ENG vs IND: Can Team India Batters End THIS Historic 35-Year Wait in the Manchester Test?

Team India faces a crucial Test at Old Trafford, aiming to end a long-standing century drought dating back 35 years. With the series on the line, key batters will look to step up and rewrite history in the Manchester Test.

Team India will face England in the fourth Test of the five-match series at Old Trafford in Manchester, which will take place on July 23. The Shubman Gill-India are currently trailing 1-2 in the series after the Lord’s Test defeat, heartbreakingly falling 23 runs short of the 193-run target, despite solid resistance from Ravindra Jadeja, who played a gritty innings of 61 off 181 balls.

The Old Trafford Test in Manchester is crucial for Team India to stay alive in the series heading into the Oval Test. However, the venue has not been kind to India as they lost four and drew five in nine outings from 1936 to 2014. After breaking a 58-year Test winless streak at Edgbaston, Manchester’s Old Trafford remains the only venue in England where India have yet to win a Test match.

Additionally, no Indian batter has managed to score a Test century at Old Trafford since the 17-year-old Sachin Tendulkar’s iconic knock, making it one of the most elusive milestones for Indian batters in English conditions.

Indian batters to score Test centuries at Old Trafford

For 78 years, from 1936 to 2014, the last time Team India played a Test match at Old Trafford, only eight Indian batters managed to register centuries at the venue. Syed Mushtaq Ali was the first Indian batter to reach the three-figure mark at Old Trafford in 1936. Thereafter, Vijay Merchant (1936), Abbas Ali Baig (1959), Polly Urmigar (1959), Sunil Gavaskar (1974), Sandeep Patil (1982), Mohammed Azharuddin (1990), and Sachin Tendulkar (1990), all etched their names in history books with memorable tons at the venue.

Of the eight centuries scored by Indian batters at Old Trafford, three came in defeats, while the remaining five ended in draws. The victory did not go in India’s way despite two batters scoring centuries, not only one but three different Tests at Old Trafford.

The last Indian batter to have recorded a Test century at Lord’s was Tendulkar, who scored a brilliant 119*, which saved India from defeat in their 408-run chase as they finished at 343/6 on the final day. It was Sachin Tendulkar’s first international century, a year after making his Test debut for Team India against Pakistan in 1989.

After 1990, India’s next Test appearance at Old Trafford after 24 years later, which was in 2014. However, none of the Indian batters managed to reach the three-figure mark. MS Dhoni was close to achieving the milestone, but he fell for 71 in the first innings, becoming India’s top-scorer in an otherwise underwhelming display of batting as they were bundled out for 152. Eventually, India lost the match by an innings and 54 runs.

In 2018, Old Trafford was not part of the five-match Test series itinerary between England and India. However, in 2021, Manchester’s iconic cricket venue was one of the scheduled hosts for the fifth and final Test between England and India. However, the match was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the Indian camp and was eventually rescheduled to July 2022 at Edgbaston.

Can Team India break a 35-year century drought at Old Trafford?

It’s been 35 years since Sachin Tendulkar registered a brilliant unbeaten 119 off 189 balls at Old Trafford in 1990, marking the beginning of one of the greatest careers in cricket history, and no Indian batter has managed to emulate that feat at the venue since.

In the upcoming Old Trafford Test, all eyes will be on KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja to see if they can break India’s 35-year century drought at the venue. Indian skipper Gill has scored two centuries and a double century, while Rahul and Pant registered two centuries each in the series. Jaiswal notched a century at Headingley and narrowly missed another at Edgbaston, while Jadeja has registered fifties in four consecutive innings.

Gill and Jaiswal struggled in the Lord’s Test, failing to cross the 20-run mark in either innings. However, Rahul scored a century, Pant registered a fifty, and Jadeja struck fifties in both innings of the third Test at the Home of Cricket.

However, with conditions at Old Trafford expected to favour batters early on, the stage is set for redemption and possibly ending India’s 35-year century drought in Manchester

Since the series is on the line after the Lord’s Test defeat, Indian batters will look to put their best foot forward to keep the series alive heading into the Oval Test, which will take place on July 31.

Apart from the 35-year Test century drought in Manchester, Team India will look to end a 89-year wait of clinching a victory at Old Trafford, which remains the only venue in England where India has yet to register a win.