Over the years, India have produced some great captains who have gone on to leave a mark in world cricket. From Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi to Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev then Mohammad Azharduddin to Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni and most recently Virat Kohli, the list is long. Statistically all these great leaders have various degrees of success but one thing common among all of them was their leadership quality and desire to take Indian cricket right at the top.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag, who played under two of those great leaders Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni during his illustrious career rated Ganguly’s leadership higher than anyone. The former right-hander said statistically, Virat Kohli as captain may remain among the best. Still, he could not build a team much as Ganguly did.
“Sourav Ganguly built a new team, brought in new players and backed them through their highs and lows,” Sehwag said in the latest episode of Sports18’s show Home of Heroes. “I doubt if Kohli did that in his tenure,” he added.
Ganguly, who led India in 49 Tests in his close to five-years at the helm, is currently the president of BCCI. He had a win percentage of 42.85 with 21 wins, 15 draws and 13 defeats.
Kohli, on the other hand, has much better track record as a Test captain with a win percentage of 58.82 in the 68 Tests that he led India between 2016 and January 2022. Kohli, is in fact, India's most successful Test captain and also led the country in most number of red-ball games.
{{/usCountry}}Kohli, on the other hand, has much better track record as a Test captain with a win percentage of 58.82 in the 68 Tests that he led India between 2016 and January 2022. Kohli, is in fact, India's most successful Test captain and also led the country in most number of red-ball games.
{{/usCountry}}But like Sehwag pointed out, Ganguly was known as a youngster's captain. Under his tenure, the likes of Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Sehwag, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh blossomed into pillars of Indian cricket.
This is not to indicate that players didn't grow in Kohli's captaincy. In fact, India had its best-ever pace attack in Kohli's leadership with the likes of Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav dominating world cricket.
Explaining his point further, Sehwag said during Kohli’s captaincy, for 2-3 years, there was a trend to change the team after almost every Test, whether they won or lost. “In my opinion, the number 1 captain is the one who builds a team and gives confidence to his players. He (Kohli) backed some players, some he did not,” said Sehwag.