4 Indian players who captained only once in Test cricket

For any cricketer, it remains a privilege to lead his country in a Test match. It is a day he will not forget in a hurry and no matter how matches he leads the team in, he will always carry the badge of being a 'captain', during and after his career is over.

In total, India has had 33 Test captains in their 85-year history. Few, however, have had the chance to lead the country in just one game.

Some had experiences to remember while others would not want to look back at the result.

We look at those players in this list and how they fared when given the responsibility of leading the country.

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#4 Pankaj Roy

The Bengal cricketer, who is most remembered for his the-then world record stand of 413 runs with Vinoo Mankad against New Zealand in the 1954-55 season, had the honour of leading India once, in the second Test of the England tour of 1959.

In that match, batting first, India were bowled out for 168 but the bowlers showed spunk, reducing England to 80 for 6, before Ken Barrington and his team-mates rescued the hosts and gave their side a 58-run lead.

Batting in the third innings, the Indian batting once again failed to deliver and were bowled out for 165. The English cruised home, scoring the 108 needed with eight wickets in hand.

India went to lose the other three matches in the series, crushing to a 5-0 whitewash.

#3 Hemu Adhikari

Adhikari was one of the four captains used in the series against the West Indies

Adhikari captained India in one Test against the West Indies at home in the 1958/59 season. It was a tour that the visitors dominated from the word-go and India, in trying to salvage a win, decided to switch four captains in the five-match series.

One of those was Adhikari, whose only Test as leader ended in a draw.

His bigger contributions to Indian cricket came post his retirement, when he managed the side to a historic maiden Test series win over England in their own backyard in 1971.

#2 Chandu Borde

Borde led India once and it was not a memorable game for him and the team

In the absence of regular skipper Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Borde led India in the first of the four Test matches at the Adelaide Oval on the 1967/68 tour, circa to what happened when the team travelled in the 2014/15 season, when Virat Kohli took over the job temporarily at the same venue in the absence of MS Dhoni.

However, it proved to be a poor outing for the side as Australia first bowled India for 173 before amassing 529 in their first innings and then again dismissing India for 352 to win the game by an innings and 4 runs.

India's fortunes, though, did not change when the Nawab returned to take over the captaincy duties in the following game and the rest of the series. They were eventually whitewashed 4-0 in the series.

#1 Ravi Shastri

Shastri had a captaincy debut to remember against the West Indies in 1988

The current head coach of the Indian team may have led India just once, but it turned out to be a game to remember as the hosts trounced the West Indies by 255 runs in Chennai in 1988.

The chief destroyer for the Indians was leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani, who on Test debut, claimed figures of 8 for 61 and 8 for 75 in the two innings, respectively, to hand his side the win.

His match tally of 16 for 136 remains the best by any bowler on Test debut, till date.

Shastri may have led Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy in subsequent years, but he never had the chance to lead once again in Test match cricket.