The opportunity to captain your country at an international series is a matter of great pride and honor for any cricketer. All the more so when you are the captain of the biggest and most loved cricket playing nation that is India, as then you are the encapsulation of a billion people across the country and globe who will reserve the privilege to cheer and sneer you.
When we talk about the ODI world cup, India is actually one of the only 3 cricket playing nations to have won the prestigious tournament a couple of times, that has been in 1983 and 2011. A sum of 26 players, from Ajit Wadekar in 1974 to Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in 2022, have driven the Men In Blue in ODI cricket.
Out of all the players that have captained team India in the longest format of white ball cricket, only 3 have managed to maintain a 100% winning record –
Anil Kumble
India’s unsurpassed driving global wicket-taker, Anil Kumble captained the Test group in 14 Tests somewhere back in 2007 and 2008. In any case, he had gotten his most memorable opportunity to lead India significantly sooner – in an ODI in 2002 versus England in Chennai.
This was the third ODI of the series and Sourav Ganguly got hurt before this, clearing way for the leg-spinner to make his India captaincy debut. It was a critical one for Kumble as India won by 4 wickets, Sachin Tendulkar’s 68-run thump making the run chase of mere 218 runs, easily doable.
Kumble took two wickets – those of Andrew Flintoff and Michael Vaughan. Be that as it may, Kumble at no point ever got the chance to lead India in the future in ODIs and subsequently has a 100 percent win record as India’s ODI skipper.
Gautam Gambhir
One of the Indian team’s most competitive and fierce left-handed batsman, Gautam Gambhir got the chance to lead India 6 times in ODI’s, in 2010 and 2011 when MS Dhoni was at times injured or at times given sometime off for recovery. Also, India won every one of those 6 ODIs.
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The intent and aggression with which Gambhir led the side, he left no stone unturned to demolish New Zealand 5-0 in a home series back in December 2010. Captain Gambhir was named the Player of the Series for scoring 329 runs with the assistance of two centuries.
After a year, he likewise had one more opportunity to be the skipper of the side in an ODI played in Chennai versus West Indies when the two Dhoni and Sehwag the stand-in captain then, were given a break, India won once more permitting Gambhir to keep a spotless sheet as India’s ODI captain.
Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane, who as of now brags of not losing any of his 6 Tests as captain(4 wins and 2 draws), additionally stayed unbeaten in ODIs as Indian skipper. Indeed, for the unversed, Rahane captained India in 3 ODIs in 2015 on the Zimbabwe visit when India sent a second string side with Dhoni rested.
Expectedly, India won every one of the three matches versus Zimbabwe in Rahane’s authority, the captain hit one fifty.
