On this day in 2011: India and England play 2000th Test
India’s tour of England in 2011 was indeed a disastrous one as the MS Dhoni-led side were whitewashed across formats in the two-month bilateral series. The Test series saw India being handed a 0-4 drubbing along with injuries to many key players due to fatigue and continuous cricket.
While it was complete one-sided dominance from the hosts on that tour, it also needs to be noted that there was a milestone moment in that bilateral series where Test cricket completed 2000 matches.
Here’s all you need to know about the 2000th Test match
The 2000th Test match was played 134 years after the first game was played between arch-rivals Australia and England in Melbourne. While there was a long gap of 107 years between the first and the 1000th Test, the next 1000 games took place within a span of only 27 years.
Meanwhile, the very first day of the historic Test turned out to be nightmarish for India. Even though captain Dhoni called it right at the toss, the hosts batted well throughout the day and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan was seen limping off the field. England remained unchallenged on the second day and eventually went on to declare their innings at 474/8 riding on a spectacular 202 from Kevin Pietersen.
India survived the remaining six overs of the day without any damage done, but completely lost the plot on day three as the English bowlers just ran through them. Apart from Rahul Dravid’s fighting knock of an unbeaten 103, it was a sorry-looking scorecard India were bowled out for 286.
England in the second innings were reduced to 107/6 with a lead of 193 runs and the Indian bowlers looked to wrap up the lower order quickly. However, the duo of Matt Prior (103*) and Stuart Broad (74*) added an unbeaten 162 runs for the seventh-wicket stand before skipper Andrew Strauss decided to declare the innings at 269/6.
Chasing a mammoth 458, the Indian batting failed to click as a unit as the hosts chipped in with wickets at regular intervals. Barring VVS Laxman (56) and Suresh Raina (78), none of the other batters could offer much resistance as the visitors were bundled out for 261 as England registered a comprehensive win by 196 runs to go 1-0 up in the four-match series, which they would eventually clinch 4-0.
