How the last three captains changed Indian cricket

In a country like India, where cricket is considered to be a religion, the standard of the national cricket team is often judged by the number of overseas victories registered under a said captain.

Captaining the national cricket team in India is not only a tricky job, but it’s a profile that is constantly put under the scanner. After a failure in an overseas series, while it’s fair to say that the team didn’t perform well but it all boils down to the type of strategies undertaken by the captain. If the team fails, it’s the captain of the side who bears the brunt of a series loss.

If you go by the recent record of Virat Kohli in South Africa and England, it will be quite difficult to find an error in his batting skills or the way he applied himself into his game. He scored centuries in both the countries but often has been at the centre of criticism for some reason or the other.

That’s how a captain is treated in India - If a team fails to deliver it’s the captain who needs to bear the brunt. His predecessor MS Dhoni is still considered as the unofficial captain of India who is expected to handhold Virat till the end of the World Cup 2019.

Over the last 2 decades, the baton of captaincy was handled by 3 prominent role models. Indian cricket still owes it to Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli for changing the dynamics of Indian cricket.

A change that was favourable to Indian cricket in many ways. In this article, we are going to see the leadership mantra followed by these legends, successes which made them heroes and some unforgettable failures which brought them back as stronger individuals.

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#1 Sourav Ganguly – Back your team and take away the fear of failure

Sourav Ganguly

‘Dada’ as the team fondly addressed him was truly a captain of substance. Sourav Ganguly’s leadership mantra was simple, ‘Back your team and take away the fear of failure’. Yuvraj Singh on his first comeback to the Indian team once said, 'I’m ready to die for such a captain.’

During his tenure, the Indian batting line up in the test arena almost looked invincible with the likes of Fab Five (Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly) dominating the game for almost a decade. Taking the reins of the captaincy after a match-fixing scandal, Sourav Ganguly came a long way to script some of the memorable overseas Test victories, becoming the runner-up in the 2003 ICC World Cup and the snatching a nearly impossible victory at the finals of NatWest Trophy in 2002.

Following a tiff with then-coach Greg Chappel, Ganguly not only lost his captaincy to Rahul Dravid but was also dropped from the side. Post that, he worked on his game and came back stronger with stellar performances in India’s tour to South Africa and World Cup 2007.

A lot of times there had been comparisons between MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly over their leadership style and it only led to one conclusion – it’s said ‘Sourav Ganguly was the best captain of the Indian cricket team, while Dhoni was the captain of the best Indian cricket team.’

#2 MS Dhoni – Keep calm, hang tough

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Undoubtedly, the best finisher in limited overs cricket, MS Dhoni’s credentials as a captain will always be inscribed in golden letters. An ordinary guy from Ranchi who won the inaugural World T20 Championship for India on his debut captaincy assignment, the man who lifted all the major ICC trophies.

When it comes to his wicket-keeping skills he is undoubtedly the fastest and most reliable of them all. With the World Cup 2019 a few months away, the current Indian panel of selectors can’t think of a squad without the 3 initials – MSD.

MS Dhoni’s leadership mantra has remained unchanged over the years, ‘Keep calm, hang tough,’ and probably this is the reason why he is still considered as the best finisher of the game and also earned the distinction of being the ‘Captain Cool.’

The Indian team under the leadership of MS Dhoni had undergone a phase of serious transition. Stalwarts like Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly retired under his regime.

At some point, fans even assumed that Dhoni contributed to the ouster of these legends. As a result, Dhoni who is India’s ace wicket-keeper received a certain amount of backlash in his career. Failures, not too many..! If there is any forgettable chapter in his credentials, then it has to be his track record as an overseas test captain.

After captaining the side in 60 out of the 90 test matches he played for India, MSD chose to put curtains to his test career in the middle of India’s tour to Australia in 2014, a move that surprised many people. Come what may, MSD is definitely going to be a vital cog of the Indian team in the 2019 World Cup.

#3 Virat Kohli – Lead by example

Virat Kohli

There is a huge difference between good and great players. Good players come & go. As a matter of fact, they are fondly remembered too. But when it’s someone great, it’s said that the great player has graced the game of cricket.

India produced a number of stalwarts. But as of now the 3 prominent greats who graced the game of cricket from India are Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and now Virat Kohli. Making his debut to the national side way back in 2008, Kohli played some impressive knocks in the limited overs format.

After getting an extended run in the early part of his career, he was inducted into the Test side in 2011. When he went to the tour of Australia many people questioned his technique to play in Australia. But he was quick to silence his critics with a cameo of 75 runs at Perth, still considered as the fastest wicket in the world.

Following that, a century in Adelaide rebuilt his stature from a boy to a man. Alongside, he started scoring runs heavily in the limited overs format. In a particular match against Sri Lanka where India had to qualify for the finals by chasing the target of 321 runs under 40 overs, Kohli scored a blitzkrieg of 133 runs of 86 balls. The target was achieved with 2 more overs to spare. King Kohli had arrived into the scene.

After MS Dhoni relinquished his Test captaincy, Virat was crowned as the Test captain of India. Captaincy got the better of him. His fitness levels and hunger to score runs only glorified after each series. He witnessed a forgettable tour of England in 2014 but came back very strong in 2018 to become the leading run scorer for India in the Test series.

Kohli, a near-perfectionist of the game of cricket has an unsaid leadership mantra, ‘Lead by example.’ He lets his bat do the talking. As suggested by many cricketing pundits his aggressive style of captaincy can make or break a player. Finally, it’s never an easy task to match the calibre of a perfectionist as we all know there could be no other Kohli of the game.

Out of the bare minimum number of failures that Kohli has witnessed as a captain of India, the defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 probably pinches him the most. However, the recent drubbing in the Test series in England is sure to haunt him for a long time.