5 Indian captains and biggest blemishes on their records

Captaincy in cricket requires a precise concoction of patience, self-belief and tenacity. Leading the hopes of more than a billion people can often appear to be a poisoned chalice. While success breeds palpable euphoria from the cricket-crazy Indian population, failures are met with contempt and fury.

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India have produced plenty of outstanding leaders whose inspirational and gallant captaincy resulted in numerous memorable victories. However, even those eminent skippers have found themselves enduring some extremely exasperating moments.

In chronological order, here are five Indian captains and the biggest blemishes on their otherwise illustrious records across formats.

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#5 Kapil Dev and India's only home ODI series whitewash (1983)

Clive Lloyd's intimidating West Indies unit battered Kapil Dev's Indian side by a 5-0 margin

Including the recently completed 5-match series against Australia, India have played 54 ODI series on home soil. This excludes multi-team tournaments and a minimum of two matches constitute a series. Out of all those bilateral assignments, the Indian team has been whitewashed only once in their own backward. Under Kapil Dev's captaincy, the ignominious defeat came against the then intimidating West Indies team in 1983.

Fresh off a game-changing World Cup triumph, India were playing host to Clive Lloyd's rampaging West Indies unit. Out to prove a point regarding their ODI reputation, the Caribbean troops clean swept the reigning World Champions by a massive 5-0 margin. Opener Gordon Greenidge put the Indian bowlers to the sword by smashing 353 runs at an average of 88.25 with one century and two fifties. Having led his country to its maiden World Cup glory, Kapil is rightly regarded as one of India's greatest ever captains. But this landslide series defeat was a major blot on his ODI captaincy record.

#4 Mohammad Azharuddin and India's away woes (90s)

Mohammad Azharuddin oversaw a barren overseas run for India's Test team

As an Indian cricket aficionado who grew up in the 90s, the decade was a rather mixed bag. Even though the team played plenty of iconic contests against star-studded opposition teams, their batting fortunes were firmly entrenched on the able shoulders of Sachin Tendulkar even as the others chipped in occasionally. With a reliable spinner such as Anil Kumble at his disposal, Mohammad Azharuddin created a fortress on home soil. While India did not lose a single Test series at home throughout the 90s, their away record was shambolic.

Apart from the facile 235-run win against a feeble Sri Lankan side in Colombo (SSC) and the accompanying series victory, India were not able to taste any sort of Test success outside their comfort zone. From 27 away Tests under Azharuddin's captaincy, the Indians won only once and lost ten matches. The major reason behind their slump was the inability of the bowlers to pick up 20 wickets on foreign pitches. While pace spearhead Javagal Srinath relished bowling on Indian surfaces a lot more than those outside, the threat posed by spin was also neutralised. A fickle batting lineup, prone to frequent collapses, did not help matters at all.

#3 Sachin Tendulkar and India's only home Test series whitewash (2000)

Hansie Cronje's South African team remain the only side to whitewash India on Indian soil

India have played a total of 71 Test series on home soil thus far. The tally excludes the 1999 Asian Test Championship wherein one game was played in India and each series constitutes a minimum of two matches. From those numerous assignments, they have suffered a series whitewash only once in their rich history. The embarrassing defeat came in 2000 at the hands of a well-oiled South African unit under the shrewd captaincy of Hansie Cronje.

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Apart from being the best batsman in his team, Sachin Tendulkar also had to shoulder the burden of captaincy. Despite scoring a fluent 97, the legendary player received scant batting support from his teammates during the first Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. South Africa survived a brief scare induced by Anil Kumble to chase a tricky fourth-innings target on a deteriorating pitch. The Proteas ran riot during the second Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. On either side of their complete batting performance, the bowlers scythed through India with minimal ease. An elegant century from Azharuddin was not enough to prevent an innings defeat for the hosts. Cronje's team secured a famous 2-0 series victory.

#2 Rahul Dravid and India's group stage World Cup exit (2007)

The 2007 World Cup is one of India's most disheartening moments on the cricket field

If the image of an entire dressing room filled with experienced players in disconsolate tears does not move you, then your interest in cricket is derived from callousness. The heart-breaking group stage exit in the 2007 World Cup remains one of the most poignant moments in Indian cricket history. Upon entering the tournament as one of the favourites, the star-studded team failed to get out of a group which also included Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bermuda.

Rahul Dravid's troops began their campaign on a humiliating note as a seemingly unfancied Bangladesh team inflicted a five-wicket defeat on them. Even though they rebounded quickly by hammering an abject Bermuda side by 257 runs, India were confronted with the prospect of a must-win encounter against an in-form Sri Lankan outfit. However, the power-packed Indian batting lineup could not chase 255 at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad as their opposition's skilful bowling attack applied the slow squeeze. From skipper Dravid to his successor Dhoni, almost everyone in that side cite the botched campaign as the lowest point in their distinguished careers.

#1 MS Dhoni and India's 7 consecutive away Test defeats (2011/12)

India suffered two consecutive away series whitewashes during the 2011/12 season

With one title each in the World Cup, Champions Trophy and World T20 to alongside the coveted Test mace, MS Dhoni's calculated captaincy has contributed plenty of tournament victories to India's trophy cabinet. The wicket-keeper batsman also the most number of wins among all Indian skippers across all three formats of the game. However, for all his remarkable triumphs, the right-hander's captaincy skills have been heavily scrutinised due to the inability to motivate his team to consistent Test success in overseas conditions.

In Tests played outside Asia, Dhoni's captaincy record does not paint a pretty picture. 26 gruelling matches have fetched him just 4 victories as against a whopping 14 defeats. 7 of those came on the trot during the 2011/12 season (Virender Sehwag led India in Adelaide following Dhoni's over-rate ban). Upon entering those shores as the number one ranked Test team as well as reigning World Cup champions, an experienced Indian team was ruthlessly hunted down by a fired up England unit.

India suffered another 0-4 series whitewash when they subsequently toured Australia. A 2-0 series triumph against West Indies on home soil, which was sandwiched between these two whitewashes, provided scant consolation for Indian cricket supporters. Dhoni's leadership prowess and his ageing team's legacy were burnt to ashes by both England and Australia.