3 Captains Who Changed The Face Of Indian Cricket

“In the air and Sreeshanth takes it, India wins”

Every cricket fan will remember this historical moment of India winning t20 world cup. If you were in the place of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, then who would had you preferred to bowl the last over of the match Harbhajan Singh or Joginder Sharma………?

Most of us would have gone with Harbhajan Singh, as he was the senior bowler. But Dhoni choose Joginder Sharma over Harbhajan, which proved to be the turning point of the game. This is what captaincy is.

What do you think being a captain and leading a side is very easy……….?

If you think so let me clear it, being a captain and leading a side is very difficult, as the captains decision are game changers. Let it be 1983 World Cup or 2011 World Cup, a captain has to be clam and has to take perfect decision at the right time. Year’s passed many players captained India but only some were able to make their mark. Let’s take a look through top 3 captains who changed the face of Indian cricket completely.

Kapil Dev:-

A name which no Indian cricket fan will ever forget, Kapil Dev played his first match as a captain against Sri Lanka in 1982, since then he captained India in 34 tests and 74 ODIs. Kapil Dev is known for building confidence in his players; in 1983 he was given charge of not so famous Indian team in World Cup, which he used very well. In semifinal match against Zimbabwe Kapil Dev rescued India from a disastrous start of 9/4 to 266/8 to bring India back in the match, these innings proved to be a very crucial one, as India went on to World Cup. These was the first occasion when India won a major ICC trophy, during his time Kapil had very tough time during his captaincy because these was the time when Indian team was building up. Kapil also captained India in 1987 World cup, unfortunately in which India lost to England in semifinal these was also the last match of Kapil Dev has captain, since then he never captained India. Surely Kapil Dev was one of the best captains ever, which lead Indian team.

Let’s take a look through Kapil Dev’s captaincy stats:-

	MATCHES	WON	LOST	TIED	DRAW/NR
TESTS	34	4	7	1	22
ODI’s	74	39	33	0	2

Sourav Ganguly:-

Sourav Ganguly a name that changed the Indian Cricket forever, Ganguly has the credit for building the broken Indian team from pieces into one. Sourav Ganguly was awarded Indian captaincy when team India was totally broken as some of his good players where involved in match fixing. Still provided with a young team Ganguly took India to the finals of ICC Knock Out cup during the early days of his captaincy. Sourav Ganguly has also credit of bringing confidence in his players. Players like Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh were built up by Ganguly. Ganguly is well remembered for taking off his shirt in NatWest Trophy final against England as his team performed well in the final to clinch the series. Sourav Ganguly captained India in 2003 World Cup he continued his brilliant captaincy and took India in the final of World Cup after 19 years unfortunately where India lost to Australia because of poor team effort. Ganguly has won 21 test matches and 76 ODI’s under his captaincy; in 2005 he was dropped as the captain of Indian team because of his poor form.

Let’s take a look through Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy stats:-

	MATCHES	WON	LOST	TIED	DRAW/NR
TESTS	49	21	13	0	15
ODI’s	146	76	65	0	5

Mahendra Singh Dhoni:-

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, one of the most successful captains of the Indian team. Dhoni has lead India to two World Cup titles (T20 World Cup 2007 & ICC Cricket World Cup 2011). Under Dhoni’s captaincy India climbed to one 1 spot in ICC Test rankings and ICC ODI rankings. Dhoni will always be remembered for his brilliant 91* against Sri Lanka in 2011 World Cup final. Dhoni is well known for doing experiment with his players, he showed these brilliant ability during the 2007 World Cup when he asked Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over in spite of Harbhajan Singh, which proved to be a correct one. Dhoni is the most successful Indian captain in test as he has lead India to 21 test wins (tied with Sourav Ganguly) and second most successful captain in ODI’s as he has lead India in 77 ODI wins. Dhoni has also lead India in 20 International T20 wins. Sachin Tendulkar praised Dhoni by declaring him one of the best captains he played under. Dhoni is the only captain to win T20 World Cup, ICC World Cup, IPL and Champions League under his captaincy. Surely Dhoni is one of the best captains ever produced by the country.

Let’s take a look through Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy stats:-

	MATCHES	WON	LOST	TIED	DRAW/NR
TESTS	44	21	12	0	11
ODI’s	135	77	47	3	8
T20I	41	20	19	1	1