his time next week India would have begun another attempt to win their first Test series in Australia. Their opening game is at an Australian stronghold - the Melbourne Cricket Ground - where the hosts have won eight consecutive Tests since they beat India in 1999-2000. Since then, Australia have also brushed aside West Indies, South Africa, England and Pakistan, making their winning streak at the MCG the second longest at a particular venue.
For two decades after the Second World War, West Indies were hard to beat at the Kensington Oval in Barbados; they won four and drew 11 of the 15 Tests played there. "Hard to beat" soon became "impossible to draw against" as Clive Lloyd's team started a streak of 12 consecutive victories with a nine-wicket win against Australia in March 1978. Their dominance in Barbados ended in April 1994 when England triumphed by 208 runs, and since then West Indies' proud record at the Kensington Oval has deteriorated. Of their last 14 Tests at the venue, they have lost six, won five and drawn three.
India's recent victory against Pakistan in Delhi extended their winning streak at the Feroz Shah Kotla to seven. Most of those victories were set up by Anil Kumble, who has played six of those games and taken 55 wickets at 15.41 each. However, before they beat Zimbabwe in the one-off Test in 1993, India's record in Delhi was poor; they had lost five of their previous 11 Tests and won none.
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