5 Reasons why Team India’s No. 1 position in Tests doesn’t appeal

5. Playing on doctored wickets:

India’s recent wins at home against South Africa and New Zealand have come on wickets that are not a good advertisement for Test cricket. Yet, the Azharuddin-Wadekar formula of preparing spinning wickets to flatten teams from outside the subcontinent continues to be strong.

This might make bowlers Ravichandran Ashwin set up records faster but will never make India strong enough to win against big teams abroad. And until that happens, achieving something similar to what the gangs of Clive Lloyd, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting did in the past will remain a dream. India’s No. 1 positions will only come as indirect rewards, i.e., filling the space when somebody else slips.