5 Instances when India were beaten at home in Tests since 2000

2. November 2012 – England give India a taste of their own medicine

If you are a cricket fan who grew up watching cricket in the 2000s, you would have seen the familiar sight of India regularly beating England, especially at home. Yea, in Mumbai 2006 Test Monty Panesar and Andrew Flintoff routed the hosts for a hundred. But in general, the hosts came out trumps in two of three home Test series in the 2000s and had even gone to beat them in their own den in 2007.

But, then the turn of the decade saw a significant turn of fortunes. 2011 happened. India- the No.1 Test side in the world and the reigning 50-over World Champions- were routed 0-4. Another similar drubbing followed on Australia tour. By the time England arrived on the Indian shores for a return series in 2012, alarm bells had already been ringing about MS Dhoni‘s future as captain.

There were talks of revenge, of redemption, and it looked like the hosts were well on their way towards achieving it. They routed England by nine wickets in the first match at Ahmedabad. But then, India made one pivotal mistake! In a bid to take the home advantage, they dished out rank-turners in the succeeding Tests in Mumbai and Kolkata. They banked on their troika of spinners in Harbhajan Singh, Ravi Ashwin, and Pragyan Ojha.

Redemption with spin

That move could have worked against most visiting teams. But not this England side which boasted of two of the great players of spin- Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen. They also possessed possibly the greatest spin pairs to have visited India in Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann. Add James Anderson’s reverse-swing to it and it looked like a perfect team to trump India at their own game. And, boy didn’t they do it with precision!

Alastair Cook’s fighting 176 in the first Test had made it clear that England weren’t going to throw in the towel on the tour. But, if Ahmedabad was a minor sneak-peak, the next two Tests was a full-fledged exhibition to all the overseas teams on how to beat India in their den.

Alastair Cook stood like an impenetrable wall and Kevin Pietersen (186) played one of the greatest counter-attacking innings on a rank-turner in Mumbai. Anderson put on a reverse-swing masterclass while Swann-Panesar duo (37 wickets in the series as a pair) spun a web. It was so obscure that none of the Indian batsmen was able to breach it, paving the way for an eventual 1-2 series defeat.