India's top 5 Test captains of all time

India started playing Test cricket in 1932 when they played a one-off Test match against the Englishmen at Lords. Led by CK Nayudu, who was by far the best Indian batsman at the time, the Indian team lost their inaugural match by 158 runs.

Since then, the team has come leaps and bounds. It has been 86 years since India made its debut. In this period of 86 years, the Indian Test team has been led by as many as 33 different captains.

Amongst these 33 players, the likes of Nawab Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar, Md Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni and now Virat Kohli have had the privilege of leading the country for a good number of years.

But there also have been others like Hemu Adhikari, Pankaj Roy, Chandu Borde, Ravi Shastri and Gundappa Viswanath, who got the opportunity to lead the side on only one or two occasions.

In this article, we try and look at the top 5 Test match captains produced by India:

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#5 Rahul Dravid (2004-07)

Dravid could have been even better captain had the team not failed in the 2007 World Cup

Matches as Captain: 25; Won: 8; Lost: 6; Drawn: 11

Rahul Dravid was the leader of the team during the infamous "Greg Chappell Era". He was made the Indian captain after unceremoniously removing Sourav Ganguly from the helm. Many other senior players like Sehwag, Zaheer and Harbhajan were also dropped from the team along with Ganguly at that time.

Despite the chaos, Dravid was always focussed on the job at hand. During his tenure as captain, he led India to the famous 1-0 Test series win against England in England, after a massive gap of 20 years.

Another shining light during his captaincy was a first series win in the Carribean after a gap of 36 years. People will claim that the West Indies side was past its best, but it still had the likes of Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to contend with.

In fact, India had a good away record under Dravid as they recorded wins in Pakistan and South Africa as well.

Dravid's notable overseas success as test captain, makes him one of the top 5 test captains of India, ahead of the likes of Pataudi and Gavaskar.

#4 Md Azharuddin (1989-98)

India under Azhar at home was unbeatable

Matches as Captain: 47; Won: 14; Lost: 14; Drawn: 19

Mohammad Azharuddin led India to the most number of Test matches until being taken over by Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni. As a captain of the team during the 90s, he had his fair share of ups and downs.

But his biggest contribution was making India unbeatable at home, winning 6 out of the 8 series and drawing the rest. Under Azhar, players such as Sachin, Kumble and Srinath made themselves household names while youngsters Dravid and Ganguly were soon to follow the same path.

One of the most stylish right-handed batsman, Azhar's record outside the subcontinent was miserable, winning exactly zero series outside Asia. More miserable was the fact that India could manage only one test victory away from home during that time, even losing a test series to Zimbabwe.

#3 Virat Kohli (2014-)

Kohli has to win overseas to prove his mettle as a captain

Matches as Captain: 37; Won: 21; Lost: 7; Drawn: 9

Already equalling the number of Test wins as Sourav Ganguly, Kohli's most victories have come in the subcontinent. Virat Kohli became the Indian Test Captain, after Dhoni's sudden retirement from Test cricket during the Australia tour in 2014.

After taking over the reigns, Kohli's leadership has been superb, leading the Indian team to nine consecutive series victories and established the team as the undisputed World no. 1 in Test Cricket.

After his first nine series as captain, Kohli had one of the best captaincy records in the Indian history. However, subsequent failures in the away tours of South Africa and England has dented his record to some extent.

It has also raised doubts about his leadership qualities outside the subcontinent. With challenging tours to Australia and New Zealand next on the agenda, Kohli still has a long way to go before he can be considered in the same bracket as Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting.

#2 MS Dhoni (2008-14)

Dhoni benefitted from Ganguly's fearless brand of cricket

Matches as Captain: 60; Won: 27; Lost: 18; Drawn: 15

MS Dhoni holds the record for captaining India for the most number of Tests (60) as well as winning the maximum number of Tests (27) to his name.

The man from Ranchi was definitely one the best Test match captains that India ever had. Under Dhoni, for the first time, India became the number 1 Test side in the world.

Dhoni had a very good record as captain in the home matches. Again like most of the others on the list, his record away from home was below par at best.

Test series victories in New Zealand and West Indies are the only shining lights, along with a draw against the South Africans. Series whitewashes against England and Australia made it really hard to support his side.

Thus Dhoni's captaincy can be described in two phases. The first (2008-11) of which, the team was great at home and competitive away from home, while the second (2012-14), the team was very poor away from home.

Yet despite the struggles in the latter years, Dhoni will probably go down as India's best captain ever having won every ICC tournament till date.

#1 Sourav Ganguly (2000-04)

Ganguly made the world sit up and take notice

Matches as Captain: 49; Won: 21; Lost: 13; Drawn: 15

Sourav Ganguly might not have the most wins by an Indian captain like Dhoni, nor does he possess the best winning percentage like Kohli. But still, he is undoubtedly the best Test Match captain, India ever had.

His legacy lies in the fact that he changed the attitude of the Indian Team completely, especially away from home. Taking over the mantle in 2000, after the match-fixing scandal, in what turned out to be the lowest ebb of Indian cricket, Ganguly achieved something remarkable.

He created the blueprint for modern "Team India", a team containing talented and fearless players, who played every game with a never say die attitude. Under his captaincy, India arguably had the best core, with the likes of Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Kumble, Zaheer and Harbhajan, all in their prime.

India won many famous test matches during his tenure, away win against Pakistan in Multan, the comeback victory against Australia in Kolkata as well as famous away wins at Adelaide and Leeds.

He still remains the most successful captain for India, in test matches outside India. His stress on building a good pace attack and backing young batsmen who could score runs away from home helped India in becoming one of the most competitive Test sides in the world.

He was not only a great captain but a true leader in every sense.