Cricket World Cup history: Top 3 Indian captains in the tournament

The ICC World Cup 2019 is presently underway in England and Wales. The Indian team has started off brilliantly by going unbeaten in their first five matches under the leadership of Virat Kohli.

In a big event like the World Cup, where the pressure on the team is sky high, a strong leader is very much needed in order to bring out the players' best performance. The individual brilliance of players makes headlines, but in order to win the World Cup, they need to perform as a cohesive unit - and that is what a great leader can ensure.

In the previous 11 editions of this mega event, Indian teams have been captained by six great personalities, viz S Venkataraghavan, Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni.

The performance of some of these captains was extraordinary, while the others had mediocre records. Here, we look at the top 3 Indian captains in World Cup history.

3. Sourav Ganguly (2003 edition)

Sourav Ganguly

Matches captained: 11; Wins: 9; Losses: 2; Tie/No Result: 0

Sourav Ganguly is widely regarded as one of the best captains in the history of Indian cricket. He was the first architect of the modern day "Team India".

Ganguly led the side in the 2003 edition of the World Cup. In that tournament, the Indian team played awesome cricket and won nine consecutive matches to enter the final. However, they could not cross the final hurdle against the great Australian team, and thus finished as runners-up.

Although Ganguly couldn't win the World Cup, his inspired leadership in the 2003 edition marked the beginning of the modern era of Indian cricket.

2. Kapil Dev (1983 and 1987 editions)

Kapil Dev

Matches captained: 15; Wins: 11; Losses: 4; Tie / No Result: 0

Kapil Dev led India to their first ever World Cup triumph in 1983. After India's dismal show in the first two editions of the tournament, nobody expected India to do too well in 1983. But under the inspiring leadership of Kapil, India managed to beat the mighty West Indies in the final and become the new world champions.

India won 6 of the 8 matches they played in 1983, which included memorable victories against West Indies (twice) and England.

In the 1987 edition of the World Cup, Kapil was again given the responsibility of leading the Indian side. This time, the team went into the tournament as one of the favourites. They made a brilliant start in the group stages, but lost in the semifinals against England.

Kapil's World Cup record as captain is among the very best.

1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2011 and 2015 editions)

MS Dhoni

Matches captained: 17; Wins: 14; Losses: 2; Tie / No Result: 1

After the 2007 debacle, India came back with a bang in the 2011 edition of the tournament under the magnificent leadership of "Captain Cool" MS Dhoni.

Dhoni led his team to their second World Cup triumph after a gap of 28 long years. India won 7 of the 9 matches they played in the tournament.

With memorable victories against defending champions Australia in the quarters, Pakistan in the semis and Sri Lanka in the finals, India once again became the ODI world champions - and Dhoni was the chief architect.

In the 2015 World Cup too Dhoni was at the helm of affairs, as India attempted to defend their title. They started off brilliantly as they won their first 7 matches of the tournament. However, they lost out to Australia in the semifinals and thus fell short of what could have been a tremendous feat.

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