What happened the last time India played a Test in Hyderabad?
England kick off their tour of India with the first Test of a five-match series on Thursday, January 25, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
The last time England toured India for a Test series was in 2021, with England taking a 1-0 lead in the series after a dominating performance in Chennai before India won three on the trot to win the series 3-1.
Similar turning tracks are expected to be in the offing in this five-match series as well, and it'll be interesting to see how England fare over the next six weeks.
Ahead of the first Test at Hyderabad, the visitors have announced their playing XI, which has only one front-line pacer in Mark Wood and three spinners, including left-arm spinner Tom Hartley, who's set to make his Test debut.
India will also field a slightly altered side since Virat Kohli is out of the first two Tests due to personal reasons and Rajat Patidar has been named as his replacement in the squad.
Let's now take a trip down memory lane to more than five years ago when India last played a Test match in Hyderabad.
India's last Test Match in Hyderabad
India took on the West Indies in the second Test of a two-match series in the Windies' 2018 tour of India at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad in October, 2018.
After comprehensively winning the first Test by an innings and 272 runs riding on hundreds from the debutant Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja, India were keen on closing the series out 2-0 with another emphatic performance. And they did so by thumping the visitors by 10 wickets in this match.
West Indies won the toss and opted to bat, while India rested Mohammed Shami for Shardul Thakur in the match.
The Windies showed much better application at the crease than the first Test, with Roston Chase's gritty hundred, ably supported by a half-century from captain Jason Holder, taking them to 311. Umesh Yadav was India's wrecker-in-chief, finishing with figures of 6/88, with Kuldeep Yadav also picking up three wickets.
In reply, Prithvi Shaw continued his stellar start to his international career, giving India a blistering start with a 53-ball 70 even as KL Rahul's lean patch continued. The middle order also delivered, with both Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant falling short of tons, as India were bowled out for 367, taking a 56-run first-innings lead.
The batting application the West Indies showed in the first innings seemed to be missing in the second, as Sunil Ambris was the only batter who stayed at the crease for a good amount of time.
Once again, it was Umesh Yadav who led the Indian bowling attack, picking up four wickets, with Jadeja and Ashwin also among the wickets this time around. The Windies were bowled out for a mere 127, setting India a target of 72, which they chased down without losing a wicket.
Umesh Yadav won a well-deserved Player of the Match award, with Prithvi Shaw taking away the Player of the Series award in the first two matches of his international career.