Cricket in India is like a religion. Fans often look up to their favourite players as Gods. These players together constitute a team which represents the country at the International podium. To lead such a team, a captain is appointed who is entrusted with several responsibilities. Therefore, these captains often change the perception of the team through his or her actions.
Our men’s cricket team has had several captains. While some of those captains have created several records, others have failed to handle the pressure. These captains are, however, unique in their own ways. Here, in this article, we bring you some of the best men to have ever led team India and was highly successful in their endeavors.
Sourav Ganguly:
This man is arguably the best captain team India ever had. The ‘prince of Calcutta’, is the most successful captain for India abroad. Ganguly was a fighter and instilled the fighting spirit in each and every teammates. He was a visionary and gave chances to many youngsters. He was the real architect behind building Team India. He sacrificed his opening slot to promote Virender Sehwag. He gave chances to players like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, L.Balaji, Dhoni and several others. Ganguly led the team to the finals of ICC World Cup in 2003.
It was under Sourav Ganguly, that team India mastered the art of winning overseas. Ganguly was the captain to stop Steve Waugh’s Australia winning streak of 18-0. It was under his regime India won in Pakistan after a long time. The most talked about the incident about Sourav Ganguly, is how he opened his shirt at Lords and waived it. It was payback time for India to a similar incident Andrew Flintoff did in Mumbai.
Kapil Dev:
Kapil Dev was the captain of Team India which won the 1983 world cup. It was the first ever World Cup India had won. He was a kind of captain, who believed in leading from the front. Dev captained India in 74 ODI’s and won 39 out of them. In tests, however, he did not have a much impressive record. He, however, played the Innings of his life for his team, when he scored an unbeaten 175 against Zimbabwe at the World Cup and secured India victory.
He was an all-rounder and was equally successful with both bowl and bat. He was once India’s leading wicket-taker in the test matches. His ability to break partnerships and to be a player for big games have helped him to become one of the best captains of Team India.
MS Dhoni:
He is the most successful captain Team India has ever produced. MS Dhoni is the winner of ICC T20 World Cup in 2007, ICC World Cup in 2011, and also the winners of the Champions trophy in 2013. Dhoni is a tactician. His biggest asset is his cricketing brains and intuitions which have helped him to combat almost all the cricketing nations in the world. Dhoni has time and again proved his captaincy by doing unconventional things. In the 2007 world cup, he used a rather inexperienced Joginder Sharma over Harbhajan Singh and helped India to win their maiden T20 world cup final.
Similarly, in 2011 final, Dhoni promoted himself over Yuvraj Singh. This turned out to be a brilliant decision, and Dhoni scored an unbelievable 91 not out, and thus guided India to win. Also, in the Champions Trophy final, Dhoni’s strategy to use Ishant Sharma in the penultimate over and Ashwin in the final over, helped India clinch the victory over England. He is equally successful in any and every team he has captained so far.
Mohammad Azharuddin:
He was the most controversial captain Team India ever had. However, he was a classy batsman and could single headedly win matches for India. He led India in India in 47 test, winning 14 of them. He had a good record in domestic matches. In ODI’s, he led India to 174 matches, winning 90 of them, with a win percentage of 53. He could have gone on to become the best captain India could have ever had, had he not gone in trouble for his alleged match-fixing controversy.
Azharuddin was also a very good fielder. He was very calm headed and could navigate the team in tough situations. As a captain, he had several records in his credits and was one of the finest modern day captains Team India had. Had the not been imposed upon him, he could have surpassed various records and could have provided India with many more delightful victories.
