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Who is India's greatest captain?

Who is India's greatest captain?

  • Kapil Dev

    Votes: 3 5.7%
  • Mohammad Azharuddin

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Sourav Ganguly

    Votes: 30 56.6%
  • MS Dhoni

    Votes: 13 24.5%
  • Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi

    Votes: 7 13.2%

  • Total voters
    53

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Kapil Dev, Azharuddin, Ganguly or MS Dhoni

I don't know about first 2 apart from Kapil winning WC 83 but definitely think that Ganguly deserves more credit and also some credit for Dhoni's success. Dhoni was handed 3-4 ATG batsmen, Bhajji and a one of India's greatest ever pacers (Zaheer) and his job mostly included man management at the most. He was also lucky that all the senior players were content with their careers as far as aspiration for captaincy was concerned so there were no intrigues or conspiracies going around either which would have made the job much harder for him.

Ganguly on the other hand took the job after the fallout from the match fixing scandal. India were down for the count but he made them rise and they became a competitive unit again. Also for the first time they started challenging abroad And wouldn't just lay down like lambs for the slaughter on away tours. A lot of great players also became regulars under him and made their reputation. For me he developed a lot of players who served India for many years as opposed to Dhoni.


Mods please add poll
 
its tough for me to choose one overall!

I would have 2 categories;

Best LOI captain: MS Dhoni

Best Test captain: Saurav Ganguly!
 
Ms Dhoni....

India cant get better than him

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Ganguly created the modern Indian cricket team
 
Ganguly then Kapil and Dhoni. Azharuddin was the worst. Pathetic captain.
I just threw the Azharuddin name as token tbh cuz I don't know captains or their success prior to Kapil.

BUT from what I know he had a great record as Indian captain and especially at home he had an ATG record. Don't mix his late career fixing antics with his captaincy.

Anyone has any idea about Kapils record as captain? Also did Gavaskar captain?
 
Doubt if there can be anyone worse than Sachin.

I heard Azhar when he got distracted with Sangeetha and all off field stuff became bad.

I don't think Sachin even wanted to be captain. He was much happier being a batsman and the pressure of captaincy affected his batting negatively. Azhar never did much as a captain even before that actress or match fixing . Won us test matches at home but we were strong at home with or without Azhar. [MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION] I think Ajit Wadekar deserves a mention here. Won us test series in WI and Eng if I'm not wrong.
 
lol.. people are comparing w/l record here.

There is no way you can look past Ganguly who built the team and captained it at a time when the match fixing saga would break the team apart. Tendulkar didn't have the stamina nor the resume to carry it on, though I think he was a better tactician.

Ganguly made sure India adopted the approach and made winning abroad his major goal.. he had a vision.
 
People talking about building teams. It is more tough to manage a team with superstars than developing a team with youngsters. With various superstars, ex captains in the team come ego clashes and infightings. As a skipper its very tough to manage them and yet keep the performance on top. As a result I rate MS Dhoni as the best captain in Asia.

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Some more Indian Captains -

1. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (Jr.) - Original playboy of cricket. Oxford educated, was hit in media. Got a bollywood actress as wife. First stable captain of India, led India to first overseas series win against NZ in 1964/65.

2. Ajit Wadekar - Defeated England while on tour. More important won back to back overseas series against WI and England. Compare this to today, when India have issues winning even 1 series outside subcontinent.

3. Anil Kumble - Always have my respect for leading Indian team after 2007 WC debacle. Took leadership of a broken team and gave stability.
 
Some more Indian Captains -

1. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (Jr.) - Original playboy of cricket. Oxford educated, was hit in media. Got a bollywood actress as wife. First stable captain of India, led India to first overseas series win against NZ in 1964/65.

Any reason why first cricketing ability was mentioned not before the 5th point ?
 
Ganguly no doubt. he lead a mediocre indian team in early 2000s to some amazing series win and a World Cup final birth.

Not taking anything from Dhoni but I don't think Dhoni would have succeeded if he was in Ganguly's shoes.
 
*Mansoor

The legend. Things he achieved with one working eye.
 
I know what was it like in late 90's. But then came ganguly in india's toughest period in cricket after azhar and jadeja got banned due to match fixing. He not only lead from the front but also changed the mindset of each and every player. Sachin started getting support from other batsman. Emergence of sehwag, yuvi, zaheer,and bhajji made sure india had other match winners in their line up. 2002 natwest trophy win was unbelievable. From there in LOI's india became the team to beat.
 
Overall Ganguly.

Dhoni/Ganguly for ODIs while Wadekar/Patudi and Ganguly are contestants for tests.
 
Few friends of mine from Hyderabad call him "Humara Azhaa bhaii" :))

He is the second last in the pantheon of greats from this land.. Jaisimha, Pataudi, Abid Ali, Azhar, Laxman.. ah glory days!
 
People talking about building teams. It is more tough to manage a team with superstars than developing a team with youngsters. With various superstars, ex captains in the team come ego clashes and infightings. As a skipper its very tough to manage them and yet keep the performance on top. As a result I rate MS Dhoni as the best captain in Asia.

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Must hurt seeing all these people pick Ganguly over Dhoni. :(

I pick Dada as well. He was never as gutless as Dhoni was and I can confidently say that he would have won the same number of titles that Dhoni did, had he been captaining the strongest Indian team of all time.

Sachin was on the other end of the spectrum, being the worst Indian captain ever.
 
People talking about building teams. It is more tough to manage a team with superstars than developing a team with youngsters. With various superstars, ex captains in the team come ego clashes and infightings. As a skipper its very tough to manage them and yet keep the performance on top. As a result I rate MS Dhoni as the best captain in Asia.

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Normally yeah but as I mentioned not really in this case. Most of the seniors had no wish for captaincy and there were no conspiracies hatched regarding it so Dhoni had a fairly easy ride from that aspect.

What I do know is that GAnguly most likely would not have led his team to 8 consecutive away losses
 
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Must hurt seeing all these people pick Ganguly over Dhoni. :(

I pick Dada as well. He was never as gutless as Dhoni was and I can confidently say that he would have won the same number of titles that Dhoni did, had he been captaining the strongest Indian team of all time.

Sachin was on the other end of the spectrum, being the worst Indian captain ever.
Even WC 2003 they were unlucky to run into an Australian side which is probably one of the greatest ODI outfits of all time. Apart from them they beat everyone fairly convincingly in that World Cup.

2011 there was no ATG side vying for the title
 
Even WC 2003 they were unlucky to run into an Australian side which is probably one of the greatest ODI outfits of all time. Apart from them they beat everyone fairly convincingly in that World Cup.

2011 there was no ATG side vying for the title

Yeah and the subcontinent sides had a big advantage. All three made the semis and the two hosts made the finals. That was one of the relatively easy World Cup victories ever.
 
Rahul Dravid was a neat little captain for India. Won us a series in WI and England. He for some reason quit the test captaincy, he was a good one. Anil was good too, led us in that crazy Australian series. But overall it has to be Ganguly in the last 25 years followed by MS Dhoni.

Ajit Wadekar and Pataudi deserve a mention too.
 
There probably was and it ended up winning the title.
yet lost to South Africa, failed to beat a poor Eng side and limped over the line in the SF courtesy 4 dropped catches.

it wasnt ATG even in Indian conditions lol
 
Not sure how someone can rate Dhoni higher than Ganguly.


Probably those who think Dhoni is among the top 3 cricketers India produced.
 
Yeah and the subcontinent sides had a big advantage. All three made the semis and the two hosts made the finals. That was one of the relatively easy World Cup victories ever.

huh? ... I guess these advantages were magically missing in 87 eh ? :))
 
Kapil Dev, Azharuddin, Ganguly or MS Dhoni

I don't know about first 2 apart from Kapil winning WC 83 but definitely think that Ganguly deserves more credit and also some credit for Dhoni's success. Dhoni was handed 3-4 ATG batsmen, Bhajji and a one of India's greatest ever pacers (Zaheer) and his job mostly included man management at the most. He was also lucky that all the senior players were content with their careers as far as aspiration for captaincy was concerned so there were no intrigues or conspiracies going around either which would have made the job much harder for him.

Ganguly on the other hand took the job after the fallout from the match fixing scandal. India were down for the count but he made them rise and they became a competitive unit again. Also for the first time they started challenging abroad And wouldn't just lay down like lambs for the slaughter on away tours. A lot of great players also became regulars under him and made their reputation. For me he developed a lot of players who served India for many years as opposed to Dhoni.


Mods please add poll

I would say Azharuddin...
 
With due recognition of Saurav Ganguly, the answer has to be the Nawab of Pataudi.

He took a team which had always been a minnow and beat England and won an away series.

And he was Shaharyar Khan's first cousin! :)
 
yet lost to South Africa, failed to beat a poor Eng side and limped over the line in the SF courtesy 4 dropped catches.

it wasnt ATG even in Indian conditions lol

Failed to beat England and SAF ? Ohh the Irony .... :91:
 
With due recognition of Saurav Ganguly, the answer has to be the Nawab of Pataudi.

He took a team which had always been a minnow and beat England and won an away series.

And he was Shaharyar Khan's first cousin! :)
Bro, you are amazing. :))
 
Ganguly.

He changed the mindset and subsequent team did very well. It's not anywhere close to Llyod and Border leaving a team which dominated cricket but I rate all these guys very highly when it comes to captaincy. Great captains should leave a sustainable culture which benefits subsequent generations.

You can't only go by trophies etc. Anyway, for ODI - Dhoni will be a strong contender for the best captain from any country but OP was not asking about only the ODI format. I will go with Ganguly. I haven't seen previous era Indian captains so can't comment much on them.
 
huh? ... I guess these advantages were magically missing in 87 eh ? :))

:facepalm:

Both the home sides making the semis and then suffering shock defeats means that these advantagea were not missing.
 
:facepalm:

Both the home sides making the semis and then suffering shock defeats means that these advantagea were not missing.

Makes no sense ... either the adv was there or it wasn't ... cant have it both ways.

If you claim that Asian sides had a big advantage then you are squarely refuting the Khan himself :O
Very tricky situation for you :))
 
Ganguly.

He changed the mindset and subsequent team did very well. It's not anywhere close to Llyod and Border leaving a team which dominated cricket but I rate all these guys very highly when it comes to captaincy. Great captains should leave a sustainable culture which benefits subsequent generations.

You can't only go by trophies etc. Anyway, for ODI - Dhoni will be a strong contender for the best captain from any country but OP was not asking about only the ODI format. I will go with Ganguly. I haven't seen previous era Indian captains so can't comment much on them.

Iam sorry but that makes no sense .... whats the point of all the "Culture" if it doesnt produce results ? Ganguly era was littered with runner-up positions in numerous tournaments. MS Dhoni fixed that quite comprehensively. 50WC, 20WC, CT, VB, Aussie Whitewash, Test#1 for 2 yrs and numerous beatings handed to both our padosees. Thats a pretty awesome legacy to leave behind for the Next Generation to emulate.
 
Iam sorry but that makes no sense .... whats the point of all the "Culture" if it doesnt produce results ? Ganguly era was littered with runner-up positions in numerous tournaments. MS Dhoni fixed that quite comprehensively. 50WC, 20WC, CT, VB, Aussie Whitewash, Test#1 for 2 yrs and numerous beatings handed to both our padosees. Thats a pretty awesome legacy to leave behind for the Next Generation to emulate.

I don't rate Ponting very high when it comes to captaincy.
 
I don't rate Ponting very high when it comes to captaincy.

good point but he is the other extreme ... :)) ... MSD is a good in-between ... made max use of limited resources and very well respected by his team mates.
 
good point but he is the other extreme ... :)) ... MSD is a good in-between ... made max use of limited resources and very well respected by his team mates.

I do rate MS pretty high and I do think that he is a strong contender for the best ODI captain across all countries. I can't say the same for the longer format. Opinion is not based on results. I have seen a good chunk of his matches in both formats. MS is better captain than Ponting. I was using Ponting as an example to make a point.

A decent captain in the Test format and a gun captain in the ODI format.
 
People are underrating Dhoni because he had an easy victory in world cup.. lol.. in fact it's to his credit.. IFBs here too.
 
Makes no sense ... either the adv was there or it wasn't ... cant have it both ways.

If you claim that Asian sides had a big advantage then you are squarely refuting the Khan himself :O
Very tricky situation for you :))

It makes perfect sense, maybe you need to read and understand better.

The advantage was there which is why the Asian sides reached the semis in 87 and we were going to have an Indo-Pak final but two upsets happened.

The Khan has his own opinion but the facts say otherwise. It isn't a tricky situation at all since I have no problems refuting Imran. I don't worship at a cricketer's altar like some people.

You seem to be another who is upset that Dhoni isn't even considered the best Indian captain by the majority of people here, forget about all of Asia. :(
 
In ODIs .. I think Dhoni would make a serious claim to be the greatest of all time. In Tests, he let the game slip too many times to my liking.
 
It makes perfect sense, maybe you need to read and understand better.

The advantage was there which is why the Asian sides reached the semis in 87 and we were going to have an Indo-Pak final but two upsets happened.

The Khan has his own opinion but the facts say otherwise. It isn't a tricky situation at all since I have no problems refuting Imran. I don't worship at a cricketer's altar like some people.

You seem to be another who is upset that Dhoni isn't even considered the best Indian captain by the majority of people here, forget about all of Asia. :(

An upset here and there is understandable but 2 upsets back-to-back ? That too against 2 sides that were not the greatest by a long shot. The thing is the Pressure of playing in front of your home crowd got to the players. Imrans own words BTW. You have no leg to stand on this debate. You can keep saying whatever you like but Imran has the final say on this.


As for Ganguly vs MSD ... lol ... believe me Ganguly is a nobody in India right now compared to MSD (relatively speaking ) . MSD will be long remembered for his contributions and Ganguly will be pretty much forgotten except maybe in Kolkatta. Do you realize that Ganguly actually lost his spot in the team? He did comeback with a bang but was no longer the Kaptaan towards the end. MSD on the other hand writes his own destiny. The only other player that had that kinda blank check in India was SRT.
 
An upset here and there is understandable but 2 upsets back-to-back ? That too against 2 sides that were not the greatest by a long shot. The thing is the Pressure of playing in front of your home crowd got to the players. Imrans own words BTW. You have no leg to stand on this debate. You can keep saying whatever you like but Imran has the final say on this.


As for Ganguly vs MSD ... lol ... believe me Ganguly is a nobody in India right now compared to MSD (relatively speaking ) . MSD will be long remembered for his contributions and Ganguly will be pretty much forgotten except maybe in Kolkatta. Do you realize that Ganguly actually lost his spot in the team? He did comeback with a bang but was no longer the Kaptaan towards the end. MSD on the other hand writes his own destiny. The only other player that had that kinda blank check in India was SRT.

What a farcical post. :facepalm:

Here you're treating Imran's word as the gospel but when he said that Inzamam was as good as Sachin, you guys threw a giant, collective hissy-fit. Where was the pressure of the crowd when India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka all made the semis in the 2011 edition and two of them made the finals? Where was the crowd pressure when Australia and New Zealand made the finals this year, with McCullum emphasizing how important the support of crowd was? This has been discussed to death in the other thread so continue this there and don't derail another thread.

I don't believe you, since you're a massive Dhoni fan and are clearly biased in this discussion. It is laughable to say that Ganguly lost his spot in the team and then not acknowledge what a failure, liability and laughing stock Dhoni was towards the end of his own test career. He had to jump ship mid-tour. Writes his own destiny, yeah right! :))

Since you cannot prove to me that people in India revere Dhoni more than Ganguly, I will base my views on what the Indian fans and cricket fans in general, on Pakpassion are saying. I see two or three at most calling Dhoni the best but the majority are with Ganguly, and rightly so.
 
[MENTION=134300]Tusker[/MENTION],

Ganguly may be a nobody in India right now because he retired in 2007-08.. We will see how much Dhoni is revered in 2024.

By the way, popularity is no measure for captaincy skills.
 
If i could put it this way.
Odi's - definitely dhoni, he was the one who broke our 'finals' jinxes.
Tests - ganguly easily
Haven't seen the previous Indian captains captain much so can't comment.
 
What a farcical post. :facepalm:

Here you're treating Imran's word as the gospel but when he said that Inzamam was as good as Sachin, you guys threw a giant, collective hissy-fit. Where was the pressure of the crowd when India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka all made the semis in the 2011 edition and two of them made the finals? Where was the crowd pressure when Australia and New Zealand made the finals this year, with McCullum emphasizing how important the support of crowd was? This has been discussed to death in the other thread so continue this there and don't derail another thread.

The pressure was on display all thru .... India would have piled 300-330 easily on most occasions but were restricted to 260 ... would have been much lesser if your fielders held catches.


I don't believe you, since you're a massive Dhoni fan and are clearly biased in this discussion. It is laughable to say that Ganguly lost his spot in the team and then not acknowledge what a failure, liability and laughing stock Dhoni was towards the end of his own test career. He had to jump ship mid-tour. Writes his own destiny, yeah right! :))

Yeah and since you are a Imran fan you are naturally un-biased ... Riiiight !! :91:

Wasnt MSD supposed to get dropped after losing 4-0 to Eng and Aus ?

Since you cannot prove to me that people in India revere Dhoni more than Ganguly, I will base my views on what the Indian fans and cricket fans in general, on Pakpassion are saying. I see two or three at most calling Dhoni the best but the majority are with Ganguly, and rightly so.

I just did ... Ganguly was dropped and subsequently played only as a player with Kumble and RD taking over as captains. He lost his ODI spot a long long time ago. You can find that out on SG.
 
Failed to beat England and SAF ? Ohh the Irony .... :91:

The only one failing to grasp the irony here is you.

Pakistan 92 was not an ATG side and neither was India 2011
 
It's funny to see a poster treat Imran Khans word as gospel when it suits his agenda here whereas otherwise he is the first one to take him to task over his statements

:))) at the hypocrisy
 
Captaincy involves two qualities
1. Man management (includes team selection, motivation etc)
2. Tactical thinking

I would not consider winning as a criteria because ultimately that depends on the players you have. A captain that can take an average side to the semis in a WC, or a test series draw against the best teams in the world would be rated higher than a captain that wins a WC with one the greatest teams. Stephen Fleming vs Punter

Dhoni has man management in abundance. Winning a T20 WC and a champions trophy with a team of nobodies requires some motivational talent. Winning an ODI WC with a good team when under so much pressure requires extreme amount of man management.

Trust me, most Indians felt that if India did not win the WC 2011, it would be fairly disappointing. The pressure on the team was immense. India had the best team for the condition, but only marginally. The other teams like Pak, SL and Aus were close. The gap was not as wide as Aus had in the 2007 and 2003 WC

Tactically, in ODIs, Dhoni was one of the best. Somehow, this fell apart in tests.

Ganguly on the other was above average/good tactically. He was good in ODIs and Tests, but unlike Dhoni was not an GOAT captain in either discipline. His man management skills though, were also supreme. Taking a faltering team to WC finals (we had ben murdered in NZ, and had been beaten black and blue against AUs in a group game. Also had been pushed by Netherlands in the group stage). In fact, Ganguly's taking India to the final could be considered a bit like Imran taking a faltering team to 92 win. (not comparing, but stating the similarities)

He also fought with the selectors to add Sehwag and Bhajji in the side.

But given that Ganguly was better considering both disciplines, I would consider Dada as our greatest captain. Closely followed by MAK Pataudi, and then Dhoni.

But if I was choosing an all time World XI for ODIs I would definitely consider Dhoni for captaincy along with a couple of other greats.
 
Can any of the Ganguly fans want to Tell us Ganguly's tangible achievements compared to Dhoni ?

Pretty sure nothing more than hot air is going to come out in that post.
 
Kapil, Dhoni (Bcz they won WC)
Azhar (very underrated here due to black marks.. but Cronje rated highly as a captain here)
Ganguly
 
Can any of the Ganguly fans want to Tell us Ganguly's tangible achievements compared to Dhoni ?

Pretty sure nothing more than hot air is going to come out in that post.

He led his team to victories against Pakistan in Pakistan - twice.

Can't get better than that
 
He led his team to victories against Pakistan in Pakistan - twice.

Can't get better than that

Gangs captained in ONLY One Test in that Series (Dravid was captain for 2 Tests ) . But he won the ODI series 3-2.

MSD never played a Test Series in Pak but did win a ODI series quite comprehensively 4-2

Now lets move to WC's and CT and T20 WC's and VB Series shall we ? :))
 
Gangs captained in ONLY One Test in that Series (Dravid was captain for 2 Tests ) . But he won the ODI series 3-2.

MSD never played a Test Series in Pak but did win a ODI series quite comprehensively 4-2

Now lets move to WC's and CT and T20 WC's and VB Series shall we ? :))

Dada picked Dhoni, and transformed an average team to the upward slide. Dhoni just completed his mission.

Dhoni was nobody before Dada picked him.
 
And Ganguly lost 2 Tests Drew 1 vs Australia in INDIA and ran away from one another Test after seeing a Green track .

MSD won 8 out of 8 TEsts vs Aus at home.
 
Dada picked Dhoni, and transformed an average team to the upward slide. Dhoni just completed his mission.

Dhoni was nobody before Dada picked him.

It doesnt work like that. If so then you should be thankfull to Azhar .. hahaha
Because Azhar Picked Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid , Srinath, Kumble etc etc .... so Azhar >>>>> Ganguly.

So you want to talk to about big Trophies yet ? :)
 
It doesnt work like that. If so then you should be thankfull to Azhar .. hahaha
Because Azhar Picked Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid , Srinath, Kumble etc etc .... so Azhar >>>>> Ganguly.

So you want to talk to about big Trophies yet ? :)

Damn, I wasted my vote on Dada. Should have voted Azhar, becharai ko koi to vote milai :irfan

Azhar was a genius in spotting talent it seems. He wins hands down
 
Can any of the Ganguly fans want to Tell us Ganguly's tangible achievements compared to Dhoni ?

Pretty sure nothing more than hot air is going to come out in that post.

Captaincy is not just about trophies/matches you won. There is a reason why stephen fleming is regarded as one of the greatest captains ever despite having a poor w/l ratio.
 
Captaincy is not just about trophies/matches you won. There is a reason why stephen fleming is regarded as one of the greatest captains ever despite having a poor w/l ratio.

Sorry. But as a proper fan that invests a lot of time following Indian Cricket ... I will take a captain that will win me more trophies ( thereby creating Everlasting fond Memories and Bragging rights to Cherish ) ... that too from limited resources .. than some meaningless intangibles like culture , team spirit etc etc and keep losing in every noteworthy finals. The only memorable moment from the Ganguly ERA was the Ind-vs-Aus Test series which was won mainly due to incredible once in a lifetime performances by VVS+Harbi .
 
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