Top 5 Indian Test captains with highest away defeats

After the recently concluded away test series against New Zealand where India were convincingly beaten, MS Dhoni now has the dubious record of most number of Away Test Defeats and at the same time holds the record for the most number of Home Test Wins among the Indian Test Captains.

AWAY DEFEATS :

11 – MS Dhoni (22 matches)

10 – Mohammad Azharuddin (27 matches)

10 – Sourav Ganguly (28 matches)

10 – MAK Pataudi (13 matches)

8 – Bishan Bedi (14 matches)

6 – Sunil Gavaskar (18 matches)

6 – Sachin Tendulkar (13 matches)

HOME WINS :

21 – MS Dhoni (30 matches)

13 – Mohammad Azharuddin (20 matches)

10 – Sourav Ganguly (21 matches)

7 – Sunil Gavaskar (29 matches)

6 – MAK Pataudi (27 matches)

India now are winless in 14 consecutive away Tests. In which they managed 4 draws and 10 defeats. Also they are without a win in their last 11 completed matches across all formats. May be the Indian team has once again turned into the team of the 80’s and 90’s when they were Tigers at home and Lambs abroad.

After a glorious period of 10 years between 2001 and 2011 which started with the famous victory at Eden Garden and ended with a World Cup win in Mumbai, India now struggle to reach the heights set by their predecessors. In those 10 years, India won 22 Tests away from home and lost 20. After those 10 years of glory India could only manage a single Test victory outside India in 3 years, that too against a weak West Indies team.

India still are struggling with many aspects of their game and are yet to find suitable replacements in many departments. Pave bowling has been the biggest issue for India, as time and time again they are found out of depth in that particular area of their team. Even spin bowling which used to be India’s biggest strength ever since they started playing test cricket is now-a-days a problem for MS Dhoni. Though suitable replacements have been found in the Batting department, they are yet to stabilise in the team and produce significant results which the big five ( Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman) of the previous era have produced consistantly.

During those 10 years, India managed a 1-1 series draw against Australia, which is their first time. Won a series in both England and West Indies, which was the first time since the great Gavaskar era some 30 years ago. Drew a series in South Africa and managed their only wins in the Rainbow nation till now.Won their only test series in Pakistan. And finally achieved the status of the No 1 test team in the world.

Now compare that to the present state of Indian test team which was whitewashed both in England and in Australia (4-0). Not even in a single match could they manage to put up a fight against the host nation. Fought hard but lost to South Africa 1-0 ,which was after a series in UAE in which Pakistan managed to draw the series against South Africa. Lost a series in New Zealand 1-0, which was ranked at no 8 before the series.