India, with their 68th win in 221 home Tests, celebrated their 100th Test triumph at Green Park, Kanpur, against Sri Lanka.

By Rajesh Kumar

India's magnificent win by an innings and 144 runs, their biggest over Sri Lanka, obliterated their victory by an innings and 119 runs in the 1993-94 Lucknow Test.

India's previous biggest win over Sri Lanka in the Lucknow Test, was their 50th in Test Cricket.

The victory, under Dhoni's captaincy, is India's third biggest in Test annals - the top two being by an innings and 239 runs against Bangladesh at Mirpur in 2007 and by an innings and 219 runs against Australia in the 1997-98 Kolkata Test.

India had first played a Test match against England at Lord's in June 1932 under C.K. Nayudu's captaincy and after waiting for almost 20 years, India earned a most convincing first win in their 25th Test match - against England at Chepauk, Chennai on February 10, 1952 under Vijay Hazare's captaincy, thanks mainly to an outstanding bowling performance by Vinoo Mankad (8 for 55 and 4 for 53) and well-compiled hundreds by Pankaj Roy (111) and an unbeaten 130 by Polly Umrigar. With this win in the fifth and final Test, India could level the series.

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In the same year, India managed to win their first Test series - against Pakistan by 2-1, with victories at Feroze Shah Kotla, Delhi and at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai in November 1952.

India's first Test triumph in New Zealand by five wickets at Carisbrook, Dunedin in February 1968, under Nawab of Pataudi's captaincy, resulted in their first win outside the sub-continent. With two further wins at Basin Reserve, Wellington and Eden Park, Auckland, India won the series by 3-1, their first instance of recording three wins in a Test series apart from registering their first overseas win.

Sunil Gavaskar (65 and 67 not out) made his debut in the 1970-71 Port of Spain Test, making the occasion memorable by posting the winning boundary. India, with their seven-wicket victory, earned their first win against West Indies at their 25th attempt and with over a day to spare.

Thanks to Dilip Sardesai's career-best performance in a Test series (642 at an average of 80.25 in five Tests) apart from Gavaskar's run-aggregate of 774 (ave.154.80), including four hundreds in four Tests, India registered their second overseas series win in succession. Gavaskar's run-aggregate remains a world record for any batsman playing in his first rubber.

India earned their first win in 22 Tests in England with a four-wicket triumph at Kennington Oval in August 1971, ending England's first reversal in 20 Tests under Ray Illingworth's captaincy. India thus earned a hat-trick of overseas series - a feat yet to be equalled by them against the top opponents excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

India registered their 25th Test win in their 147th Test - against New Zealand at Chennai in December 1976 under Bishan Singh Bedi's captaincy. Bedi's top-class spin bowling had ensured a splendid win for India and his figures of nine for 70 (five for 48 and four for 22) were the best by an Indian captain at that time.

India's 50th Test win had come in their 286th Test - by an innings and 119 runs against Sri Lanka at K.D. Babu Singh Singh Stadium, Lucknow in January 1994, their biggest over Sri Lanka at that time, thanks mainly to Anil Kumble's magnificent performance in the Test - four for 69 and seven for 59 - apart from two superb hundreds by Navjot Singh Sidhu (124) and Sachin Tendulkar (142).

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Rahul Dravid was the star performer for India with a 233 followed by an unbeaten 72 in India's 75th Test win in their 369th Test - against Australia at Adelaide in December 2003 - under Sourav Ganguly's captaincy. Dravid was well supported by Ajit Agarkar, who had recorded his career-best of six for 41 in Australia's 196 in the second innings.

Amongst the countries with 100 or more wins, India took the most number of Tests (432). Australia took least number of Tests (199) for this landmark, followed by England (241), West Indies (266), South Africa (310) and Pakistan (320).

Under Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy, India have won six out of nine played - the other three being drawn - the winning % being 66.66. Amongst the Indian captains with a minimum of five Tests as capain, Dhoni's success rate is the best followed by Sourav Ganguly (42.85) - 21 wins out of 49 played as captain.

India have now recorded 26 victories by an innings margin - seven against Sri Lanka, four against England, three each against Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, two against New Zealand and one against West Indies.

Of the 26 victories by an innings margin, eight have been recorded by India away from home - three against Bangladesh, two against Pakistan and one each against Australia, England and Zimbabwe.

India's biggest Test wins in India are: