3 Captains Who Could Never Win A Test Match In India: India has always been a very tough place to tour for the overseas teams just because of the conditions and the pitches that they get to deal with in this part of the world.
Overseas teams have toured India in the past and have achieved a fair bit of success in white-ball cricket, but when it comes to Test cricket, England is the only team that has beaten India in the last decade or so.
It’s not that the teams which toured India in the last decade, barring England, didn’t have quality. They had quality in abundance and often had a great leader as well, but they just couldn’t adapt to the conditions.
Here are the 3 captains who never won a Test match in India:
Michael Clarke
Australia not only won an ODI World Cup under the captaincy of Clarke, but they also whitewashed England 5-0 under his captaincy in the home Ashes series in 2013-14.
Clarke, who is retired from the game now and is commentating, was renowned for his tactical astuteness and funky fields; however, when he captained Australia in a Test series in India in 2013, the Kangaroos lost all 4 Test matches.
Clarke, who is otherwise a wonderful player of spin himself, struggled with the bat on some of the rank turners that India dished out during that series.
That series is also famous for the homework gate where four Australian cricketers were suspended mid-tour for not completing an assignment given by the coaching staff. Played: 3; Lost: 3
Stephen Fleming
Stephen Fleming is widely regarded as a very sharp cricketing brain. Not only he captained New Zealand with distinction for a long, long time, but he also turned a cricket coach straight after his retirement and has already guided Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to three IPL titles.
Although Fleming’s performance as captain in a Test match in cricket in India was far better than that of Clarke, even he wasn’t able to emerge victorious in any of the Test matches.
Fleming captain New Zealand in a couple of Test series in India, in 1999 and 2003 respectively. It was a 3-match Test series in 1999 which ended 1-0 in the favor of India, while the other series in 2003 ended in a scoreless draw. Played: 5; Drawn: 4; Lost: 1
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting is the only two captains in the history of the game, along with Clive Lloyd, who has won two ODI World Cup titles as captain.
However, Ponting has a very dismal record in India as a Test captain. He first captained Australia in a Test match in India in 2004. Australia had already won that series under the captaincy of Adam Gilchrist.
Ponting was not available for selection for the first three games; however, he took over the leadership role in the fourth game and incidentally, Australia lost that game.
Ponting then returned to India for a 4-match Test series in 2008 and ended up losing it 2-nil. It was the same series where two of the Indian legends Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble bid adieu to the game.
Ponting then captained Australia in India in a 2-match Test series again in 2010 and lost it 2-nil as well. Played: 7; Lost: 5; Drawn: 2
