Overseas Test records of India's last 5 full-time captains

There is a saying in cricket "a captain is as good as his team", but, in the context of Indian Test cricket "a captain is as good as his overseas record". Indian team has an excellent record in home conditions and it has hardly changed over the period of time. Since almost all the captains have an excellent record at home- it is hardly a differentiating factor to judge their performance.

To judge the performance of an Indian Test captain often his overseas record is looked at. Historically, Indians have been poor tourists. There is not much glory that India has achieved as far as their overseas record is concerned, still, there are certain captains who have inspired their team towards better performance than others.

Let's take a look at the overseas records of the last five Indian Test captains (with at least 10 Test matches as captain abroad) and see if we can infer who has been the best overseas:

#5 Virat Kohli

Kohli needs to improve as a captain

A lot of questions have been raised about the ability of Virat Kohli as a captain. Inconsistent selection and some not so great on-field decisions have raised the doubts about his calibre as a captain. India lost their last two overseas series' comprehensively against England and South Africa under his leadership.

India has played 21 Tests outside India under Kohli's leadership. Out of these 21 Tests, India has won 9 Tests, which translates into a winning percentage of 43%.

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#4 MS Dhoni

Dhoni had an abysmal overseas record as a captain

Dhoni was a great captain under Indian conditions, his ability to use spinners was remarkable. Having said that, he had a dismal overseas record. India hardly won anything overseas under his leadership.

India played 30 Tests outside India under Dhoni's leadership. Out of these 30 Tests, India won a meagre 6 Tests, which translates into a poor winning percentage of 20%.

#3 Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid was a keen student of the game

Dravid's leadership stint came to an abrupt end after India's early exit from the 2007 World cup in West Indies. Dravid had a decent record as a captain, the highlight of his leadership stint being India's series win in England during the 2007 English tour. He could have achieved a lot more as a captain if he would have continued beyond the 2007 World Cup.

India played 17 Tests outside India under Dravid's leadership. Out of these 17 Tests, India won 5 Tests, which translates into a winning percentage of 29%.

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#4 Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly is arguably India's best captain ever

Arguably, the best Indian captain till date, Ganguly was known for the way he turned around the fortunes of Indian cricket after the lows of the match-fixing saga in 1999-2000. He imparted a fearless attitude in Indian cricket which was severely missing in earlier Indian teams. He inculcated an attitude of fighting fire with fire in his team which was amply visible during the 2003-04 tour of Australia.

India played 28 Tests outside India under Ganguly's leadership. Out of these 28 Tests, India won 11 Tests, which translates into a winning percentage of 39%.

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#5 Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar was not known for his captaincy skills

Sachin was not known for his captaincy skills. He had an ordinary time as an Indian captain which is evident from the fact that India failed to win even a single Test overseas under his leadership. He was duly replaced by Sourav Ganguly as the Indian captain in the year 2000.

India played 13 Tests outside India under Sachin's leadership. Out of these 13 Tests, India did not even win a single Test match, which translates into a winning percentage of 0%.