india national cricket team vs west indies cricket team timeline
The India national cricket team vs West Indies cricket team timeline highlights one of the most exciting rivalries in international cricket, spanning decades of Test matches, ODIs, and T20Is. From the West Indies’ early dominance to India’s historic 1983 World Cup victory and modern-day cricket battles, this rivalry features legendary players, unforgettable matches, record-breaking performances, and remarkable turning points that have shaped cricket history.
Test cricket is where the India–West Indies rivalry began and where its biggest reversal can be measured most clearly. For more than half a century the West Indies won the great majority of the series, usually by out-hitting India's batsmen, out-bowling its bowlers or simply refusing to lose. Then, from the early 2000s, the results flipped. India have not lost a Test series to the West Indies since 2002, and the home side has been the one forced to follow on.
This article looks only at the Test record: the series that shaped it, the matches people still talk about, and the numbers underneath. It uses the Test results to ask a simple question, which is how a rivalry in which the West Indies once held every advantage turned into one where India start as heavy favourites, and what the draw-heavy record says about both teams.
In short
The two sides have played 102 Tests: the West Indies have won 30, India 25, and 47 have been drawn.
The first series was in 1948–49. India's first series win over the West Indies came in 1970–71.
The West Indies won 12 series between 1948 and 2002 and India two, with two drawn, according to a Sportskeeda review published in 2023.
India's last Test defeat against the West Indies was in May 2002, a 155-run loss.
India won both Tests of the most recent series, in October 2025, by an innings and 140 runs and by seven wickets.
1948–1959: Resistance and Draws
The first series, in India in 1948–49, was a five-Test contest in which four matches were drawn and the West Indies won one. That pattern, of a long drawn-out series with one decisive result, was typical of the early Tests between the two teams. India's batting could hold a game for days, but it rarely forced a result, and the West Indies had enough strength to take the single win they needed.
The numbers show how common draws were: 47 of the 102 Tests have ended without a result. The 2018 statistical preview recorded 20 draws in 45 Tests played in India, which fits the picture of slow pitches and matches that ran out of time.
1961–62: A 5–0 Series and a Turning Point in Safety
India's tour of the West Indies in 1961–62 ended 5–0. It is the heaviest defeat in the head-to-head record and is remembered for an incident outside the Tests. In a tour match against Barbados at Bridgetown, India's captain Nari Contractor was struck on the head by a Charlie Griffith bouncer and needed emergency surgery. He recovered but did not play Test cricket again. Indian cricket later took protective equipment and bouncer rules more seriously partly because of what happened that day.
1970–71: Port of Spain and the First Series Win
India's 1–0 win in 1970–71 is the foundation of the modern Test rivalry. The tour introduced Sunil Gavaskar, who scored 774 runs in four Tests, and it included India's first Test win over the West Indies in the Caribbean, at Port of Spain. For India it was proof of concept: a side that depended on spin and patient batting could beat the West Indies away from home.
1976: The 403 Chase
Five years later India produced one of the most celebrated chases in Test history. In the fourth Test at Port of Spain in 1976 they were set 403 to win and reached it for the loss of four wickets, with hundreds from Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath. At the time it was the highest successful run chase in Test cricket. The West Indies won the series 2–1, helped by the next Test at Kingston, in which India's innings ended with five players unable to bat after injuries from fast, short-pitched bowling. It confirmed which team still ruled the format.
1983–84: Gavaskar's 236 Not Out
The West Indies toured India in 1983–84, months after the World Cup final defeat, and won the six-Test series 3–0. Two individual performances stand out, one for each side. Kapil Dev took nine wickets for 83 in an innings at Ahmedabad, and Gavaskar made an unbeaten 236 at Chennai, which remains the highest individual score by an Indian batsman in a Test against the West Indies. Neither was enough to change the result of the series, and the West Indies left India with their reputation intact.
1987–88: Hirwani's Sixteen Wickets
India's best result of the late 1980s was the Chennai Test of 1987–88, when debutant leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani took eight wickets in each innings, sixteen in all, and India won by 255 runs to level the four-Test series 1–1. Only two series between the sides in that long period of West Indian strength, in 1987 and 1994, ended in a draw. Hirwani's performance is still one of the best bowling debuts in Test history, and it showed how vulnerable even the greatest West Indian teams could be to spin on a turning pitch.
2002: The Last West Indian Win
The West Indies' most recent Test victory over India came in May 2002, by 155 runs, under captain Carl Hooper against a side led by Sourav Ganguly. That result also clinched a series win for the West Indies. It was the last time they were stronger than India across a full series, and the timing is striking: the great pace attacks had long since dispersed, and Test cricket in the Caribbean was entering a period of decline.
2006–2019: India's Unbeaten Run
Since 2002 India have won every Test series against the West Indies. Sportskeeda counted eight consecutive series wins by mid-2023. The run included Caribbean series wins in 2006 and 2011, the second of which marked Virat Kohli's Test debut at Kingston. It also included the 2013 home series that doubled as Sachin Tendulkar's farewell, with Rohit Sharma scoring 177 on debut at Kolkata.
Three later episodes show how the contest changed. In 2016, Kohli scored a double hundred at North Sound and India won the series 2–0. In 2018, Prithvi Shaw made a hundred on debut at Rajkot as India won by an innings and 272 runs, then won at Hyderabad by ten wickets. In 2019, Jasprit Bumrah took a hat-trick at Kingston on the way to another 2–0 series win. Each of those results was lopsided, and the West Indies' competitiveness came mostly from individual performances.
2023: Dominica and Port of Spain
India's 2023 tour opened at Dominica with an innings win, 421 for 5 declared against West Indian totals of 150 and 130. Yashasvi Jaiswal made 171 on debut, R Ashwin took 12 wickets, and Rohit Sharma added a hundred. The second Test at Port of Spain was drawn after rain, with India declaring on 181 for 2 in their second innings and the West Indies on 76 for 2 in reply.
2025: Ahmedabad and Delhi
The most recent series came in October 2025 and followed the 2023 pattern, with one difference. At Ahmedabad, India made 448 for 5 declared, with Ravindra Jadeja unbeaten on 104, and bowled the West Indies out for 162 and 146 for an innings win by 140 runs. Jadeja finished with four wickets in the second innings and was named player of the match and of the series.
At Delhi the West Indies did better. India made 518 for 5 declared and bowled them out for 248, but the visitors followed on and scored 390, with John Campbell making a maiden hundred in his 25th Test and Shai Hope ending an eight-year wait for a Test century. India chased 121 and won by seven wickets, taking the series 2–0. Wisden's season review credited the West Indies for avoiding a second innings defeat and noted that coach Daren Sammy had spoken of a lack of confidence before the match.
The Numbers Behind the Test Rivalry
Measure | Figure |
Tests played | 102 |
West Indies wins | 30 |
India wins | 25 |
Draws | 47 |
Last West Indies win | May 2002, by 155 runs |
Highest score by an Indian v West Indies | 236* (Sunil Gavaskar, Chennai, 1983–84) |
A 2018 statistical preview gave a breakdown for matches played in India: 45 Tests, with India winning 11, the West Indies 14 and 20 drawn. That figure predates the 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2025 series, so the Indian total has since risen, though I could not find an updated home-only breakdown. The Wikipedia total of 25 India wins agrees with a straightforward update of the 2023 Sportskeeda figures, which had India on 23 wins after 99 Tests.
Series totals also show the reversal. Between 1948 and 2002 the West Indies won 12 series and India two. Since 2002 India have won every series, which by my count means ten consecutive series wins through October 2025.
Why the Test Record Still Matters
The Test record is the best way to see how much the rivalry changed. For its first 25 years it was a story of the West Indies winning, and the Test ledger still shows them ahead. For the next 25 it was a contest in which India's improving batting and spin bowling began to match the Caribbean attack. Since the early 2000s the story has been India's, and the interest has shifted to individual achievements and to how competitive the West Indies can be in Delhi-type matches where they are forced to bat long.
It also matters because the West Indies' decline is part of a larger concern in the game. Cricket West Indies has pushed for more Test cricket against stronger opponents, and a series against India remains one of the most valuable fixtures on its calendar. How the West Indies perform in these Tests will shape that argument.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How many Tests have India and the West Indies played? 102 as of October 2025: West Indies 30 wins, India 25 and 47 draws, according to a published record table.
2. When did India last lose a Test to the West Indies? In May 2002, by 155 runs.
3. Who scored the highest Test score by an Indian against the West Indies? Sunil Gavaskar, with 236 not out at Chennai in 1983–84.
4. What was the highest successful Test chase between the teams? India's chase of 403 at Port of Spain in 1976, completed for the loss of four wickets, is the most famous one. I have not verified whether it is the highest in the rivalry in every period, so treat "highest" with care.
5. When did India first win a Test series against the West Indies? In 1970–71, by 1–0.
6. What happened in the October 2025 Tests? India won both: by an innings and 140 runs at Ahmedabad and by seven wickets at Delhi.
7. Why are there so many draws? 47 of the 102 Tests were drawn, especially early in the rivalry and in India, where slow pitches and defensive batting often left too little time for a result.
8. Did Virat Kohli debut against the West Indies? Yes. His Test debut came at Kingston in the 2011 series.
9. Who took a hat-trick in a Test between the teams? Jasprit Bumrah, at Kingston in 2019.
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