Team India has historically been dominant at home and has lost just the five-Test series at home since the turn of this century. This has been largely because they always had well rounded team for the home conditions, be it batters or bowlers.
While the batters scored a truckload of runs, their bowlers, especially spinners ruled the roost. This deadly combination has made India, almost invincible at home and even the best overseas teams fail to combat the challenge. Hence, we see a lot of teams succumb to Indian spinners, especially on surfaces that offer something for the tweakers. But some teams have aced the spin challenge by piling up huge runs and applying pressure back on the home team.
We will such instances where an away team has had its noses front in a Test in India with the bat.
Highest Innings Totals by Away Teams in India in Tests
| Team | Total | Venue | Year | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sri Lanka | 760/7d | Ahmedabad | 2009 | Match Drawn |
| England | 652/7d | Chennai | 1985 | England won by 9 wickets |
| West Indies | 644/8d | Delhi | 1959 | Match Drawn |
| West Indies | 631 | Delhi | 1948 | Match Drawn |
| New Zealand | 630/6d | Mohali | 2003 | Match Drawn |
| West Indies | 629/6d | Mumbai (Brabourne) | 1948 | Match Drawn |
| West Indies | 614/5d | Kolkata | 1958 | West Indies won by an innings & 336 runs |
| West Indies | 604/6d | Mumbai (Wankhede) | 1975 | West Indies won by 201 runs |
| West Indies | 590 | Mumbai (Wankhede) | 2011 | Match Drawn |
| West Indies | 582 | Chennai | 1949 | West Indies won by an innings & 193 runs |
Key Stats:
760 – This is the highest total posted by an away team in India, which Sri Lanka achieved at Ahmedabad in 2009. This Test match also saw Mahela Jayawardene score 275, the highest score by a visiting team player in the country. You can find out the list of 200+ scores scored by away batters on Indian soil here.
27 – The number of instances a visiting team has scored 500 or more runs in an innings in India. West Indies has the most such scores in India (9) and their highest is 644 at Delhi in 1959 with England coming second with 6 scores of more than 500. If we keep the minimum criteria to 600 in an inning by a visiting team, it has been breached 8 times till now.
1 – Only once a team has scored 500 or more in the 3rd innings of a Test match, achieved by Zimbabwe (503) at Nagpur in 2000. In the 4th innings of a Test, the highest total is 299, by Sri Lanka.
5 – Since 2010, only five times a visiting team has scored more than 500 runs in an innings in India. England has done it thrice, with the most recent score of 578 coming at Chennai in 2021. South Africa and West Indies are the other sides to achieve 500 plus total in India post-2010.
20 – The number of 400-plus Test scores by away teams in India stands at 20 since the start of 2010 and this goes to show, how tough the overseas batters have found the Indian conditions to be.
