajan Singh and
Zaheer Khan. In 2007, Dhoni was made captain in limited-overs. On 24 September 2007, India won the
inaugural edition of the
Men's T20 World Cup held in South Africa, beating Pakistan by five runs in the
final. This victory was a dominant factor in the introduction of the
Indian Premier League. Despite this, India failed to reach the knockout stages of the
2009 Champions Trophy and the
2009 and
2010 editions of the
T20 World Cup. India won the
2010 Asia Cup, winning the tournament for the first time in fifteen years. Tendulkar became the first cricketer to score 200 in ODIs. On 2 April 2011, India won the
2011 Cricket World Cup by defeating Sri Lanka in the final, thus becoming the third team after West Indies and Australia to win the World Cup twice. India also became the first team to win the World Cup on home soil. This was Tendulkar's last of six world cups, having equalled
Javed Miandads record of having played in the most editions of the tournament. Zaheer Khan was the joint-highest wicket taker of the tournament. Sehwag, Yuvraj and Harbhajan became the first set of players to win all three ICC white-ball tournaments. Later that year, Sehwag broke Tendulkar's record of having the highest individual score in ODIs. The following year, the team failed to reach the knockouts for the
2012 T20 World Cup, for the third time in a row. On 19 June 2013, India won the
2013 Champions Trophy undefeated after overcoming England in the rain-affected
final and Dhoni became the first captain in history to win all three ICC trophies in white-ball cricket, namely the
Cricket World Cup, T20 World Cup and
Champions Trophy. Player of the tournament
Shikhar Dhawan was the leading run scorer, and won the 'golden bat'.
Ravindra Jadeja won the 'golden ball' for being the highest wicket-taker.
ICC tournament drought (2014–2023) In the
2014 T20 World Cup hosted in Bangladesh, India narrowly missed out on another ICC trophy by losing to Sri Lanka in the
final. Player of the tournament Kohli was the leading run scorer, having set the record for most runs scored in a single edition of the tournament (319). In late 2014, Dhoni stepped down as captain in tests to focus on white-ball cricket, paving way for Kohli, the vice-captain, to succeed him. In a match against Sri Lanka, Rohit overtook Sehwag to become the leading run-scorer in an inning in ODIs (264), being the first player to cross 250. India was knocked out of the
2015 Cricket World Cup in the semi-final to eventual winners Australia. With the inclusion of pacer
Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder
Hardik Pandya in the squad, India began 2016 by winning the
2016 Asia Cup, remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament. The team were favourites to win the
2016 T20 World Cup, which was being held at home, but lost in the semi-final to eventual champions West Indies. Kohli became the first player to be player of the tournament in back to back editions of a major cricket tournament. After Dhoni stepped down from white-ball captaincy, Kohli stepped in as full-time captain across formats. India lost to
arch rivals Pakistan in the
final of the
2017 Champions Trophy by 180 runs, the worst defeat in the final of an ICC ODI tournament. Dhawan again won the 'golden bat' after being the leading run scorer, becoming the first to win the award twice. In 2018, India won a test series in Australia for the first time in their history, under Kohli and coach Shastri. After winning the
2018 Asia Cup and the
2018 Nidahas Trophy, the team's next major global tournament was the
2019 Cricket World Cup where they made the semi-finals but lost to New Zealand by 18 runs. After Dhoni's retirement,
KL Rahul took over as wicket-keeper and became a team regular. Vice-captain Rohit was the highest run-scorer of the tournament with 648 runs, and set the record for most centuries scored in a tournament (5). Following being dismissed for 36 in a test against Australia, India managed to turn-around and again win a series in Australia for the second time. India played the first ever final of the
World Test Championship in 2021 against New Zealand in which they lost by eight wickets. The team had a disappointing performance at the
2021 T20 World Cup, failing to reach the knockout stage of an ICC tournament for the first time since 2012 and also notably losing to rivals Pakistan by 10 wickets, their first defeat against the team in a World Cup match. After this tournament, Kohli was sacked as captain, being succeeded by Rohit across formats; and Dravid replacing Shastri as coach. They qualified for the semi-finals in the
2022 T20 World Cup, but lost to England by ten wickets. India played the
final of the
2023 World Test Championship against Australia in which they lost by 209 runs. Following these losses, Rohit notably mentioned to
Dinesh Karthik that "something needed to change", and he changed to having a more aggressive batting style as well as directing a more targeting batting approach in the team. India went on to win the
2023 Asia Cup by notably dismissing
Sri Lanka for 50 runs in the
final and winning by ten wickets. India also secured the gold medal at the
2022 Asian games held in 2023 due to higher seeding after the final against
Afghanistan was washed out. They were deemed favourites to win the home
2023 Cricket World Cup. Rohit broke Tendulkar's record of the most World Cup centuries in the match against Afghanistan. Tendulkar conceded more records to Kohli, who overtook him to score the most centuries in ODI cricket; as well as for scoring the most runs in a single edition of the tournament (765). India was ultimately defeated in the
final by Australia. Shami was the leading wicket taker of the tournament.
Resurgence (2024–present) In January, India played the longest-ever T20I in a match against Afghanistan, which got extended to two rounds of
super overs in an eventual Indian triumph. On 29 June 2024, India won the
2024 T20 World Cup by defeating
South Africa in the
final. Hence, they became the third team after England and West Indies to win the cup twice and also the first team to win the tournament undefeated.
Arshdeep Singh was the joint-highest wicket taker at 17 wickets, while
Jasprit Bumrah became the player of the tournament. This was Rohit's last of nine
T20 World Cups, having participated in every edition up until 2024 alongside Shakib al Hasan of Bangladesh. On 9 March 2025, India won the
2025 Champions Trophy undefeated. The team defeated New Zealand in the
final, defeating them for the first time at this stage in an ICC tournament. This was India's third consecutive final of the tournament, as well as fourth consecutive ICC final. India became the first team to win the tournament thrice, with Rohit and Kohli being the only Indians to win four ICC tournaments. Despite the successes in ODIs and T20Is, India had a poor season of test cricket in 2024. Following the series win against England and Bangladesh, India lost
3–0 to New Zealand in a home series, followed by failing to win a hat-trick of a test series in Australia. Due to these losses, India missed out on qualifying for the
2025 World Test Championship final, although the team was in a comfortable position to qualify prior to the 2 series, thereby failing to reach the final for the first time. In the 2025
Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy, India drew the 5 match test series
2–2 with England. Later in the year, India comfortably won
2–0 at home against the West Indies, and then lost
0–2 at home against South Africa. In the
2026 Men's T20 World Cup, India defeated New Zealand in the
final, thus becoming the only team to win back-to-back T20 World Cups (2024 and 2026), and a record three titles in the T20 World Cup.
Jasprit Bumrah and
Varun Chakravarthy were the joint-highest wicket takers at 14 wickets each, while
Sanju Samson became the player of the tournament, after becoming just the third player to score half-centuries in the semi-final and the final of the same World Cup edition. ==Gallery==