India national cricket team

The key to India's bowling in the 1970s were the Indian spin quartet – Bishan Singh Bedi, E. A. S. Prasanna, B. S. Chandrasekhar and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan. This period also saw the emergence of two of India's best ever batsmen, Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath. Indian cricket pitch have had the tendency to support spin bowling and the spin quartet exploited this to create collapses in opposing batting line-ups. These players were responsible for the back-to-back series wins in 1971 in the West Indies and in England, under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar. Gavaskar scored 774 runs in the West Indian series while Dilip Sardesai's 112 played a big part in their one Test win.

In contrast, India fielded a strong team in test matches and was particularly strong at home, where their combination of stylish batsmen and beguiling spinners were at their best. India set a then Test record in the third Test against the West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1976, when they chased 403 to win, thanks to 112 from Viswanath. In November 1976, the team established another record by scoring 524 for 9 declared against New Zealand at Kanpur without any individual batsman scoring a century. There were six fifties, the highest being 70 by Mohinder Amarnath. This innings was only the eighth instance in Test cricket where all eleven batsmen reached double figures. India performed worse in the 1979 Cricket World Cup, failing to win a single match.

During the 1980s, India developed a more attack-minded batting line-up with stroke makers such as the wristy Mohammad Azharuddin, Krishnamachari Srikanth, Dilip Vengsarkar and all-rounders Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri. On 25 June 1983, India won the 1983 Cricket World Cup, defeating the favourites and the two-time defending champions West Indies in the final at Lord's, owing to a strong bowling performance. Bowler Roger Binny was the leading wicket taker of the tournament with 18 scalps. In spite of this, the team performed poorly in the Test arena, including 28 consecutive Test matches without a victory. In 1984, India won the inaugural edition of the Asia Cup and in 1985, won the World Championship of Cricket in Australia.

The addition of Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble to the national team in 1989 and 1990 further improved the team. The following year, Javagal Srinath, India's fastest bowler since Amar Singh made his debut. Under Azharuddin, India played in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, failing to make the knockout stage in the tournament for the first time since 1979. During the 1990s, India did not win any of its 33 Tests outside the South Asia while it won 17 out of its 30 Tests at home. Notably, India won a hat-trick of in 1988, 1991 and 1995.

India was eliminated by neighbours Sri Lanka on home soil at the disastrous 1996 Cricket World Cup semi-final, where rioters burnt section of the stadium at Kolkata after India were set to face a crushing defeat. Tendulkar was the tournament's leading run scorer, with this the first time an Indian being one in the tournament; and Kumble leading the wicket-taking charts. Following the World Cup, the team underwent a year of change as Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, later to become captains of the team, made their debut in the same test at Lord's. Tendulkar replaced Azharuddin as captain in late 1996, but after a personal and team form slump, Tendulkar relinquished the captaincy and Azharuddin was reinstated at the beginning of 1998. India lost the final of the 1997 Asia Cup, losing the tournament for the first time in editions they had participated in. In order to play a bilateral ODI series against Pakistan, India split its squad into two and sent a weak squad to feature in the cricket tournament of the 1998 Commonwealth Games. As a result, India failed to progress from the group stage. In the inaugural edition of the Champions Trophy in 1998, India were knocked out in the semi-finals by West Indies.

The team had yet another disastrous World Cup in 1999. Despite Dravid being the tournament's leading run scorer, India failed to reach the knockouts. Following this, Tendulkar was again made captain, and had another poor run, losing 3–0 on a tour of Australia and then 2–0 at home to South Africa. Tendulkar resigned, vowing never to captain the team again.

The Indian team underwent major improvements under the captaincy of Ganguly and the guidance of John Wright, India's first foreign coach. Ganguly led India to the final of the 2000 Champions Trophy, India's first ICC final after the 1983 World Cup. Despite his century, India was defeated in the final by New Zealand. He was the leading run scorer in the tournament, and Venkatesh Prasad the leading wicket taker. In the Kolkata Test match, India became only the third team in the history of Test cricket to win a Test match after following on. Australian captain Steve Waugh labelled India as the "Final Frontier" because of his team's inability to win a Test series in India. In 2002, India took part in the 2002 NatWest Series against England and Sri Lanka, where after topping the table they faced hosts England in the final. India ended up chasing 326 to win what is widely regarded as one of the greatest ODI matches of all time, winning the series. On 30 September 2002, India and Sri Lanka were crowned undefeated joint-winners of the 2002 Champions Trophy after the final was rained off following 2 days of play. This was India's first ICC title after the 1983 World Cup, and India and Sri Lanka became the only countries to have won both the tournaments. Virender Sehwag was the tournament's leading run scorer.

India then went to the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, where they reached the final, India's third consecutive ICC final, only to be beaten by Australia. Tendulkar, the player of the tournament, set the record for the most runs scored in a single world cup. A convincing ODI series win in Pakistan in early 2006, following a loss in the Test series, gave India the world record of 17 successive ODI victories while batting second. India had poor performances at the Champions Trophies in 2004 and 2006, and most notably at the 2007 Cricket World Cup under Dravid's leadership which led to significant changes in the team's structure. India found a new core in players like MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan.

In 2007, Dhoni was made captain in limited-overs. On 24 September 2007, India won the inaugural edition of the Men's T20 World Cup held in South Africa, beating Pakistan by five runs in the final. This victory was a dominant factor in the introduction of the Indian Premier League. Despite this, India failed to reach the knockout stages of the 2009 Champions Trophy and the 2009 and 2010 editions of the T20 World Cup.

India won the 2010 Asia Cup, winning the tournament for the first time in fifteen years. Tendulkar became the first cricketer to score 200 in ODIs. On 2 April 2011, India won the 2011 Cricket World Cup by defeating Sri Lanka in the final, thus becoming the third team after West Indies and Australia to win the World Cup twice. Dhoni and Gambhir lead India to World Cup glory ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 December 2011 India also became the first team to win the World Cup on home soil. This was Tendulkar's last of six world cups, having equalled record of having played in the most editions of the tournament. Zaheer Khan was the joint-highest wicket taker of the tournament. Sehwag, Yuvraj and Harbhajan became the first set of players to win all three ICC white-ball tournaments. Later that year, Sehwag broke Tendulkar's record of having the highest individual score in ODIs. The following year, the team failed to reach the knockouts for the 2012 T20 World Cup, for the third time in a row.

On 19 June 2013, India won the 2013 Champions Trophy undefeated after overcoming England in the rain-affected final and Dhoni became the first captain in history to win all three ICC trophies in white-ball cricket, namely the Cricket World Cup, T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy. Player of the tournament Shikhar Dhawan was the leading run scorer, and won the 'golden bat'. Ravindra Jadeja won the 'golden ball' for being the highest wicket-taker.

India was knocked out of the 2015 Cricket World Cup in the semi-final to eventual winners Australia. With the inclusion of pacer Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Hardik Pandya in the squad, India began 2016 by winning the 2016 Asia Cup, remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament. The team were favourites to win the 2016 T20 World Cup, which was being held at home, but lost in the semi-final to eventual champions West Indies. Kohli became the first player to be player of the tournament in back to back editions of a major cricket tournament.

After Dhoni stepped down from white-ball captaincy, Kohli stepped in as full-time captain across formats. India lost to arch rivals Pakistan in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy by 180 runs, the worst defeat in the final of an ICC ODI tournament. Dhawan again won the 'golden bat' after being the leading run scorer, becoming the first to win the award twice.

In 2018, India won a test series in Australia for the first time in their history, under Kohli and coach Shastri. After winning the 2018 Asia Cup and the 2018 Nidahas Trophy, the team's next major global tournament was the 2019 Cricket World Cup where they made the semi-finals but lost to New Zealand by 18 runs. After Dhoni's retirement, KL Rahul took over as wicket-keeper and became a team regular. Vice-captain Rohit was the highest run-scorer of the tournament with 648 runs, and set the record for most centuries scored in a tournament (5). Following being dismissed for 36 in a test against Australia, India managed to turn-around and again win a series in Australia for the second time.

India played the first ever final of the World Test Championship in 2021 against New Zealand in which they lost by eight wickets. The team had a disappointing performance at the 2021 T20 World Cup, failing to reach the knockout stage of an ICC tournament for the first time since 2012 and also notably losing to rivals Pakistan by 10 wickets, their first defeat against the team in a World Cup match. After this tournament, Kohli was sacked as captain, being succeeded by Rohit across formats; and Dravid replacing Shastri as coach. They qualified for the semi-finals in the 2022 T20 World Cup, but lost to England by ten wickets. India played the final of the 2023 World Test Championship against Australia in which they lost by 209 runs. Following these losses, Rohit notably mentioned to Dinesh Karthik that "something needed to change", and he changed to having a more aggressive batting style as well as directing a more targeting batting approach in the team.

India went on to win the 2023 Asia Cup by notably dismissing Sri Lanka for 50 runs in the final and winning by ten wickets. India also secured the gold medal at the 2022 Asian games held in 2023 due to higher seeding after the final against Afghanistan was washed out. They were deemed favourites to win the home 2023 Cricket World Cup. Rohit broke Tendulkar's record of the most World Cup centuries in the match against Afghanistan. Tendulkar conceded more records to Kohli, who overtook him to score the most centuries in ODI cricket; as well as for scoring the most runs in a single edition of the tournament (765). India was ultimately defeated in the final by Australia. Shami was the leading wicket taker of the tournament.

Despite the successes in ODIs and T20Is, India had a poor season of test cricket in 2024. Following the series win against England and Bangladesh, India lost 3–0 to New Zealand in a home series, followed by failing to win a hat-trick of a test series in Australia. Due to these losses, India missed out on qualifying for the 2025 World Test Championship final, although the team was in a comfortable position to qualify prior to the 2 series, thereby failing to reach the final for the first time.

In the 2025 Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy, India drew the 5 match test series 2–2 with England. Later in the year, India comfortably won 2–0 at home against the West Indies, and then lost 0–2 at home against South Africa.

In the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup, India defeated New Zealand in the final, thus becoming the only team to win back-to-back T20 World Cups (2024 and 2026), and a record three titles in the T20 World Cup. Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy were the joint-highest wicket takers at 14 wickets each, while Sanju Samson became the player of the tournament, after becoming just the third player to score half-centuries in the semi-final and the final of the same World Cup edition.

The International Cricket Council determines India's upcoming matches through its future tours program. However, the BCCI, with its influential financial position in the cricketing world, has often challenged the ICC's program and called for more series between India, Australia and England which are more likely to earn more revenue as opposed to tours with Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. In the past, the BCCI has also come into conflict with the ICC regarding sponsorships.

Until 18 November 2022, Chetan Sharma was the chief selector and Debashish Mohanty, Harvinder Singh and Sunil Joshi were members. The entire panel was sacked after the unsuccessful performance of the team in 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. On 7 January 2023, Sharma was again appointed as the chief selector along with Shiv Sunder Das, Subroto Banerjee, Salil Ankola, and Sridharan Sharath. On 17 February 2023, Sharma resigned from his post after a sting operation by a private news channel saw him make several loose comments on the Indian team with Shiv Sunder Das replacing him and acting as an interim chief selector. On 4 July 2023, Ajit Agarkar was appointed as the new chief selector and replaced Sharma. He joined Das, Banerjee, Ankola and Sharath on the selection committee.

During the 1992 and 1999 Cricket World Cups, the Indian team's kit was sponsored by ISC and Asics respectively, but was without an official kit sponsor until 2001. With no official kit sponsor for the Indian team, Omtex manufactured the shirts and pants for the team, while some players chose to wear pants provided to them by their individual sponsors like Adidas and Reebok until December 2005. In December 2005, Nike outbid its competitors Adidas and Reebok, and acquired the contract for five years which started in January 2006 ahead of Indian team's tour to Pakistan. Nike was a long time kit supplier to team India with two extensions for a period of five years each time; in 2011 and 2016 respectively.

After Nike ended its contract in September 2020, MPL Sports Apparel & Accessories, a subsidiary of online gaming platform Mobile Premier League replaced Nike as the kit manufacturer in November 2020 ahead of Indian team's tour to Australia, which was supposed to run until December 2023.

In November 2022, MPL Sports decided to exit the deal before the end of their contract and hand over their rights to Kewal Kiran Clothing Limited (KKCL). In January 2023, MPL appointed Kewal Kiran Clothing Limited (KKCL) and Killer Jeans (a brand owned by KKCL) as interim sponsors until May 2023. In February 2023, it was announced that Adidas will begin a five-year sponsorship deal in June 2023 ahead of ICC World Test Championship final, replacing KKCL. In May 2023, BCCI officially announced Adidas as their kit sponsor for the next five years running until March 2028.

India currently has the world's largest cricket stadium (which is also the world's largest stadium), The Narendra Modi Stadium, located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It is currently recognised as one of the world's premier cricket venues and has hosted several high-profile matches. Eden Gardens has hosted the most Tests, and also has the third-largest seating capacity of any cricket stadium in the world. Founded in 1864, it is one of the most historical stadiums in India, having hosted numerous historical matches. Other major stadiums in India include the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium, which was established in 1883 and hosted memorable matches including Anil Kumble's ten wickets in an innings haul against Pakistan.

The Bombay Gymkhana Ground hosted the first Test match in India which is the only Test it has hosted to date. Wankhede Stadium, established in 1974, has a capacity to hold 33,100 spectators and is currently the most popular venue in the city. It has hosted 24 Test matches. It also hosted the 2011 World Cup final, in which India became the first team to win the World Cup at home soil. It was the unofficial successor of the Brabourne Stadium, which is also located in Mumbai. Mumbai is often considered the cricketing capital of India because of its fans and the talent it produces via the domestic Mumbai cricket team. Thus the stadium regularly hosts major Test matches. The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai is also considered to be an important historical Indian cricket ground, established in the early 1900s, it was the site of India's first Test victory. The first ODI match in India was hosted by the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad during the series against England on 25 November 1981. India played the first T20I match in India at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on 20 October 2007 against the visiting Australian team.

The Nawab of Pataudi, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, was the men's team's captain for 36 Test matches from 1961–62 to 1969–70, returning for another four matches against West Indies in 1974–75. In the early years of his captaincy tenure, the team was whitewashed in the West Indies, England and Australia. However, in 1967–68, Pataudi led India men's cricket team on its maiden New Zealand tour, which ended in India winning the Test series 3–1. In 1970–71, Ajit Wadekar took over the captaincy from Pataudi. Under Wadekar's captaincy, India registered its first Test series win in the West Indies and England. India played its first men's ODI in 1974, also under his captaincy. India won its first men's ODI under the captaincy of Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan in the 1975 World Cup, against East Africa. Between 1975–76 and 1978–79, Bishan Singh Bedi captained the team in 22 men's Tests and four ODIs, winning six Tests and one ODI.

Sunil Gavaskar took over as men's Test and ODI captain in 1978–79, leading India in 47 Test matches and 37 ODIs, winning nine Tests and 14 ODIs. He was succeeded by Kapil Dev in the 1980s, who captained for 34 Test matches, including four victories. Kapil Dev led India to victory in 39 of his 74 ODIs in charge, including the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Kapil Dev also captained India's 2–0 Test series victory in England in 1986. The captaincy shuffled between Dev and Gavaskar, with Gavaskar captaining India to triumph in the inaugural 1984 Asia Cup and 1985 World Championship of Cricket.

Between 1987–88 and 1989–90, India had three captains in Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri and Krishnamachari Srikkanth. Vengsarkar took over the captaincy from Kapil Dev after the 1987 World Cup. Although he started with two centuries in his first series as captain, his captaincy period was turbulent and he lost the job following a disastrous tour of the West Indies in early 1989 and a stand-off with the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI).

India has had six regular Test captains of the men's cricket team since Mohammad Azharuddin took charge in 1989. Azharuddin led the team in 47 Test matches from 1989–90 to 1998–99, winning 14, and in 174 ODIs, winning 90. He was followed by Sachin Tendulkar, who captained the men's cricket team in 25 Test matches and 73 ODIs in the late 1990s; Tendulkar was relatively unsuccessful as a captain, winning only four Test matches and 23 ODIs.

Sourav Ganguly became the regular captain of the men's team in both Tests and ODIs in 2000. He remained captain until 2005–06 and became the then most successful Indian captain, winning 21 of his 49 Test matches in charge and 76 of his 146 ODIs. Under his captaincy, India became the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka, and through three consecutive ICC finals - the Champions Trophy finals of 2000 and 2002 along with the World Cup final of 2003. India lost only three Tests at home under Ganguly and managed to draw Test series in England and Australia.

Rahul Dravid took over as men's Test captain in 2005. In 2006, he led India to its first Test series victory in the West Indies in more than 30 years.

In September 2007, MS Dhoni was named as the new captain of the men's ODI and T20I teams, after Dravid stepped down from the post. Soon after taking up the captaincy, Dhoni led the team to the inaugural T20 World Cup title. Anil Kumble was appointed Test captain in November 2007, but retired from international cricket in November 2008 after captaining in 14 Tests. Dhoni succeeded him as the men's Test captain, making him the captain in all formats. Under the captaincy of Dhoni, the Indian men's cricket team held the number one position in the ICC Men's Test Team Rankings for 21 months (from November 2009 to August 2011), and set a national record for most back-to-back ODI wins (nine straight wins). Dhoni also led the team to victory in 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. Thus, Dhoni became the first captain in history to win all three major ICC trophies. Dhoni also took the team to the final of the 2014 T20 World Cup. However, the team performed poorly in away Tests from 2011 to 2014 and Dhoni retired from Test cricket in December 2014, with Virat Kohli being named as the new Test captain. Dhoni resigned as captain of the ODI and T20I teams in January 2017 and Kohli succeeded him at the position.

Under Kohli's captaincy, India was unbeaten in 19 Test matches, starting from a 3–0 series win over New Zealand and ending with a 2–1 series win over Australia. India also had an unbeaten streak of winning nine consecutive Test series, starting with a 3–0 series win over Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and ending with a 1–0 series win over Sri Lanka at home. India also became only the third team after Australia and South Africa to have won their most recent Test series simultaneously against all the other Test-playing nations. As per winning percentage in Test matches, Kohli was India's second most successful Test captain, behind Ajinkya Rahane, having won more than 58% of Test matches (at least two games). He took India to the 2017 Champions Trophy and 2021 World Test Championship finals.

In November 2021, Rohit Sharma was appointed as the new T20I captain of the Indian men's cricket team after Kohli resigned from the role. Kohli led India one last time in T20Is at the T20 World Cup 2021. Under Rohit Sharma's first series as permanent captaincy, India whitewashed New Zealand at home in the T20I series 3–0. In December 2021, Sharma was also appointed as the new ODI captain of the Indian men's cricket team, replacing Kohli ahead of their away series against South Africa. Kohli later quit as Test captain as well, after their Test series loss to South Africa. Sharma replaced Kohli as Test captain before the Test series against Sri Lanka and was then the full-time captain of the Indian men's cricket team. Rohit took India to the finals of the 2023 World Test Championship and 2023 World Cup, and victories in the 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy. Sharma was then succeeded as Test and ODI captain by Shubman Gill, and T20I captain by Suryakumar Yadav. Suryakumar led the winning Indian team in the 2026 T20 World Cup.

This is a list of every active player who is contracted to BCCI, has played for India since February 2025 or was named in the recent Test, ODI or T20I squads. Uncapped players are listed in italics.

Last updated: 8 March 2026

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