FROM MUMBAI TO DURBAN

In 2009, India became the number one-ranked Test team in the world, 80 years after it played its first Test match in 1932. The Indian Test team’s journey to the top is a story best told through its greatest games: the epic victories in West Indies and England in the 1970s, the thrilling tied Test, and the now-immortalized Eden Gardens Test of 2001, culminating in a cascade of wins in overseas Tests in the 2000s. Through it all, the Indian fan stood with the team, obsessed, fervent and passionate. This is the story of 28 of India’s greatest Tests, told by two fans who’ve followed the team meticulously since the late 1950s, staying up through radio commentaries late at night, newspaper reports, TV broadcasts, and following the team to stadiums across the country. It is the story of a billion people’s romance with a game, and about cricketers who won the hearts of millions across the world. From the heady years of the 1970s to the world-conquerors in the noughties, from the days of hope in the 1960s to the depths of despair in the 1990s, these 28 Tests, above all, represent Indian cricket’s finest moments