Virat Kohli’s India aim to surpass Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting's Australian side to script unprecedented feat

Virat Kohli-led Team India will be aiming to script an unprecedented feat in Test cricket when they take on South Africa in their home leg of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship. India will face Faf du Plessis' men in a three-match Test series, starting October 2 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Vishakhapatnam.

Since 2013, India have built a fortress at home that has not been breached yet. They have played 10 Test series on home soil since their heartbreaking 1-2 loss against England in the December of 2012, and have won all. MS Dhoni's India started the trend having whitewashed both Australia and West Indies on home soil in 2013 before the Kohli-led side rode on the momentum to defeat South Africa (3-0 in 2015), New Zealand (3-0 in 2016), England (4-0 in 2016), Bangladesh (1-0 in 2017), Australia (2-1 in 2017), Sri Lanka (1-0 in 2017), Afghanistan (1-0 in 2018) and West Indies (2-0 in 2018). 

If Kohli's side once again emerge victorious at home at the end of the three-game series against South Africa, India will become the first Test team to win 11 straight Test series at home - surpassing the record of 10 such victories previously held by Steve Waugh's mighty Australian side of 2000 and Ricky Ponting's 2008 Aussie team. No other team has more than eight consecutive Test series win at home.

Moreover, India's win-loss record at home since the beginning of 2013 have easily been the most dominating in Test cricket. They played a total of 29 matches during the period, winning 23 Tests and losing only once, against Australia in 2017. Australia stand next on the list with 23-4 win-loss record in their backyard from 33 Tests. The period also saw India managing to record an impressive unbeaten streak of 19 consecutive Test match victories. 

Team India stand outright favourites in the series against South Africa. They started their ICC World Test Championship campaign with a win against West Indies in the Caribbean earlier last month. The win not only saw India climbing atop the World Test Championship points table with 120 points in their bag, but also witnessed Kohli surpassing Dhoni to emerge as the nation's most successful Test skipper. However, it is the South Africa side who dominate the head-to-head tie, having won 15 of the 36 Tests played between the two nations while India managed only 11 wins. And in terms of series, South Africa lead 7-3 against India.