Follow UsIt was India’s match to lose ever since they set a target of 608 runs for England to chase down. No way such a daunting target was going to be chased down even by Bazball’s standards, and, as it turned out, they lost the match by a whopping 336 runs.
With this, India breached yet another fortress, making it three fortress breaches in three different SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries under three totally different captains ever since the famous ‘Toota Hai Gabba Ka Ghamand’ moment of Indian cricket.
Here’s a list of all those fortress breaches by India since 2021.
The series of India breaching SENA country fortresses started with the famous win at the Gabba in 2021. Before the Gabba game, India drew a hard-fought game at Sydney against the Australian team and Tim Paine, the then Aussie captain, had infamously told India’s Ravichandran Ashwin from behind the wicket, “See You At Gabba, Mate”.
Well, it was India who saw Australia off at the Gabba, beating them by three wickets, chasing a record target of 329 at the famous Brisbane Cricket Ground, famously called the Gabba, a word derived from the locality of Woolloongabba in Brisbane.
Ajinkya Rahane was the captain of the Indian team that breached the fortress of Gabba, leading India in Virat Kohli's absence.
Prior to that game in 2021, India had faced Australia at the venue in six matches, drawing one and losing five of them between 1947 and 2014. The only draw for the Indian team came in 2003.
Like the Gabba in Australia, Newlands in South Africa also remained a fortress for the hosts against India until 2024. Before the New Year's Test in 2024, India had played six matches, drawing one and losing five.
The lone draw for India came in their first game at the venue in 1993 in a series that had also marked the second coming of South African cricket in Tests at home. India was the first team to tour South Africa since the end of Apartheid in 1992.
Anyway, coming to the Indian win at Newlands in 2024. It came on the back of an astounding spell of bowling by Mohammed Siraj, who took 6/15 and bowled South Africa out for 55 in the first innings. India were also bowled for 153 and then bowled out by South Africa for 176 despite a century from Aiden Markram.
In the end, the Indian team chased down 80 with just three wickets down, winning the match by seven wickets and breaching the fortress Newlands under Rohit Sharma's captaincy.
And finally, Edgbaston. The place where India played eight matches before July 6 (Sunday), 2025, was something that the Men in Blue dreaded visiting, having been unable to win there ever since 1967. But the 58-year-old jinx was finally broken by the men led by young Shubman Gill.
Against the Bazball, Gill and Co scored more than five runs per over in their second innings to give their bowlers more than 100 overs. Although ten overs were cut down by rain, all that the Indian bowlers, led by Akash Deep (10/187), needed was 68.1 overs to bowl England out and seal a famous win by 336 runs.
Before this game, India had drawn just one game and lost seven at Birmingham, with the lone draw coming in 1986.