Given that Republic Day is a national holiday, India has played only a handful of matches on January 26

On January 26th, India will celebrate its 77th Republic Day. On this day in 1950, the Constitution of India came into effect, but India had already begun its journey of shaping the country, whether economically or in sports, even before gaining independence in 1947.

Speaking of sports, India is known for its cricketing prowess, but given that Republic Day is a national holiday, the men’s national team has played only a handful of games on the event, and unfortunately, the team has lost on most occasions. However, in 2016, for the first time on Republic Day, the team tasted its first victory on the 26th of January.

India vs. Australia

On January 26, 2016, India met Australia in Adelaide for a game of T20I, with India taking the crease first. The Men in Blue suffered an early loss with opener Shikhar Dhawan walking away with merely five runs. On the other end, Rohit Sharma made a stable 31-run innings, but India needed a superstar innings.

That’s when Virat Kohli started hitting the Aussie bowlers at a rapid pace, scoring 90 runs without losing his wicket in 55 balls. His innings had a strike rate of 163.30 with nine boundaries and two sixes.

(Credit- ESPNcricinfo)

Kohli was well supported by Suresh Raina, who scored 41 runs in 34 balls, whereas the then captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, played a cameo of 11 runs in three balls.

Australia rattled by Indian bowling attack

Aaron Finch hit 44 to give Australia a decent start, but the rest of the batting line-up failed to settle. No other player except Steve Smith could score more than 20 runs, as wickets tumbled at quick intervals.

(Credit- ESPNcricinfo)

From the Indian bowling line-up, Jasprit Bumrah grabbed three wickets, whereas two scalps each were made by the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Hardik Pandya.

Ashish Nehra also picked one wicket, and the Australian batting line-up was in for 19.3 overs for 151 runs.

Under Captain Dhoni, India achieved its first-ever victory on January 26th, i.e., Republic Day. Since 2016, India has won another match against England in 2017, followed by wins against New Zealand in 2019 and 2020.

Regrettably, there are no scheduled cricket matches for India's men's and women's teams on Republic Day this year.