On this day in 2011: England gain No 1 ICC Test ranking for first time

India had a memorable first half of 2011, having lifted the World Cup on home soil on April 2 to bring to an end a long wait of 28 years. However, the second half was a forgettable one for Indian cricket with the MS Dhoni-led side being whitewashed across bilateral series in England.

While the 0-4 defeat raised a question mark on Dhoni’s overseas Test captaincy and India also lost some key players due to injuries, it was on this very day in 2011 that England led by Andrew Strauss gained the top spot in the ICC Test rankings for the very first time.

When India lost their dominance in red-ball cricket

England and India locked horns in the third Test match at Edgbaston, Birmingham. The hosts were outright favourites to win this match having won the first two games by comprehensive margins of 196 and 319 runs respectively.

The home skipper Andrew Strauss won the toss and elected to bowl first. The English pace duo of Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan rattled the Indian batting with a four-wicket haul each and restricted them to 224, with only captain MS Dhoni managing something to note with his 77.

England in reply completely outbatted India out of the contest. While skipper Strauss (87) and Eoin Morgan (104) laid a solid platform for the Three Lions, it was Alastair Cook’s outstanding innings that took them to a commanding position. Cook scored a brilliant double century and narrowly missed out on a triple ton. However, his sensational 294 helped England post a mammoth 710/7 before declaring their innings.

In reply, a victory was already a foregone conclusion for the Indian team when they resumed their second innings and all they could do from thereon was to secure a hard-fought draw.

Unfortunately for them, it did not happen as their batting failed to click in the second innings. This time, the Indians could only manage to add 20 runs to their first innings total and were skittled for 244.

MS Dhoni shone again with the bat as he remained unbeaten on 74, but he watched wickets fall from the other end. Thus, England registered an outstanding victory by an innings and 242 runs to seal the four-match series 3-0 and also emerged as the new number one Test team in the world, which was a first for them in their Test history.