India's 500th Test: Prized History, Promising Future

Five hundredth Test. In an era in which the limited-overs, particularly the Twenty20 format, is dominating the sport, in an era in which Test cricket is losing its sheen though the connoisseur swears by the longest format and insists everything is well with it, India's 500th Test assumes greater significance.

When Virat Kohli goes out for toss with Kane Williamson at the Green Park, Kanpur, on Thursday, it may seem like any other Test match. After all it is a game, isn't it?

But the number 500 attaches a special importance. It may seem a small number to some, but to others it is humongous. It is huge in the sense that only one batsman has scored 500 runs in an individual innings, not in a Test match but in a first-class match after all these decades of playing the sport.

The number 500 is voluminous that only five bowlers in the history of the game have crossed as many wickets or more in Tests, and all of their careers entered this millennium.

To be appearing in the 500th Test 84 years since their first, and to be only the fourth country out of 10 nations to reach that milestone behind England (976), Australia (791) and West Indies (517) is a moment to cherish.

No wonder then that everybody wants to be part of the occasion. When every cricket fan wants to be part of it, imagine how the 285 players who have been privileged to don the national jersey across 499 Tests must be feeling.

Even those departed souls will be smiling from up above and blessing Indian cricket well.

It is a matter of pride to be a part of India's 500th Test. Anil Kumble hit the nail on its head when he said in Kanpur on Tuesday: "To be a part of 132 Test matches as a player, and now be involved in the 500th Test match as coach, is something really special.

"It feels good that India has a legacy of 499 Test matches. It is a great milestone to have been a part of the Indian team in the 1990s and 2000s. It is extremely special and an honour. To have a legacy of 500 Test matches starting from 1932 till today, there have been some great players."

Great players, indeed, there have been. And, Kumble is one among them.

Indian cricket's contribution to the sport has been immense. A lot of it has to do with maintaining the rich tradition and values that the sport holds. Gone are the days when India were lambs overseas. The opposition looks up to India as a major threat even in their own backyards.

This fearless characteristic was instilled into the Indian team by the never-say-die Sourav Ganguly, when he took over the reins at the start of this century. India began to play attacking cricket overseas, tasted an odd win here and there and that trait has rubbed on to those who have succeeded the Bengal Tiger at the helm.

It is not that India were defensive in the eras gone by. Yes, it did take time for India to post wins abroad while they were masters of spin bowling at home. Under Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, India registered their first Test win overseas, coming in their 105th Test and in their 36th year since debut, against New Zealand.

Pataudi's successor, Ajit Wadekar, will always be remembered for leading India to their first Test series win in the West Indies and in England. The year 1971 in which India posted memorable victories at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad and The Oval, London for their historic first series wins against the West Indies and England, respectively, changed the way the overseas teams looked at India.

More wins were to come abroad, though they were far and few in between. Captains came and went. Sunil Gavaskar, India's greatest ever opening batsman, was blamed for his defensive tactics as a captain. He was often said to be a captain that looked to save a Test rather than go for an outright win. "Drawing a Test was the safest option," it was often said during those days.

But Gavaskar the batsman was fearless. Anyone who has scored 34 Test hundreds without a helmet and only a skull cap under the Panama hat, including 13 against the most fearsome of West Indies pacers must be full of guts. And, Gavaskar was all of that and steel. He carried on the tradition of India's technically-perfect batting that were passed on from the earlier generation that included Vijay Merchant among others.

That defensive attitude changed a bit when Kapil Dev took charge. The captain who guided India to their first World Cup triumph in 1983, led the nation to their first Test series win (2-0 with wins at Lord's and Leeds) in England after a 25-year-gap, in 1986. This came after nearly winning the series in Australia the previous season but for rain and poor umpiring. It took 28 years for India again to win at the Home of Cricket, Lord's, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni's daring young India did it in 2014.

There have been many other victories in other countries, the contests between India and Pakistan always topping the charts.

There have been innumerable feats by India's cricketing greats who have been hero-worshipped all over the world. If Mushtaq Ali was India's first Test centurion in England (112 at Old Trafford in 1936), Vijay Hazare is credited with leading India to their first Test victory – by an innings and eight runs against England in Chennai, 1952 – in their 25th appearance.

There have been many who have, from time to time, rewritten India's Test chapters. Gundappa Viswanath will figure right on top when the subject is about style, elegance, silken-touch, wristy strokeplay and then follow Mohammad Azharuddin and VVS Laxman in that order.

Until Virender Sehwag arrived in the scene in 2001, opening in Tests was often restricted to seeing off the shine and building an innings run by run.

Sehwag adopted the policy of 'the ball is there to be hit' and sent the opposition on a leather hunt. Such was his daring approach that he has two triple centuries, four double centuries and eight scores in the 150-199 region in Tests, all at a brisk pace.

In bowling department, India needed the arrival of Kapil Dev 45 years since their first Test to unveil a genuine world-class fast bowler. Until then, the new ball operators' were sometimes part-timers whose duty was to take the shine off it for the famous slow bowlers to spin a web around the opposition batsmen.

Kapil held the world record for most Test wickets for a while. It needed a spin bowler with the temperament of a fast bowler, Anil Kumble, to perch on top of India's leading bowlers in Tests, with 619 scalps.

And, until Sachin Tendulkar arrived as a baby-faced school boy cricketer in 1989, it was feared that India's batting ended with Gavaskar. But what unfolded over the next quarter of a century was unbelievable. Almost every batting record went for a toss. The most runs in Test career: Sachin Tendulkar (15,921 runs). Most hundreds in Test career: Sachin Tendulkar (51). Tendulkar etched his name as an all-time No. 4 batsman, carrying the burden of an entire nation's expectations on his shoulders and inspiring a generation of youngsters not just in sport but also in various other walks of life. He may not have achieved tremendous success as a captain but none can deny his accomplishments with the broad bat consistently across 24 years.

Some numbers in India's glorious history will for ever be etched in memory. You associate 774 with Gavaskar for the amount of runs he scored in his debut Test series, in the West Indies in 1970-71; 281 – VVS Laxman's path-breaking score in the 2001 Kolkata Test that instilled fear in not only Australia but also other teams to think twice, thrice and still not enforce follow on and bat second time around even if the lead was huge; 10/74 – Kumble's magical figures in one innings to become the second of only two players to take a Perfect 10; Narendra Hirwani's 16 wickets on Test debut; Sachin Tendulkar's 200 Test appearances.... The list goes on and on. Not to mention India also figure in the list of Tied Tests, against Australia in Chennai, 1986.

Some of the performances that spoke of valour include Sandeep Patil's 174 in Adelaide in 1980-81 after being struck on his temple by a Len Pascoe bouncer in only the previous Test in Sydney. Or for that matter Anil Kumble bowling with his fractured jaw in the 2002 Antigua Test, or a 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar continuing to bat after Waqar Younis hit him on his nose in Sialkot in 1989. How else can you describe Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, who overcame the problem of losing vision in one eye and batting with aplomb for India?

The list goes on and on.

With India's cricketing history etched in gold, the onus is now on Kohli and Co. to continue it to further heights. They have already shown the eagerness to do it by not playing boring Test cricket but with a positive intent, that of going for a win even if it means losing, but with heads held high.

Kohli, on his way to greatness, has shown maturity to understand the legacy of 499 Tests and who better than Kumble by his side to guide India in their quest to further glory?

It is safe to say India will go on to score big and not just get stuck on 500.