Bangalore: Much was expected of India when the underrated England team visited for a three-Test series. It was hoped that England would be beaten 3-0 by the home team but the end result proved otherwise.

England after losing the first Test at Mohali came back and fought gallantly to draw the next two Tests at Ahemdabad and Bangalore. When England returned for the Limited Overs Internationals in January, India was once again fancied to win the six-match LG Cup series convincingly. England once again belied expectations to return home leveling the series 3-3.

So the onus is now on India to prove that it is a real tiger at home when it takes on the once previous babes in Test cricket - Zimbabwe in the first of the two Test series, which commences at Nagpur from February 21. India will meet Zimbabwe at this venue for the second time.

Down memory lane, the previous Test at Nagpur between India and Zimbabwe is still remembered for the heroics of Zimbabwe batsmen - as when it last played here in 2000-01, it managed to draw the Test after facing India's huge total of 609 for six declared.

After being asked to follow on trailing by 227 runs, Zimbabwe thwarted India's hopes of victory and managed to draw the Test by scoring 503 for six in its second innings - through the valiant efforts of Alistair Campbell, who scored a century, and Andy Flower, who remained with an unbeaten double century (232).

Just for the record, it may be stated here that Zimbabwe's entry to Test cricket was against India in the inaugural Test at Harare in 1992/93 and it had then not only amassed the highest total by a debutant country, but also had become only the second team after Australia to avoid defeat in the history of inaugural Tests.

In the preceding 10 Test series (five at home and five away; including a one-Test series) played by India commencing from encounter against New Zealand in 1999-00, it has won five, lost four and drawn one. It is worthwhile to note that in the five home series it has played, India has won four series - against New Zealand in 1999-00, Zimbabwe and the mighty Australia in 2000-01 and recently against England. It's only loss was against South Africa in 1999-00.

For Zimbabwe this will be the third occasion that it will be touring India - the previous being in 1992-93 and 2000-01. However it should be noted that India has to avenge its defeat against Zimbabwe when it last met at Harare in the second Test in 2001. Zimbabwe on its part has also a task ahead to play to its potential and erase black memories after the 0-3 mauling it received when it toured Sri Lanka recently.

Following are some of the statistics relating to India-Zimbabwe Tests.

Head to Head Record:
	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn:
Overall	7	3	2	2
Home Record	3	2	-	1
Away Record	4	1	2	1

Chronological Order of Tests Played:
1992/93	Only Test	Harare	Zim: 456/146-4 d	Ind: 307	Drawn
1992/93	Only Test	Delhi	Ind: 536/7 d	Zim: 322/201	Ind won by Ings & 13 runs
1998/99	Only Test	Harare	Zim: 221/293	Ind: 280/173	Zim won by 61 runs
2000/01	1st Test	Delhi	Zim:422-9 d/225	Ind: 458-4 d/190-3	Ind won by 7 wkts
	2nd Test	Nagpur	Ind: 609-6 d	Zim: 382/503-6	Drawn
2001	1st Test	Bulawayo	Zim: 173/328	Ind: 318/184-2	Ind won by 8 wkts
	2nd Test	Harare	Ind: 237/234	Zim: 315/157-6	Zim won by 4 wkts

Captaincy:
	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	Toss Won	Toss Lost
India
M Azharuddin	3	1	1	1	33.33	2	1
SC Ganguly	4	2	1	1	50	2	2
Zimbabwe
DL Houghton	2	-	1	1	-	1	1
HH Streak	4	1	2	1	25.00%	2	2
ADR Campbell	1	1	-	-	100	-	1

Highest Total:
India	609/6 d	Nagpur	2000/01
Zimbabwe	503/6	Nagpur	2000/01

Other Totals of 400 & above:
India	536/7 d	Delhi	1992/93
	458/4 d	Delhi	2000/01
Zimbabwe	456	Harare	1992/93
	422/9 d	Delhi	2000/01

Lowest Total:
India	173	Harare	1998/99
Zimbabwe	173	Bulawayo	2001

Other Totals of 250 & below:
India	237	Harare	2001
	234	Harare	2001
Zimbabwe	225	Delhi	2000/01
	221	Harare	1998/99
	201	Delhi	1992/93

Most Runs in India/Zimbabwe Tests:
India	732	RS Dravid	5 Matches @ 146.40;	3 centuries and 2 fifties
Zimbabwe	1035	A Flower	7 Matches @ 129.38;	3 centuries and 6 fifties

Most Runs in a Series:
India	432	RS Dravid	2 Matches @ 432.00	2000/01	2 centuries 1 fifty
Zimbabwe	540	A Flower	2 Matches @ 270.00	2000/01	2 centuries 2 fifties

Highest Individual Score:
India	227	VG Kambli	Delhi	1992/93
Zimbabwe	232*	A Flower	Nagpur	2000/01

Most Wickets in India/Zimbabwe Tests:
India	27	J Srinath	6 Matches @ 26.93
Zimbabwe	18	HH Streak	5 Matches @ 26.22

Most Wickets in a Series:
India	12	J Srinath	2 Matches @ 22.91
Zimbabwe	10	HH Streak	2 Matches @ 17.80

Best Match Bowling:
India	9/141 (4-81/5-60)	J Srinath	Delhi	2000/01
Zimbabwe	7/115 (3-69/4-46)	HH Streak	Harare	2001

Best Innings Bowling:
India	5-60	J Srinath	Delhi	2000/01
Zimbabwe	5-70	HK Olanga	Harare	2000/01

Other 5 W I and above:
India	5-70	A Kumble	Delhi	1992/93
Zimbabwe	5-74	AM Blignaut	Harare	2001
	5-86	AJ Traicos	Harare	1992/93
Note: AJ Traicos who took 5/86 in the inaugural Test at Harare in 1992/93 had become the 14th player to represent two countries as he had earlier played for SA

Double Hundreds
India	227	VG Kambli	Delhi	1992/93
	201*	SR Tendulkar	Nagpur	2000/01
	200*	RS Dravid	Delhi	2000/01
Zimbabwe	232*	A Flower	Nagpur	2000/01

Centuries other than above:
India	162	RS Dravid	Nagpur	2000/01
	122	SR Tendulkar	Delhi	2000/01
	118	RS Dravid	Harare	1998/99
	110	SS Das	Nagpur	2000/01
	104	SV Manjrekar	Harare	1992/93
Zimbabwe	183*	A Flower	Delhi	2000/01
	121	DL Houghton	Harare	1992/93
	115	A Flower	Delhi	1992/93
	106*	GW Flower	Nagpur	2000/01
	102	ADR Campbell	Nagpur	2000/01
Total: Centuries (including Double Hundreds): 14 (India : 8; Zimbabwe : 6)

Century on Debut:
Zimbabwe	121	DL Houghton	Harare	1992/93

Three Centuries in an Innings:
India	SS Das(110)	SR Tendulkar (201*)	RS Dravid (162 )	Nagpur	2000/01
Actually 6 centuries came in this match as Zimbabwe also accounted for one in the 1st innings (106* by GW Flower ) and two in the 2nd innings (102 by ADR Campbell and 232* by A Flower)

Nineties:
Zimbabwe	96	GW Flower	Delhi	1992/93

Ninety and a duck:
Zimbabwe	96 & 0	GW Flower	Delhi	1992/93

Top scorer in both completed innings:
Zimbabwe	115 & 62*	A Flower	Delhi	1992/93
	51 & 83	A Flower	Bulawayo	2001
India	118 & 44	RS Dravid	Harare	1998/99

Pairs (Zero in both innings):
India	A Nehra	Harare	2001
Zimbabwe	DH Brain	Delhi	1992/93
	GW Flower	Delhi	2000/01

Openers Ducks:
India	NRMongia & NS Sidhu in the 2nd innings at Harare in 1998/99
Zimbabwe	GW Flower & GJ Rennie in the 2nd innings at Delhi in 2000/01

Best Partnership for Each Wicket:
1st Wicket	India	72	SS Das/S Ramesh	Nagpur	2000/01
	Zimbabwe	138	GJ Rennie/CB Wishart	Harare	1992/93
2nd Wicket	India	155	SS Das/RS Dravid	Nagpur	2000/01
	Zimbabwe	101	SV Carlisle/GJ Whittal	Nagpur	2000/01
3rd Wicket	India	249	RS Dravid/SR Tendulkar	Nagpur	2000/01
	Zimbabwe	119	ADR Campbell/SV Carlisle	Delhi	2000/01
4th Wicket	India	110*	RS Dravid/SC Ganguly	Delhi	2000/01
	Zimbabwe	209	ADR Campbell/A Flower	Nagpur	2000/01
5th Wicket	India	67	RS Dravid/SC Ganguly	Harare	1998/99
	Zimbabwe	96	A Flower/GW Flower	Nagpur	2000/01
6th Wicket	India	96	Kapil Dev/SV Manjrekar	Harare	1992/93
	Zimbabwe	165	A Flower/DL Houghton	Harare	1992/93
7th Wicket	India	44	RS Dravid/Robin Singh	Harare	1998/99
	Zimbabwe	98*	A Flower/HH Streak	Nagpur	2000/01
8th Wicket	India	72	SS Dighe/Harbhajan Singh	Bulawayo	2001
	Zimbabwe	46	A Flower/BA Murphy	Delhi	2000/01
9th Wicket	India	19	HK Badani/J Srinath	Harare	2001
	Zimbabwe	33	AG Huckle/HK Olonga	Harare	1998/99
10th Wicket	India	40	Harbhajan Singh/J Srinath	Harare	1998/99
	Zimbabwe	97*	A Flower/HK Olonga	Delhi	2000/01

Century Partnerships other than above:
1st Wicket	Zimbabwe	100	KJ Arnott/GW Flower	Harare	1992/93
2nd Wicket	India	107	SS Das/RS Dravid	Delhi	2000/01
		107	VG Kambli/NS Sidhu	Delhi	1992/93
3rd Wicket	India	213	RS Dravid/SR Tendulkar	Delhi	2000/01
		137	VG Kambli/SR Tendulkar	Delhi	1992/93
		118	SS Das/SR Tendulkar	Harare	2001
4th Wicket	Zimbabwe	192	A Flower/GW Flower	Delhi	1992/93
	India	107	M Azharuddin/VG Kambli	Delhi	1992/93
6th Wicket	Zimabwe	113	A Flower/DP Vilojoen	Nagpur	2000/01
		101	A Flower/GW Flower	Bulawayo	2001

Abstract for Century Partnerships:
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Total
India	-	3	4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	9
Zimbabwe	2	1	1	2	-	3	-	-	-	-	9
Total:	2	4	5	4	-	3	-	-	-	-	18

Wicket Keeping:
Most Dismissals in India/Zimbabwe Tests:
India	6	Vijay Dahiya in 2 Matches
Zimbabwe	17	Andy Flower in Matches
Most Dismissals in a Series:
India	6	Vijay Dahiya in 2 Matches		2000/2001
Zimbabwe	8	Andy Flower in 2 Matches		2001
Most Dismissals in a Match: (5 or more)
Zimbabwe	5	A Flower	Harare	2001
Most Dismissals in an Innings: (4 or more)
Zimbabwe	4	A Flower	Harare	2001
Highest Score by a Wicket Keeper:
India	47	SS Dighe	Bulawayo	2001
Zimbabwe	232*	A Flower	Nagpur	2000/01

FIELDING:
3 or more catches in an Innings:
India	3	Robin Singh	Harare	1998/99
	3	SC Ganguly	Nagpur	2000/01
Zimbabwe	3	GJ Whittal	Bulawayo	2001
	3	AM Blignaut	Harare	2001

Overall Tests Played by Ind/Zim:
	Aus	Eng	NZ	Pak	SA	SL	WI	Ind	Zim	BD	Total
INDIA:
Played	60	87	40	47	14	23	70	-	7	1	349
Won	13	15	14	5	2	8	7	-	3	1	68
Lost	29	32	7	9	7	3	28	-	2	-	117
Drawn	17	40	19	33	5	12	35	-	2	-	163
Tied	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
ZIMBABWE
Played	1	4	11	12	5	13	4	7	-	4	61
Won	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	2	-	3	7
Lost	1	1	5	6	4	8	3	3	-	-	31
Drawn	-	3	6	4	1	5	1	2	-	1	23