India no more poor travellers

Rahul Dravid's reluctance in enforcing the follow-on in the Oval Test might have robbed India of a great victory, but his 'safety-first' approach made him the first Indian captain to win a Test series in England in 21 years.

India has always been a formidable side at home, but somehow it could not transform the potential it had into wins while playing abroad. And that India registered its first Test victory overseas after almost 35 years is a disgrace in itself.

But things are changing now and there is a distinct shift in India's fortunes while playing abroad in this decade. The number of series wins abroad in these 8 years is in fact more than what India has managed to achieve in it's first 67 years (from 1932 to 1999)!

Summary of India's series-wins abroad

	Mts	Won	Lost	Drawn	Won%
From 1932 to 1999	46	5	31	10	10.86
2000 onwards	16	7	6	3	43.75

Not only the series wins, the Test victories by India in this short period far outnumber the victories registered in first 67 years.

Summary of India's Test-wins abroad

	Mts	Won	Lost	Drawn	Won%
From 1932 to 1999	155	13	69	73	8.38
2000 onwards	46	16	15	15	34.78

This is after 21 years India is registering a series win in England, the other two occasions were - in 1971 and 1986.

India's series wins in England

Season	Mts	Result	Captain
1971	3	1-0	Ajit Wadekar
1986	3	2-0	Kapil Dev
2007	3	1-0	Rahul Dravid

Mohammad Azharuddin is the most successful Indian captain at home with 13 wins and just 4 losses, but his overseas record is pretty ordinary with just one win out of 27 games.

When it comes to leading the side away from the comforts of home, Sourav Ganguly towers over the rest with 11 wins out of 28 games. Ganguly also holds the distinction of winning most series for India on foreign soil, though Rahul Dravid is not very far behind.

In fact Ganguly's series tally includes the series against Pakistan in 2003-04, in which Rahul Dravid captained the side in the first two Tests winning one and losing one. Ganguly then returned in the third Test to claim the series.

Most series wins for Indian captains on foreign soil

Sourav Ganguly	4
R Dravid	3
Ajit Wadekar	2
Nawab of Pataudi,jr	1
Kapil Dev	1
M Azharuddin	1

Most Test wins for Indian captains on foreign soil

Captain	Mts	Won	Lost	Drawn	Won%
Sourav Ganguly	28	11	10	7	39.28
Rahul Dravid	17	5	4	8	29.41
Nawab of Pataudi,jr	13	3	10	0	23.07
Bishan Singh Bedi	14	3	8	3	21.42
Ajit Wadekar	11	2	3	6	18.18
Kapil Dev	14	2	3	9	14.28
Sunil Gavaskar	18	2	6	10	11.11
M Azharuddin	27	1	10	16	3.70

Rahul

Dravid has been the most prolific scorer in the matches won by India overseas, but Tendulkar has the highest average and also the most hundreds to his name.

Most successful batsmen in overseas Test wins (Min. Qualification: 500 runs)

Player	Mts	Runs	Avg	100s	50s
R Dravid	16	1729	86.45	5	7
SR Tendulkar	13	1359	97.07	6	2
SC Ganguly	14	972	64.80	2	8
VVS Laxman	13	873	51.35	2	5
SM Gavaskar	9	756	50.40	3	3
V Sehwag	10	577	44.38	1	0
GR Viswanath	6	533	53.30	2	3

Anil Kumble has taken most wickets in overseas victories, but Erapally Prasanna has the best average and then there is Irfan Pathan with 6-fivers and two 10-wicket match hauls!

Most successful bowlers in overseas Test wins (Min.Qualification: 25 wickets)

Bowler	Mts	Wkts	Avg	SR	5WI	10WM
A Kumble	13	71	21.42	42.14	4	0
Zaheer Khan	13	57	23.46	43.19	2	0
IK Pathan	7	49	16.76	30.39	6	2
BS Chandrasekhar	5	42	17.14	38.38	5	1
EAS Prasanna	7	42	16.50	48.86	3	1
BS Bedi	8	32	25.91	64.81	0	0
Harbhajan Singh	9	26	31.42	67.15	1	0