Top 10 Teams with most tosses wins in Test Cricket

Top 10 Teams with most tosses wins in Test Cricket: In cricket they say, catches win matches. However, winning the toss too is quite important as you can control the game from ball one. A lot of times the toss plays to your advantage. In the recently concluded India vs South Africa series, the team that won the toss went on to win the game. In Tests, the advantage can go a long way in deciding the winner of the game. Here we look at Top 10 Teams with most tosses wins in Test Cricket: 10. Bangladesh – 48: (Photo Source: AFP) Bangladesh is the last team to have received a Test status. The year 2015 has been huge for them, after making quarter-finals of this year’s world cup, they went on to win the ODI series’ against Pakistan, India and South Africa back to back. Riding high on this confidence they would look to change their fortunes in the Test arena as well where they lag behind with only 7 wins in 93 games. A case in point here is, 5 of their wins have come after winning the toss. 9. Zimbabwe – 56: (© Getty Images) Due to its political problems, Zimbabwe couldn’t quite reach the heights of international success like the other African giants, South Africa. Zimbabwe in the late 90s and early 2000s played quite competitive cricket with the likes of the Flower Brothers, Heath Streak, Alistair Campbell, Henry Olonga, Neil Johnson etc. forming the core of their lineup. With them gone, Zimbabwe too lost competitiveness and hasn’t played a lot of Test games in the last few years. In the 97 games it has played, it has won 11 games and 6 of those wins have come when Zimbabwe have won the toss. 8. Sri Lanka – 133: Sri Lanka. (© LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP/Getty Images) After it rose to prominence in the 90s, under Arjuna Ranatunga’s leadership, Sri Lankan cricket was nurtured by the likes of Muralitharan, Sangakkara, Jayasuriya, Vaas, Jayawardene to name a few. After it made its debut in 1982, Sri Lanka has had a fair success at home, however, they still remain poor travellers. They have won 46 of their games after winning the toss and only 29 after they lost the toss in 243 Tests they have played till date. 7. Pakistan – 188: Pakistan. (© MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/Getty Images) Pakistan has won 188 tosses in 395 Test matches they’ve played. A math freak will tell you that it is close to 50%; that is also the probability for you to win a toss. They have had years of dominance in the 80s and 90s, in the 2000s though, they have become quite mercurial and unpredictable in all the formats. They are one of the few teams who enjoy more success after losing the toss rather than winning it. They’ve won 67 games out of 187 where they’ve lost the toss while won 58 games when they’ve won the toss. 6. South Africa – 189: South Africa. (Photo Source: AFP) A lot of South African cricket was lost to the apartheid era where they didn’t play cricket for almost two and a half decades. They have been rather successful after their return to cricket. Winning Tests everywhere, they’ve played. In the last decade, they have been the best Test side and the most consistent at that. Of the 189 tosses they’ve won, they’ve gone on to win 79 of those games. 5. New Zealand – 202: New Zealand. (© Getty Images) The Kiwis have always been a competitive side in ODIs, reaching the Semi-finals 4 out of the 5 World Cups since 1999, but they lacked the strength in the 5-day game-winning only 37 Tests out of 125 since 1st Jan 2000 and a win/loss ratio of only 0.740. New Zealand have improved on their Test Win/Loss ratio to 0.812 since 2012 though, and it has been around this period where Brendon McCullum has assembled a brilliant unit with Guptill, Southee, Corey Anderson, Boult all coming into the limelight. People have started taking New Zealand very seriously in both formats. Historically, though, they struggled in Tests and have won only 42 games in the 202 games they’ve won the toss. 4. India – 246: Virat Kohli. (© Ishara S.KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images) India since their debut had a shaky start and didn’t win much. They had to wait long before registering their first win. The first few decades were quite indifferent. Eventually, it was the 1983 World Cup win that put India on the world cricket map. It was the 80s where India became the front runners but in the 90s, their Test form faded. Under the leadership of Ganguly, Dravid, Kumble and Dhoni though, India started winning abroad. It was during this period where became the number one Test side. India have done equally well on occasions where they’ve won the toss (winning 63 of the 246 games) as compared to the games where they lost the toss (61 wins out of 245 games) 3. West Indies – 262: (© Ishara S.KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images) The West Indian cricket team of the yesteryears was probably the most dominating cricket team there ever was. Sir Garry Sobers, Viv Richards, Wes Hall, Andy Roberts a few of those legends. However, the current West Indian crop isn’t too fond of playing the longer version of the game. They are happier playing T20 and that does reflect the results West Indies have got in the Test format over the last 8-10 years. West Indies though believed in using the toss to advantage, of the 164 wins in 510 Tests, 90 have come in the games they’ve won the toss and only 74 in the 248 games where they went on to lose the toss. 2. Australia – 395: . (© Getty Images) Australia has been the greatest and the most successful team in cricket. Winning the most number of Test matches, a whopping 366 out of 780 games, they lead the pack by a fair distance. Producing world-class cricketers year after year, Australia have quite stamped their authority on this game. Of the 395 games where they’ve won the toss, they’ve gone on to win 198 games, with a conversion rate of more than 50%, using the toss to their advantage. 1. England – 465: England. (© Getty Images) The pioneers and the founders of the game, England have won the most number of tosses in cricket. However, tosses don’t always convert into wins as of the 465 toss wins, England have won 171 games and went on to lose 120 of those games. Their record when losing the toss too isn’t quite different as they won 173 of the 500 games where lost the toss. Also Read – Top 10 Teams with Most Test Wins (All Stats Updated Till 4th November 2015)