Test cricket is always riveting to watch, and when it comes to some of the oldest rivalries in the game, it is even more enthralling and fans eagerly look for.

This report discusses two such iconic Test cricket rivalries: England-India and Australia-West Indies. The fresh season of the ICC World Test Championship started in June 2025 with the big three in cricket – Australia, England, and India – and the powerhouse of earlier years, the West Indies.

The newly christened Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy for all the England-India Tests (which replaced the Pataudi trophy played in England and the Antony DeMello trophy played in India), and the Frank Worrell Trophy for the Australia-West Indies Tests.

These contests date back almost a hundred years. England has held the Pataudi trophy since 2011, and Australia has held the Frank Worrell trophy since 1995.

Highlights of the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy

The Indian team, under its newly appointed Test captain Shubman Gill, began the journey with hopes of winning a Test series on English soil for the first time in eighteen years. England has been one of the toughest places for visiting teams to win a series.

For various Indian sides, over the years, it has proven to be a barrier too tough to breach. England, led by Ben Stokes, with the brand of cricket called “Bazball” by the media, has entertained the audience over the last three years, but has yet to win any of the big tourneys or series.

The first of the five-match series, which began at Leeds on 20 June 2025, had all the fireworks. Three centuries from the Indian side (Yashaswi Jaiswal, Gill, and Rishabh Pant), yet another five-wicket haul by Bumrah, and England matching in kind to India’s first innings score. Pant’s second century in the second innings and backed by K.L. Rahul’s century led to a competitive score of 371 given to England for a win.

England’s bazball then came to the fore as openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley smashed the Indian bowlers all over the place with a 188-run partnership. Duckett’s 149 was one to remember for the ages with attractive sweeps of spinners, plenty of runs square of the wicket, both sides before Joe Root and Jamie Smith took England home by 5 wickets to spare.

The result meant that England have now chased down 370+ scores consecutively against India in England – they won by 7 wickets in the year 2022 chasing 378.

As the teams moved to Edgbaston in Birmingham, the visitors had a challenge on hand – no Indian team had won a Test at this venue. England won the toss and sent India in to bat, visibly driven by the confidence of chasing down any score. The pitch on offer was even flatter than at Leeds.  

India made three changes in the playing 11, with a notable one being talisman Bumrah not playing as per the pre-decided workload management policy for the world No. 1 pacer. This move raised plenty of discussion in the media and among fans. Captain Gill continued his great form and stroked a long, beautiful, and well-crafted 269 runs during which he broke many records as India piled up 587 in total.

The English reply was rocky, and they were 5 down for 84 before one of the stunning partnerships between Harry Brook and Jamie Smith, of 303 runs with an eye-catching century by Smith. England, though, conceded a lead of 189 runs. Gill continued his rich vein of form in the second innings with another century that took his match aggregate to 430 runs

Chasing 608 proved insurmountable for England, and they were bowled out for 271. The highlight was Akash Deep’s debut six-wicket haul. He showcased impressive in-swingers, dismissing top-order batters Root and Brook, signaling his credentials as a potential successor to Bumrah.

A victory by 336 runs and the series was level at 1-1 as teams head to iconic Lord’s with a short turnaround time.

At the Lord’s cricket stadium, known as the “Mecca of cricket,” Ben Stokes' luck with the toss continued, and for a change, probably due to the loss in the previous Test, this time he opted to bat first. Bumrah returned for India, and Jofra Archer made a comeback for England in Tests after 4 years.

The action at Lord’s saw not just old-fashioned Test cricket grinding out the bowling with the home team, by the end of their innings, having scored a competitive 387, but also some dramatic action rarely seen in world Test cricket. If 371 was a score that England could clinically pursue at Leeds, India imitated the feat by scoring 387 with brilliant stroke play by Rahul and Pant. By matching eye-to-eye, the Lord’s outing saw the 9th time in the history of Test cricket that teams were even after the first innings.

English batting could not resist against India as all the bowlers chipped in to bowl the home team out for 192. However, when set 193 for a win, the Indian batting collapsed in heaps against sustained bowling from Brydon Carse, Archer, and captain Stokes. Ravindra Jadeja, with a valiant 61, fought till the end, till the No. 11 Siraj was bowled in an unusual or unlucky manner, with England winning by 22 runs.

Skipper Stokes emerged the hero of the game with 77 runs, 5 wickets and fantastic run out which was flagged by many experts as the turning point in the match. Stokes moved like a gladiator, bowling two continuous non-stop spells, despite two surgeries in the past six months, with every move in the field well calculated and every bowling change coming as a stroke of genius.

At Old Trafford in Manchester, England won the toss and opted to field. India’s first-innings total of 358 was built upon resilient half-centuries from the top order. Stokes, standout as the leading bowler of the series, taking yet another five-wicket haul. India’s key batter Rishabh Pant retired hurt after being struck on the foot, but returned later to bat, receiving a rousing ovation from the crowd.

For their part, the English openers smashed a 166-run stand in only 32 overs while Joe Root continued his form with another majestic 150, and captain Stokes chipped in with 141. England's mammoth 669 meant the lead of 311, which tired the Indian players, resulting in two wickets in the first over itself.

Rahul and Gill steadied the innings with the Indian captain scoring his fourth ton of this tour. Washington and Ravindra Jadeja took India to safety and draw with both scoring hundreds as both teams headed to the series finale at the Oval in London.

This draw was a crucial from the Indian point of view in the sense that it meant they could still draw the series, although England had one hand on the Anderson Tendulkar trophy as a result. Evidently, the excruciating demands of five Tests in 6 to 7 weeks have started to take a toll on players of both sides, with Stokes picking up two separate injuries in the game.

The Oval track has seen good contests between bat and ball in recent Tests, with fair help for the pacers. While the pitches so far in the series have been flat, Oval presented with the greenest of all, along with good overhead conditions, or the typical English conditions.

With England missing the services of the injured captain Stokes, Pope won the 5th consecutive toss of the series. Despite most of the English pacers missing the radar, the Indians were bowled out for 224 with only Karun Nair, batting at No.5, providing some resistance. Gus Atkinson, who came back after an injury layoff, was impressive as he picked five wickets with very disciplined bowling.

Yet again, the English openers gave a flying start and reached 109 runs in 16 overs before a fightback from Siraj and Prasidh Krishna and restricting England to 247. In the Indian reply, Jaiswal hit his second century, and with valuable contributions from others, England was set a target of 374 runs – reasonably high for Test cricket but a number that has been breached multiple times in this series.

The final game proved nail-biting in this second innings as Brook and Root put up the resistance against the Siraj-Krishna duo. By the time Brook departed for a fighting 111, it seemed the English team was on track for a Test and series win. This looked fait accompli when Root also completed his century and England left with just 35 runs short of a win at the draw of stumps.

The outcome of the final day is now Test cricket history as Siraj and Krishna bowled out the hosts with just six runs to spare on the scoreboard – supposedly the narrowest win for the Indians ever in Test cricket. One of the commendable sights was when Chris Woakes walked in as the last batsman with his left hand in a sling from the dislocated shoulder he had picked up on day 1, though a valour too little and too late.

Key takeaways from the series

The series, which seesawed a lot over the course of the 7 weeks of play, ended with 2-2 as the final result, revealing the evenly-matched sides. The matches were played mostly on batting-friendly pitches with the exception being of the Oval pitch, which had a fair help for pacers.

For India, most of the batting clicked with three of the batsmen scoring over 500 runs in the series, which augurs well, as a lack of runs in previous series against Australia and New Zealand was a key factor in those losses.

As has eventually turned out, India won the Tests which their marquee pace spearhead Bumrah did not play. In the Tests he featured in, India lost two and drew one. Siraj was the workhorse for India throughout the series and ended as the leading wicket-taker. The series showed that Prasidh Krishna would go on to become a very reliable bowler for the team in overseas tours, besides the impressive performance of Akash Deep.

As for England, they seemed inclined to play a refined version of “Bazball,” grinding down and playing according to the situations. A bit more of the same approach could have won them or helped them draw some of the Tests, resulting in a series win, although they can claim being only a shot away from winning the series at the Oval.

Both teams dropped an avalanche of catches in the series, though India’s dropped catches proved costlier. Indian batting suffered big collapses in various stages of the series, especially the first game, whereas England had the momentum at the crucial moments in the series, which resulted in them winning two of the matches.

That India still managed to draw the series would be an indication that a world-class Test team is in the making, led by Shuman Gill.

The Frank Worrell trophy

As we cross over the Atlantic to the pristine islands of the Caribbeans, the Frank Worrell trophy saw the World No. 1 Australia clashing with the home team trying to regain its past glory. The three-match series gained more interest than it would usually have been as West Indies had beaten Australia at Brisbane eighteen months earlier.

The Test win had renewed hope in West Indies cricket. Australia, on the other hand, had its first Test tour to the West Indies in a decade, and was coming from a loss in the final of the WTC 23-25 cycle a few days back at Lord’s.

The contrast in the pitches from a parallel series happening in England was evident as the surfaces in the Caribbean were quite helpful for the pace bowlers of both teams, resulting in mostly lower team scores. The three Tests had a similar pattern in terms of Australia winning the toss on each occasion, batting first, as well as outcomes of the games, which turned out into an Australian whitewash of the series.

In the first game at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, the visitors scored 180 batting first as Jayden Seales and Shamar Joseph ran through the batting taking 9 scalps between them. Vital knocks from new captain Roston Chase and recalled Shai Hope enabled a 10-run lead for West Indies, though the Australian pacers shared the spoils equally.

When the match is tight, it is generally the team that has tasted more success that generally inches forward, as was the case with the Australian middle order of Travis Head, Beau Webster and Alex Carey, all making 60s and the team taking a 300-run lead. Josh Hazlewood ran through the WI top order, taking 5 scalps as Australia romped home by 159 runs.

The second game was at St. George’s, Grenada, with Australia playing at this venue in Tests for the first time. The performance of teams almost resembled the first Test with only difference being the comparatively higher first innings scores from the first game.

One of the talking points of the game was a catch taken by captain Pat Cummins on his own bowling in the first innings. The catch was labelled as the best caught and bowled by a pacer in Test history. Without doubt, Australian and West Indies pacers had another great outing in this second match.

From a batting point of view, Webster, Carey, Cameron Green, Steve Smith from Australia, and Brandon King from WI all scored half-centuries. These knocks should all be highly rated considering the pitches and the bowling quality. Australia won by 133 runs and thus took control of the Frank Worrell trophy again.

The teams moved to Sabina Park in Kingston, in a Day and Night game, a first for Australia outside home. Australia’s first innings score of 225 was built around a couple of 40’ 40s from Green and Smith, as Seales and Joseph from WI had good returns with the ball. As had been the trend in the series, the Aussie pacers shared the spoils while taking an 82-run lead.

Despite being bowled out by the rampant West Indies pacers for 121, Australia had set a target of 204 for the home side. This was followed by one of the most stunning displays of fast bowling from Mitch Starc, taking three wickets in his first over and becoming the quickest to take 5 wickets in an innings.

It took only 15 balls for him to blow apart the West Indies top and middle order, and, in the process, reaching 400 Test scalps in his 100th Test.

Mitch has emerged as a legend of sorts in pink-ball cricket. He was ably supported by Scott Boland, who took a hat-trick as the hosts were bowled out for 27 – the second lowest score in Test history, only shading the 26 all out by NZ back in 1955. This innings broke many records; among others, the highest number of ducks in an innings – 7 ducks.

Australia won by a whopping 176-run margin and took home the trophy by a 3-0 margin.

As the series revealed, the West Indians have plenty of issues on the batting front while having have one of the finest fast bowling units. Added to that, they dropped plenty of catches all throughout the series, prompting questions about their fielding quality.

Australia ending up with a clean slate in the 4th season of the World Test Championship (2025-2027) cycle as they prepare to host the English in the Ashes later this year.

What the two series tell us about world test cricket

The last 3-4 years witnessed some engaging battles between England and India in both nations. The 2024 series in India, though the final scoreline was 4-1 in favor of India, was a tightly fought contest with England threatening to take the game away in at least two of the matches. Even their victory in the first game of the tour was seen as one of the stunning comebacks.

Again in 2025, cricket fans were kept engaged till the final day of the final Test with every match going to the final day, including the fierce contest at the Oval. This suggests that when inconsistencies of both teams come to the fore, fans will have a treat of enthralling Test cricket. The record TV viewership in the UK and India, along with the ever-supporting fanbase in England for Test cricket, only highlights that good contests will always be appreciated.

In fact, the game continues to produce new heroes and warriors. The retirements of marquee names like Viral Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin did not dampen the interest in the game as the likes of Gill, Pant, Siraj, Brook, among others, have given quality cricketing time.

As was evident in the Anderson-Tendulkar series, some of the Indian stars, like Rishabh Pant, have become popular in England, going by the rousing receptions they received from across the ground. The series has been talked about by neutral fans from cricket-playing nations as well, indicating that good contests will keep viewers engaged.

The Test cricketing record between these two teams now stands at England with 17 wins and India with 12 wins, and 5 series as drawn. A fair bit of success has come India’s way in the last two decades. This suggests the wider gap between the teams in the decades gone by has narrowed down considerably.

The Australia-West Indies contests for the Frank Worrell trophy have generally been of domination in cycles by the two sides. While Australia dominated the results till 1977, the West Indies team, with their fearsome pace attack and formidable stroke players, lorded it for the next 18 years till 1995.

Australia made a comeback by winning the series in the Caribbeans in 1995, and have since dominated over the West Indies for the past 30 years. Over the last two series, it can be observed that the West Indies pace attack is as good as any in the world currently. Hence, with some improvement in their batting and fielding, they can compete and probably win more games against top sides.

In the Frank Worrell trophy, first instituted in 1960, Australia has won 16, the West Indies winning 8, and 3 drawn ones. The three series prior to the inception of the trophy were all won by the Australian team.

As mentioned in The Polity’s November 2024 report, 2024: The return of world Test cricket, Test cricket have seen a grand revival in recent times, in particular as an impact of the World Test Championships. After years of focus on limited-over games, since the advent of the T-20 format, Test series are now well attended with marquee players of the leading teams making their mark in the longer formats.

In the case of the Indian side, the appointment of Shubam Gill was a clear sign by the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) of a long-term investment in a test side, which has a comparatively younger profile with the likes of Sai Sudharshan, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Akash Deep, Nitish Kumar Reddy, among others. With veterans like Pant, Rahul, and possibly Shreyas Iyer soon making it to the side, India aspires to have an aspire run in the 2025-2027 cycle of the WTC.

Currently in the early stage of this cycle, the upcoming Test series is likely to produce some world-class cricket, with at least six of the nine teams likely to have engaging contests in order to make it to the two spots for the final. The upcoming Test series of the new-look Indian Test will also be crucial in determining the permanent side for the longer formats.

There is already talk of bringing in Shreyas Iyer to captain India’s One Day Internationals (ODIs) side, which will imply that Gill’s captaincy for the longer formats is not a foregone conclusion, with Iyer likely to make it to the Test team in the upcoming series, as a possible replacement for Karun Nair or to provide a mainstay in the middle order.

Similar churning is expected to happen in other teams, including England, West Indies, and South Africa, which are likely to follow the Indian and Australian models of bringing in newer faces into the Test side revamps. Needless to emphasize, the 2025-2027 WTC side season is slated to bring out some deeply engaging contests between the world’s foremost cricketing teams.