5 Indian cricket captains whose captaincy tenures had abrupt endings

MS Dhoni has arguably been India’s most successful captain across all the formats of cricket. Be it the T20 World Cup, 50 Over World Cup or the ICC Champions Trophy; under his captaincy India has won all the major ICC tournaments. It was under him that India also became the number one Test side in the world.Despite these achievements, off late he has been at the receiving end of both fans and former cricketers. The reason behind this outrage against him is India’s poor overseas performance. The recent loss in the ODI series in Australia has just added fuel to this captaincy debate.A Dhoni fan would feel that such criticism for a captain who has given us so much to cheer about is uncalled for. But if we look at the history of Indian cricket, Dhoni isn’t the first nor will be the last one to face this unwanted music. India has rarely had a captain who has quit on his own terms without facing any media or fan backlash. After all it is not without any reason that an Indian crickets captain’s job is considered the toughest job in the country after that of the Prime Minister.Now only time will tell if Dhoni continues as the captain of the T20 and ODI team. Here we take a look at 5 former captains whose tenure came to an abrupt end due to various reasons ranging from poor form, board politics and match-fixing charges among others. While some of these players continued to play for the country without the burden of captaincy.

#5 Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev led India to their first ever World cup victory in 1983.

The first half of the 1980s saw a tussle of captaincy between Sunil Gavaskar & Kapil Dev. Kapil Dev sealed his supremacy as captain by winning the 1983 Prudential World Cup. The impact of this victory was enormous and it led to a cricket revolution in the country. His team became famous as Kapil’s devils.

However, he could not repeat the heroics of 1983 and in the 1987 Reliance World Cup at home, India lost in the semi-final to England. Kapil Dev faced the blame of this loss and was removed as the captain. Even his 1987 World Cup campaign was marred with controversies. In their first match against Australia, India lost by one run chasing 271.

Australia’s original score was 268 and it was increased to 270 after Kapil Dev agreed with the umpires that the score should be increased to 270 as one boundary during the innings had been mistakenly signaled as a four instead of a six.

Although he continued to play for India till as late as 1994, he never led the team again. Interestingly though he was the vice-captain for India’s tour to Pakistan in 1989.

#4 Mohammad Azharuddin

Azharuddin led the Indian team for most parts of the 1990s.

Mohammad Azharuddin was the captain of the Indian team for most of 1990s. He led the team in three consecutive World Cups in 1992, 1996 & 1999. Before Sourav Ganguly, Azhar was the most successful Indian captain.

To a common fan Azhar seemed to be a quiet man and his critics used to call him a lucky captain. But his record as captain speaks volumes about his leadership skills. Richie Benaud had once said “The hallmark of a great captain is the ability to win the toss, at the right time”. Well, Azhar definitely had the knack of winning the toss. In facts in ODIs he has the highest toss win percent (for players who have captained their teams in more than 100 ODIs); he won 96 tosses in the 174 matches that he led the Indian team.

Loss of his own form and the rise of Sachin Tendulkar took away the captaincy from him in 1996 but he came back to lead the team again in 1997. Allegations of match-fixing cut short his comeback and he was banned by the BCCI in 2000. The BCCI lifted the ban imposed on him in 2006 but it was too late for Azhar bhai (as he was fondly called) to consider thoughts of comeback.

#3 Rahul Dravid

Dravid resigned from captaincy after India’s first-round ouster from the 2007 World Cup.

Starting from his debut Test at Lords in 1996, Rahul Dravid’s performance has more often than not been overshadowed by the performances of other star players. Be it his first match at Lords or the epic Kolkata test against Australia in 2001; Dravid had to be content with the role of a supporting actor.

So when the question of captaincy came up in 2000 after the match-fixing saga, Sourav Ganguly was the obvious choice and Dravid became his deputy. But in 2005 certain unfortunate turn of events led to Ganguly’s ouster from the team and Dravid became the captain of the national team.

Dravid led India in 25 tests and 79 ODIs with more than reasonable amount of success. But even the cool and dependable Dravid could not handle the pressures of captaincy after a while. After India’s disastrous performance in the 2007 50 Over World Cup, Dravid resigned from captaincy. In an interview to the BBC in 2007, Dravid said "I enjoyed the captaincy, I loved it, but it can get tough after a while and some of the enjoyment can go away, So I thought it was the right time to step aside.''

Dravid continued to play under Anil Kumble and later under MS Dhoni for close to four years. In these years, he was back to performing at his best with the bat and averaged 50+ in tests since 2009.

#2 Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar’s success as a captain was nowehere close to his success as a pure batsman.

The barometer of measurement of performance of an Indian captain does not change even if you are regarded as the ‘God of Cricket.’ This is what Sachin Tendulkar learnt the hard way when he was appointed as the captain of the Indian team. By the time Tendulkar became the captain he was already a superstar, and as a result, expectations were huge from him.

Tendulkar had a dream start to his captaincy tenure as he won home Tests against Australia & South Africa. He also went on to win the triangular Titan Cup involving Australia & South Africa. But that was it, as far as his successful run as captain was concerned. He resigned from captaincy in 1997 and the reigns were passed on to Mohommad Azharuddin.

Tendulkar came back to captain the side again in 1999, but after another disappointing stint he quit captaincy for good in 2000. Tendulkar went on to play international cricket for more than a decade since then but never tried his hands at captaincy again.

#1 Sourav Ganguly

Ganguly led India to the 2003 World Cup final.

Sourav Chandidas Ganguly has been one of the best captains that India has ever produced. He has been credited as the man who taught Team India to fight and win tests overseas. But at the same time he has also been one of the most controversial captains.

His dual with one-time friend Greg Chappell is now part of the folklores of Indian cricket. It is an irony that Ganguly who was instrumental in getting Chappell as the coach of the Indian cricket team eventually turned out to be his nemesis. In 2005, when his form deserted Dada; he was not only stripped off his captaincy but was also dropped from the team.

He fought hard to regain his form and in 2006 he was back in the Indian team as a player. This was one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of cricket. Though he continued to play for two more years before retiring in 2008; Dada was never again made the captain of the team he had once nurtured.