Biggest win in Test cricket: Can India register their biggest Test victory vs New Zealand in Mumbai?

Biggest win in Test cricket: India have an opportunity of registering their biggest-ever Test victory at the Wankhede Stadium.

A spirited approach in the second innings of the ongoing second Test against New Zealand in Mumbai has seen India propelling towards a formidable lead after bowling out the opposition for 62 in 28.1 overs yesterday.

Captain Virat Kohli’s decision of not enforcing the follow-on was well-supported by opening batters Mayank Agarwal (62) and Cheteshwar Pujara (47) stitching a 107-run opening partnership in the second innings.

Since then, India have lost a few wickets especially after Shubman Gill (47) and Kohli (36) putting together an 82-run partnership for the third wicket.

At the time of writing this article, India’s lead is in vicinity of 500 runs. With five wickets in hand, the hosts don’t seem to be having any intention of declaring their innings anytime soon. With more than seven sessions of play remaining in the match, Kohli has time on his hands to provide batting opportunities to India’s lower middle-order and push for India’s biggest Test victory (by runs).

Biggest win in Test cricket for India

India’s biggest Test victory in the history of the game had come against West Indies when they had won by an innings and 272 runs in Rajkot in 2018. In the same year, playing their first-ever Test match against Afghanistan in Bengaluru, India had registered a victory by an innings and 262 runs.

The next on the list of India’s biggest Test victories have come against Bangladesh (by an innings and 239 runs in Dhaka in 2007), Sri Lanka (by an innings and 239 runs in Nagpur in 2017) and Australia (by an innings and 219 runs in Kolkata in 1998).

As far as India’s biggest Test victories against New Zealand are concerned, India have defeated New Zealand by an innings and 198 runs (in Nagpur in 2010), by an innings and 115 runs (in Hyderabad in 2012) and by an innings and 109 runs (in Chennai in 1956) in the past.

Talking about India’s biggest Test victory at the Wankhede Stadium, there have been a few when India had defeated West Indies (by an innings and 126 runs in 2013 and by an innings and 112 runs in 2002) and Australia (by an innings and 100 runs in 1979).

Biggest win in Test cricket

S. No.	Team	Opposition	Margin	Venue	Year
1	England	Australia	Innings and 579 runs	The Oval	1938
2	Australia	South Africa	Innings and 360 runs	Johannesburg	2002
3	West Indies	India	Innings and 336 runs	Kolkata	1958
4	Australia	England	Innings and 332 runs	Brisbane	1946
5	Pakistan	New Zealand	Innings and 324 runs	Lahore	2002

Biggest win in Test cricket (by runs)

India’s biggest Test victory (by runs) had come against South Africa in 2015 when they had put on display a 337-run victory in Delhi. A bigger victory in the ongoing match will be India’s biggest ever in this aspect. It is noteworthy that India’s second-best Test victory (by 321 runs) had also come against New Zealand in 2016 in Indore.

S. No.	Team	Opposition	Margin	Venue	Year
1	England	Australia	675	Brisbane	1928
2	Australia	England	562	The Oval	1924
3	Australia	South Africa	530	Melbourne	1911
4	South Africa	Australia	492	Johannesburg	2018
5	Australia	Pakistan	491	Perth	2004