The Indian cricket team will step onto the Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester on Wednesday (July 23) with a lot at stake as they are 2-1 down in the five-match series and a defeat in the fourth Test of the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy will mean that they have no chance to win the series and miss out on a golden chance to win a Test series on English soil for the first time in 18 years.

However, the Shubman Gill-led side has a lot more to play for, and they will need to rewrite the history books to draw level in the series. The Asian Giants need to break a curse that is nine decades old and achieve a never-done-before feat by an Indian team.

It was in 1936 under the captaincy of the Maharajah of Vizianagram that India played a Test match in Manchester for the first time, but they have never won a match. Over the last 89 years, the Indian team have played nine times in the venue but never managed to win, with four defeats and five draws.

Year	Result	Captain
1936	Draw	Maharajah of Vizianagram
1946	Draw	Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi
1952	Loss By An Innings And 207 Runs	Vijay Hazare
1959	Lost By 171 Runs	Datta Gaekwad
1971	Draw	Ajit Wadekar
1974	Lost By 113 Runs	Ajit Wadekar
1982	Draw	Sunil Gavaskar
1990	Draw	Mohammad Azharuddin
2014	Lost By An Innings And 54 Runs	MS Dhoni

If India fails to win at Manchester, it will become the first ground on which they have played 10 or more games without having a single victory. Currently, they have played both at Manchester and Barbados nine times each without having a win.

No team in history has played 10 Tests at a venue without a single victory, and the visitors will hope to avoid becoming the only team with the embarrassing feat to their name. Among the five instances with nine matches at a venue, where they are winless, India is the only side with the feat at two stadiums.

Ground	Played	Loss	Draw
Australia At National Stadium, Karachi (Pakistan)	9	5	4
Bangladesh at Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka (Bangladesh)	9	7	2
India at Kingston Stadium, Barbados (West Indies)	9	7	2
India at Old Trafford, Manchester (England)	9	4	5
Sri Lanka at Lord's, London (England)	9	3	6

Interestingly, India and England were set to play at the Ground in 2021 in the fifth Test with the visitors 2-1 ahead in the series and hot favourites to win the match, but the game was cancelled minutes before the start due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the Indian camp.

Among visiting teams, even New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and South Africa have also never won at the venue. Although no one has played as many matches as India with the Black Caps (7) a close second.

On the tour, India have already scripted history with their first-ever win in Birmingham on the ninth attempt and will hope to recreate the feat in Manchester.