Indian Captains With Most Away Wins In ODIs

Indian Captains With Most Away Wins In ODIs: Being an Indian cricket team Captain is not an easy job. You have got to deal with the administrators, teammates, a billion screaming fans and media that analyses every move made by the Captain with visuals and aids and experts. India didn’t embrace ODI format until the 1983 World Cup win and since then India has become one of the biggest financial and sporting powerhouses of the world.
Here are the most successful Indian captains in ODI format.

7. 11 – Sunil Gavaskar Total: 24

Sunil Gavaskar won 11 out of 24 matches as Indian ODI captain.
Sunil Gavaskar led India in many patches from 1979 with big wins in England, Australia, New Zealand. His biggest accomplishment as captain was the 1985 Benson and Hedges World series in Australia which India won beating Pakistan, New Zealand, Australia, England in the process.

6. 14 – Sachin Tendulkar Total: 55

Sachin Tendulkar won 14 matches out of 55 as ODI captain in ODI format.
A great player but an unlucky Captain, Sachin Tendulkar won the 1996 Titan cup in India and the 1997 Sahara Cup in Canada beating Pakistan 4-1 in the 5 match series. He was plagued with the pressures of captaincy added on the pressure of leading the Indian batting which did not have the fire power it now has Also his batting started to getting affected and losing every match in the 2000 VB tri-series in Australia was the last straw and Sachin never captained India again.

5. 21 – Rahul Dravid Total: 43

Rahul Dravid won 21 matches out of a total of 43 in ODIs.
Rahul Dravid took over from Sourav Ganguly in 2005 and led India till 2007. He took over the team because Sachin refused to be captain again after repeated unsuccessful attempts in the past. Dravid captained India on tours to England and Sri Lanka during his tenure winning matches on both the turfs.
Dravid had a very simplistic approach to his captaincy which proved to be a successful one in Test format and ODI format similarly.

4. 21 – Kapil Dev Total: 42

Kapil Dev won 21 matches out of 42 captained in ODIs.
Kapil Dev was the first Indian Captain to win the World Cup in 1983 losing just one match to Australia in the process. He led from the front with a 175* against Zimbabwe when it was most needed. He was stripped of Captaincy after 1984 and regained the captaincy for the 1987 World Cup, where India reached the semi-finals only to lose to Australia in Mumbai. Kapil Dev was a no-nonsense captain who brought a much-needed change in India’s attitude towards the ODI format making India what it is today in world cricket.

3. 50 – Mohd. Azharuddin Total: 116

Mohd Azharuddin captained India in most of the 1990s winning 50 out of 116 matches as captain. He led India in the 1992, 1996 and 1999 World cups with a semi-final appearance in 1996. Azhar was a captain who performed his best when he led India at home, because he could use the players best suited for the conditions as needed in India, but his performance outside India left much to be desired. He did won a number of tournaments like the Nehru Cup in 1994, Asia Cup multiple times and kept India undefeated from 1993-2000 in India in Tests. Azhar’s career abruptly ended when he was convicted for match fixing and got served by a life-ban by the ICC. He was the first player to play 300 ODIs and make 9000 ODI runs; he also played 99 Tests and is the only player to make centuries in his first 3 Tests and his final Test.

2. 58 – Sourav Ganguly Total: 110

The captain who taught India to win abroad, Sourav Ganguly won 58 matches out of 110 played.

He was made captain in 2000 in the aftermath of the match fixing scandal and went on to form a unit comprising of both young blood like Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Mohd. Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra with experience like himself, Sachin, Dravid and Kumble. Ganguly won the 2002 NatWest trophy chasing 325 in the final against England and shared the ICC Champion’s trophy in 2002. Ganguly was one of the most aggressive Captains the world had seen and probably the only captain to get under the skin of the tough as nails Australian team.

1. 59 – MS Dhoni Total: 111

MS Dhoni beat Ganguly’s record of most wins in ODI by beating West Indies in their World Cup 2015 encounter. He now has 59 wins in 111 matches and India has been unbeaten in the World Cup since the Australia game in 2011 quarterfinals match.

Dhoni has won the 2011 World Cup, 2007 World T20, 2013 ICC Champions trophy, 2008 Tri-series in Australia, bi-lateral series in New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka and the Asia Cup. Frankly he has been one of the most successful and innovative Captains in ODI history. Super smart, super shrewd and highly calculating, he has proved to be one the best leaders motivating his players to give more than just the 110% in every game.

He also leads from the front if needed like promoting himself in the high pressure situation in 2011 World Cup final in Mumbai. Otherwise, he just backs himself to win the match in the last over if necessary.

Quick Link : List of batsmen with highest average while chasing in ODIs

*All stats updated till 6th March 2015.