Five players have led India to victory in their first test as captain
(11th May 2001)
It is a rare feat for a player to lead his country to victory in
his first Test match as captain. Only five out of the 27 Indian
Test captains have had this honour.
The first was Polly Umrigar who led India to victory over New
Zealand in his home town of Bombay in 1955-56. The next to do so
was another Mumbai batsman, Sunil Gavaskar who in his first Test
as captain saw India defeat New Zealand by eight wickets at
Auckland, 20 years later. Ravi Shastri continued the Bombay
hegemony when in his first - and as it turned out, his only - Test
as captain, he led India to victory over West Indies at Madras
in 1987-88 by 255 runs. And Sachin Tendulkar made it four out of
four when his maiden Test as captain saw India defeat Australia
by seven wickets at New Delhi in 1996-97.
Sourav Ganguly broke the Bombay monopoly when he led India to
victory over Bangladesh at Dhaka in November 2000 in his maiden
Test as captain. Interestingly enough, in the first three cases,
it was a substitute captain deputising for the appointed leader
(out through injury) who led the country to victory. Umrigar
deputised for Ghulam Ahmed, Gavaskar for Bishen Bedi and Shastri
for Vengsarkar.
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