Playing cricket for India is the ultimate dream for any cricketer while captaining the national team is a huge honor. While some players wish for captaincy, some are blessed as a part of their progress at the international level. In either case, it is a huge responsibility for the player to take the captaincy reins forward and deliver in the best interests of the team. However, not every cricketer can withstand the demands of being the national captain.
Here’s a look at 4 players you might not know once captained India:
Ajay Jadeja
Ajay Jadeja was a utility limited-overs player until his career saw an awful ending after being named in the fixing scandal in the late 90s. However, during his tenure as an international cricketer, the Gujarat-born player even captained India in 13 ODI matches. He had a successful stint as the skipper, winning eight games while conceding defeat in the remaining five. Jadeja even scored a match-winning century against Sri Lanka in Pune in 1999.
Gautam Gambhir
Former India opener, Gautam Gambhir was a member of one of India’s dream batting line-up. He was a regular feature in the Indian team from a period between 2008 to 2012. Being a formidable part of the team, Gautam even captained the ODI side for 6 ODIs. India were unbeaten under Gambhir as they clean swept New Zealand 5-0 in the ODI series and won a solitary match against West Indies.
Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri, the former all-rounder made 230 international appearances for India in a period of 11 years in a period between 1981 and 1992. During this period, he was the national captain on 12 occasions in his career. He had a below-par performance as India captain with 5 wins and 7 losses during his stint at the helm of Indian cricket.
Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane, the Indian middle-order Test specialist has been a regular feature in Test cricket in India since 2013. After being ousted from the limited-over setup, Rahane has been a major rock in Test cricket for India. He has even led India in all three formats in 2 Tests, 3 ODIs and 2 T20Is. The Mumbaikar has a rather impressive record as captain. He has lost only a solitary T20I as captain, maintaining a 100 percent record in both the other formats. Under Rahane, India claimed a memorable win against Australia at Dharamsala in the 4th Test in 2017.
Suresh Raina
Suresh Raina was a part of Inda’s World Cup 2011 winning squad but very few of you would remember that he captained India in 12 ODI matches. Raina’s success rate as captain was 54.54% and he turned out to be an average skipper.
