India will begin a new chapter when they face West Indies in the two-match Test series starting October 2 in Ahmedabad. For the first time in over a decade, the team will be without Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin in a home Test series.
This loss of this three is a significant shift, since they have been the pillars of Indian Test dominance since the mid-2010s. India remained on the top of the ICC Test rankings under Kohli over the years with Rohit and Ashwin having equally critical roles.
The questions that fans are asking themselves are when is the last time India played a home test devoid of the presence of these three greats? That was as far back as November 2010, when the series was against New Zealand.
India, under the captainship of MS Dhoni, had gone to Nagpur Test under pressure since it was at 0-0. It was a decisive game and the hosts had to deliver a good performance in order to win the series.
New Zealand had won the toss and decided to be the first to bat but they did not make good use of it. The Indian bowlers were disciplined and sent the visitors away in a meager 193 runs in their opening innings.
India retaliated with the bat, and recorded a mammoth total of 566/8. Rahul Dravid scored the classic knock of 191 and Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, and Dhoni made significant half-centuries to put India in the lead.
In pursuit of such a massive deficit, New Zealand again failed and only made 175 runs in their second innings. India had a landslide victory of an innings and 198 runs, and the series had ended in style 1-0.
First Test Match Played Together by Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and R Ashwin
Virat Kohli became the first of three stalwarts to receive a Test debut, when he went on tour to West Indies in 2011. Ravichandran Aswhin got his Test cap in the same home series in November 2011 against the same opponent.
Rohit Sharma was forced to wait with his debut in Test cricket coming in November 2013 in the home series against the West Indies. Both Ashwin and Kohli were already members of the side in that match.
Rohit declared himself in a flamboyant manner with a hundred, and Ashwin, too, made a century. Their work saw India to an easy victory by an innings against 51 in Kolkata.
