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Indian cricket team

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Sports teams

   India
   Test status granted 1932
   First Test match v England at Lord's, June 1932
   Captain Rahul Dravid
   Coach Greg Chappell
   Official ICC Test and ODI ranking 4th (Test), 4th (ODI) ,
   Test matches
   - this year 396
   10
   Last Test match v West Indies at Sabina Park, 30 June to 4 July 2006
   Wins/losses
   - this year 88/129
   2/2
   As of 22 September 2006

   The Indian cricket team is an international cricket team representing
   India. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the
   cricket governing body in India. The Indian Cricket Team is currently
   the highest paid sports team in the world based on sponsorships.

   Debuting as test cricket team at Lord's, England on 25 June 1932, the
   Indian cricket team became the sixth Test playing team. For nearly
   fifty years, India was weaker than most of the other Test cricket
   teams, such as Australia and England, winning only 35 of the 196
   matches it played during this period. The team gained strength near the
   end of the 50-year period with the emergence of players such as Sunil
   Gavaskar and Kapil Dev and the Indian spin quartet. The Indian team has
   continued to be highly ranked since then in both Test cricket and
   One-day Internationals. The team won the Cricket World Cup in 1983 and
   was runners-up in 2003. The current team contains many of the world's
   leading players, including Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil
   Kumble, who hold numerous cricketing world records.. As of October
   2006, the team is ranked fourth in the ICC Test Championship and in a
   tie for fourth place in the ICC ODI Championship

History

   Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji was an Indian who played for the English
   cricket team
   Enlarge
   Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji was an Indian who played for the English
   cricket team

   The British brought cricket to India in the early 1700s, with the first
   cricket match being played in 1721. In 1848, the Parsi community in
   Mumbai formed the Oriental Cricket Club, the first cricket club to be
   established by Indians. After slow beginnings, the Parsis were
   eventually invited by the Europeans to play a match in 1877. By 1912,
   the Parsis, Hindus, and Muslims of Bombay played a quadrangular
   tournament with the Europeans every year. In the early 1900s, some
   Indians went on to play for the English cricket team. Some of these,
   such as Ranjitsinhji and KS Duleepsinhji were greatly appreciated by
   the British and their names went on to be used for the Ranji Trophy and
   Duleep Trophy-two of the major domestic tournaments in India. In 1911,
   an Indian team went on their first official tour of England, but only
   played English county teams and not the English cricket team. India was
   invited into the Imperial Cricket Council in 1926 and made its debut as
   a Test-cricket-playing-nation in England in 1932 led by CK Nayudu. The
   match was given test status despite being only 3 days in length. The
   team was not strong in its batting at this point and went on to lose by
   158 runs. Indian team continued to improve throughout the 30s and 40s
   but did not achieve significant victory during this period. The team's
   first series as an independent country was in 1948 against Sir Donald
   Bradman's Invincibles (a name given to the Australian cricket team of
   that time). Australia won the five match series, 4-0.

   India recorded their first Test victory against England at Madras in
   1952 and later in the year won their first Test series (against
   Pakistan). India were strengthened by the likes of batsmen Polly
   Umrigar, Vijay Manjrekar and bowler SM Gupte. They continued their good
   form throughout the early 1950s with a series win against New Zealand
   in 1956, however they did not win again in the remainder of the 1950s
   and lost badly to strong Australian and English sides. The next decade
   developed India's reputation as a team that is considered unbeatable at
   home. Although they only won two series (both against New Zealand),
   they managed to draw home series against Pakistan, England and
   Australia. The decade starred the batting performances of Mansoor Ali
   Khan Pataudi, Dilip Sardesai, Hanumant Singh and Chandu Borde as well
   as bowling performances from off-spinner EAS Prasanna.

   Most of the 1970s was dominated by India's bowling spin quartet. This
   period also saw the emergence of two of India's best ever batsmen,
   Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath. Indian pitches have had tendency
   to support spin and this was exploited by the spin quartet to create
   collapses in opposing batting lineups. These players were responsible
   for the back-to-back series wins in 1971 in the West Indies and in
   England, under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar.

   The advent of One-Day International cricket in 1971 created a new
   dimension in the cricket world. However, India was not considerably
   strong in ODIs at this point and batsmen like captain Sunil Gavaskar
   were known for their defence-based approaches to batting. India could
   not manage to qualify for the second round in the first two editions of
   the Cricket World Cup.

   During the 1980s, India developed a long list of competent batsmen.
   Batsmen like Mohammed Azharuddin, Mohinder Amarnath and Dilip
   Vengsarkar were prominent during this time. India won the Cricket World
   Cup in 1983, defeating West Indies in the final. In 1984, India won the
   Asia Cup and in 1985, won the World Championship of Cricket in
   Australia. India's Test series victory in 1986 against England remained
   the last Test series win by India outside subcontinent for the next 19
   years. The 1987 Cricket World Cup was held in India. The 1980s saw star
   batsman Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev (India's best all rounder to this
   date) at the pinnacle of their careers. Gavaskar made 34 centuries as
   he became the first man to reach the 10,000 run mark and Kapil Dev
   became the highest wicket taker in Test cricket with 434 wickets, a
   record that has been surpassed since and is now held by Shane Warne.
   A graph showing India's test match results against all test match teams
   from 1932 to September 2006
   Enlarge
   A graph showing India's test match results against all test match teams
   from 1932 to September 2006

   The addition of 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble to the
   national side in 1989 and 1990 further improved the team. Most of its
   successes in the 1990s were at home grounds. During the 1990s, India
   did not win any of its 33 tests outside the subcontinent while it won
   17 out of its 30 tests at home. Batsmen Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly
   and fast bowler Javagal Srinath made their debut in international
   cricket during this decade. In 1999, Anil Kumble emulated Jim Laker to
   become the second bowler to take all ten wickets in a Test match
   innings when he took 10 wickets for 74 runs against Pakistan at the
   Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. The team was further damaged in 2000 when
   captain Mohammad Azharuddin and fellow batsman Ajay Jadeja were
   implicated in a match-fixing scandal and given life bans.

   India's performance in the remaining World Cups has been considerably
   consistent. In the 1987 Cricket World Cup, the team advanced to the
   semi-finals as favourites, they did the same in 1996, both times they
   suffered defeats in the semi-finals. India was weaker in the 1999
   Cricket World Cup, and did not make it past the Super Six round. In the
   2003 Cup, India lost only two games (both against reigning champions
   Australia) and advancing to the finals, where they were defeated by
   Australia.

   India's traditional strengths have always been its line-up of spin
   bowlers and batsmen. Currently, it has a very strong batting lineup
   with Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag all being
   selected to play for the ICC World XI in the 2005 " SuperTest" against
   Australia. In previous times, India was unique in that it was the only
   country to regularly field three spinners in one team, whereas one is
   the norm, and of the fifteen players to have taken more than 100
   wickets, only four were pace bowlers from the last 20 years .However in
   recent years, Indian pace bowling has improved, with the emerging
   talents of Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel and Sreesanth and many more
   playing in the national team.

Recent performances

   The Indian cricket team in action in the Wankhede Stadium
   Enlarge
   The Indian cricket team in action in the Wankhede Stadium

   Historically, the Indian team has not performed as well overseas as it
   has in India. Since the year 2000, the Indian team underwent major
   improvements under the guidance of coach John Wright and captain Saurav
   Ganguly. The team drew a Test series with Australia in Australia, which
   is usually considered a tough tour. It was followed by a historic Test
   and ODI series win against arch-rivals Pakistan while playing in
   Pakistan.

   India has had a very good record against Australia and, before the
   2004/05 tour, never being defeated by Australia in a Test Series in
   India since 1969. This was the reason for Australian captain Steve
   Waugh labelling India as the "Final Frontier". The famous 2001
   Australian tour of India saw Harbhajan Singh become the first Indian to
   take a Test hat-trick and started a good run for the team, as India
   beat Australia 2-1. India also came runners up to Australia in the
   final of the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

   Since 2004, India had not been doing as well in One-day Internationals.
   The players who took India to great heights over the past ten years
   such as Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble grew older and
   did not maintain their form and fitness. Following the series loss to
   Australia, India collapsed on the final day in the Third Test in
   Bangalore in early 2005 against Pakistan to squander a series victory,
   and then lost four consecutive ODIs against Pakistan. This was
   exacerbated by the suspension handed to captain Ganguly for slow
   over-rates. Greg Chappell took over from John Wright as the new coach
   of the Indian cricket team following the series, and replaced Kumble
   and V. V. S. Laxman from the ODI team with younger players. India's
   unconvincing ODI form continued, scraping past a West Indian team
   depleted by industrial action in the 2005 Indian Oil Cup and a
   similarly depleted Zimbabwean team only to be defeated twice in the
   finals by New Zealand, continuing a poor ODI finals record.

   The tension resulted in a fallout between Chappell and Ganguly lead to
   a confidential email sent by Chappell to the BCCI being leaked, in
   which he condemned the leadership and performance of Ganguly. After a
   series of high profile board meetings and public jousting including
   some players, Rahul Dravid was installed as the captain, triggering a
   revival in the team's fortunes. The Indians subsequently defeated Sri
   Lanka 6-1 in a home series. An important part about this series was the
   discovery of the young talent of the team, including Mahendra Singh
   Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir and Irfan Pathan. The team also
   beat the Sri Lankans in the test series 2-0 to displace England from
   its position in second place in the ICC Test rankings, but India
   slipped back by losing the high-profile series to Pakistan. Indian team
   continued its good form in ODIs, beating Pakistan 4-1 in Pakistan.
   India achieved the world-record of winning 17 successive matches
   chasing the total. India convincingly won England's tour of India
   winning the series 5-1. After leveling the DLF Cup series 1-1 in Abu
   Dhabi, India travelled to West Indies where they lost the ODI series
   1-4 to a weak West Indies team which was ranked 8th in the ICC ODI
   Ranking. The series loss again questioned the Indian team's ability to
   play away from the Sub-continent and the chances of the Indian team to
   win the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The Indian team later clinched the test
   series against West Indies 1-0, the first Indian series win in the
   Carribean since Ajit Wadekar in 1971.

Tournament History

   World Cup ICC Champions Trophy Commonwealth Games Asia Cup
     * 1975: Round 1
     * 1979: Round 1
     * 1983: Champions
     * 1987: Semi Finals
     * 1992: Round 1
     * 1996: Semi Finals
     * 1999: Super 6 (6th Place)
     * 2003: Runners Up
     * 2007: Qualified

     * 1998: Semi Finals
     * 2000: Runners Up
     * 2002: Joint Winner with Sri Lanka
     * 2004: Round 1
     * 2006: Qualified Main Group A; knocked out before reaching
       Semi-final

     * 1998: Round 1

     * 1984: Champions
     * 1986: Boycott
     * 1988: Champions
     * 1990/1991: Champions
     * 1995: Champions
     * 1997: Runners Up
     * 2000: 3rd Place
     * 2004: Runners Up

Team colours

   When playing one-day cricket, the Indian cricket team has in recent
   years worn a sky blue shirt and pants. At present, the shirt also
   contains a diagonal tricolour design which reflects the Flag of India
   and the name of their main sponsor, Sahara. The one-day cap is also sky
   blue with the BCCI logo on the front, with a similar tricolour design
   on the brim of the cap.

   With the advent of the World Series Cup in the 1970s, each team was to
   don a primary and secondary colour on their uniforms. The Indian team
   elected to wear light-blue as their primary colour and yellow as their
   secondary colour. Even during the 1999 Cricket World Cup the secondary
   colour on the Indian cricket team's clothing has been yellow. However
   this has since been removed and replaced with the tricolour. However,
   in the past the Indian ODI outfits were changed to different shades of
   blue, mostly darker than the current, and the team donned dark blue
   during 1992, the current sky blue colour is more similar to that worn
   in the World Series Cup.

   When playing first-class cricket, in addition to their cricket whites,
   Indian fielders sometimes wear a sunhat, which is dark blue and has a
   wide brim, with the BCCI logo in the middle of the front of the hat.
   Helmets are coloured similarly. Some players sport the Indian flag on
   their helmet. The current kit sponsor for the Indian team is Nike,
   Inc..

Test cricket grounds

   Barabati
   Wankhede
   Brabourne/ Gymkhana
   Eden Gardens
   Feroz_Shah_Kotla
   Gandhi
   Green Park
   KDSB/ University
   LB Shastri
   M_Chinnaswamy
   MAC
   Nehru
   PCA
   Sardar_Patel
   Sawai_Mansingh
   Sector_16
   Vidarbha CA
   Locations of all stadiums which have hosted a test match within India

   There are a number of world-renowned cricket stadiums located in India.
   Most grounds are under the administration of various State Cricket
   Boards as opposed to being under the control of the BCCI. The Bombay
   Gymkhana was the first ground in India to host a full-scale cricket
   match featuring an Indian cricket team. This was between the Parsis and
   the Europeans in 1877. Suitably therefore, the first stadium to host a
   Test match in India was the Gymkhana Ground in Mumbai in 1933, the only
   test it ever hosted. The second and third Tests in the 1933 series were
   hosted at Eden Gardens and Chepauk. The Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi was
   the first stadium to host a Test match after independence, being a draw
   against the West Indies in 1948, the first of a 5-Test series. Nineteen
   stadiums in India have hosted official Test matches. In recent times
   the building of world-class cricket grounds has increased in India,
   with multiple Test grounds occurring in the cities of Lucknow,
   Chandigarh, Chennai and Mumbai.

   Eden Gardens in Kolkata has hosted the most Tests (34), and also has
   the largest capacity of any cricket stadium in the world, being capable
   of holding more than 100,000 spectators. Founded in 1864, it is one of
   the most historical stadiums in India, having hosted numerous
   controversial and historical matches. Other major stadiums in India
   include the Feroz Shah Kotla, which was established in 1883 and hosted
   memorable matches including Anil Kumbles ten wickets in an innings haul
   against Pakistan. For the last two years, the ground has undergoing
   renovation.

   The Wankhede Stadium is one of the newest world-class Indian cricket
   stadiums. Established in 1974 with a capacity of near 50,000. It has
   hosted 21 Test matches in its relatively short 32-year history. It was
   the unofficial successor of the Brabourne Stadium, which is also
   located in Mumbai. Mumbai is often considered the cricketing capital of
   India because of its fans and the talent it produces (see Mumbai
   cricket team) and thus the stadium regularly hosts major test matches.
   The M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk is also considered to be an
   important historical Indian cricket ground, established in the early
   1900s it was the site of India's first Test victory. It was also the
   site of Saeed Anwar's record breaking 194.

   The remainder of the test stadiums are considered lesser compared to
   these major stadiums. The Gymkhana and Brabourne Stadiums are not used
   any more and have been replaced by the Wankhede. Similarly, the
   Barabati Stadium, Gandhi Stadium, K. D. Singh Babu Stadium, Lal Bahadur
   Shastri Stadium, Nehru Stadium, Sector 16 Stadium and University Ground
   have not hosted a Test match in the last 10 years.
                Stadium                      City        Test matches
   Barabati Stadium                   Cuttack            3
   Bombay Gymkhana                    Mumbai             1
   Brabourne Stadium                  Mumbai             17
   Eden Gardens                       Kolkata            34
   Feroz Shah Kotla                   Delhi              28
   Gandhi Stadium                     Jalandhar          1
   Green Park (now Modi Stadium)      Kanpur             19
   K. D. Singh Babu Stadium           Lucknow            1
   Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium        Hyderabad          3
   M. Chinnaswamy Stadium             Bangalore          16
   M. A. Chidambaram Stadium          Chepauk, Chennai   28
   Nehru Stadium                      Chennai            9
   Punjab Cricket Association Stadium Mohali, Chandigarh 7
   Sardar Patel Stadium (Gujarat)     Motera, Ahmedabad  8
   Sawai Mansingh Stadium             Jaipur             1
   Sector 16 Stadium                  Chandigarh         1
   University Ground                  Lucknow            1
   Vidarbha C.A. Ground               Nagpur             9
   Wankhede Stadium                   Mumbai             21

Fan following

   Cricket is the de facto national sport of India and has a very wide
   following among the population of India. As a result, stadiums are
   generally packed at matches played in India; due to large Indian
   diaspora in nations like Australia and England, a large Indian fan
   turnout is expected whenever India plays in each of these nations as
   well.

   There have been a number of official fan groups that have been formed
   over the years, including the Swami Army or Bharat Army, the Indian
   equivalent of the Barmy Army, that were very active in their support
   when India toured Australia in 2003/2004. They are known to attribute a
   number of popular Indian songs to the cricket team.

   Fan rivalry and cross-border tension has created a strong rivalry
   between the Indian cricket team and the Pakistani cricket team. This
   has made matches between these two nations the subcontinental
   equivalent of the Ashes. In tours between these two nations, cricket
   visas are often employed to accommodate for the tens of thousands of
   fans wishing to cross the border to watch cricket. This intense fan
   dedication is one of the major causes of the Indian Cricket Board's
   (BCCI) financial success.

   However, there are downsides to having such a cricket-loving
   population. Many Indians hold cricket very close to their hearts and
   losses are not received well with the Indian population. In some cases,
   particularly after losses to Pakistan or after a long string of weak
   performances, there have been reports of player effigies being burnt in
   the streets and vandalism of player homes. In many cases, players have
   come under unbearable attention from the media for all the wrong
   reasons, this has been considered as one of the reasons for Saurav
   Ganguly being left out of the Indian team. At times, when a match is
   surrounded by controversy, it has resulted in a debacle. For example,
   when India slid to defeat against Australia at Brabourne Stadium in
   1969, fans began throwing stones and bottles onto the field as well as
   setting fire to the stands. A similar event occurred during the Cricket
   World Cup in 1996, where India were losing the semi-final to Sri Lanka.
   In this case, the fan behaviour was directed at the Indian team in
   disappointment at their lacklustre performance. An armed guard had to
   be placed at the home of captain Mohammad Azharuddin to ensure his
   safety.

   Often, fans quickly come to the defense of players who have been
   accused of wrongdoings or dropped from teams. In 2005, when Sourav
   Ganguly was dropped for a lack of form, Ganguly's home state of West
   Bengal erupted in protests.

   However, it should be noted that a successful string of results,
   victories against arch-rivals Pakistan or victory in major tournaments
   such as the World Cup are greeted with particular ecstasy from the
   Indian fans.

Indian women's cricket team

   The Indian women's cricket team has a much lower profile that the men's
   team. For all national women's cricket teams, the female players are
   paid much less their male counterparts, and the women's teams do not
   receive as much popular support or recognition as the men's team. The
   women's teams also have a less packed schedule compared to men's teams
   and play fewer matches. The Indian women's cricket team played its
   first Test match in 1976/7, when they drew with the West Indies in a
   six-match series.

   The Women's Cricket World Cup was held in India in 1978 and featured 4
   teams. Despite this, India failed to win either of their two matches.
   Their next appearance in the Test and ODI circuit was against Australia
   in 1984, in which the Test series was tied but the ODI series was lost
   in a humiliating whitewash.

   The Indian women's cricket team has since picked up some form, reaching
   the finals in the last World Cup, but then losing to Australia. The
   Women's Asia Cup of 2005-06 was won by India, who beat Sri Lanka in the
   final. They also beat the West Indies in the 2004-05 season, winning
   the 5 ODI series 5-0.

National records

   Sachin Tendulkar is easily the batsman with the most national
   achievements. He holds the record of most appearances in both Tests and
   ODIs, most runs in both Tests and ODIs and most centuries in tests and
   ODIs. The highest score by an Indian is 309, scored by Virender Sehwag,
   India's only triple century in Test cricket. The team's highest score
   ever was a memorable 705 against Australia in Sydney, 2004, while it's
   lowest was an embarrassing 42 against England in 1974. In ODIs, the
   team's highest was 376 against New Zealand in 1999.

   India also has very strong bowling figures, with spin bowler Anil
   Kumble being a member of the elite group of 4 bowlers who have taken
   500 wickets. Kumble is also one of the few bowlers who have taken all
   10-wickets in an innings. Many Indian bowling records are held by Irfan
   Pathan, a paceman who is relatively new to the Indian line-up. Irfan
   Pathan is currently ranked within the top five all-rounders in both
   Test matches and One-day Internationals in the LG ICC Player Rankings
   and is rising as a much needed all rounder in the Indian team. India's
   strength has traditionally been with its spin bowlers, which explains
   the records achieved by Anil Kumble and Bishen Singh Bedi.

   Many of the Indian cricket team's records are also world records, for
   example Sachin Tendulkar's century tally and run tally. Newcomes
   Mahendra Singh Dhoni's record for highest score by a wicketkeeper (183
   not out) is also a World Record for any wicketkeeper. Roy and Mankad's
   first wicket partnership of 413 is a world record for the first wicket,
   although it was close to being broken by Virender Sehwag and Rahul
   Dravid in 2006. The Indian cricket team also has the record of being
   the team with the largest number of consecutive, successful run-chases
   in ODIs (17), a streak which ended recently in the second ODI of the
   series against the West Indies in May.

Current squad

     Name Batting Style Bowling Style Domestic team Zone Contract grade
                                   Captain
                    Rahul Dravid RHB OB Karnataka South A
                                Wicket-keeper
                 Mahendra Singh Dhoni RHB - Jharkand East B
                   Dinesh Karthik RHB - Tamil Nadu South -
                               Opening batsmen
               Sachin Tendulkar RHB LB, LBG, OB Mumbai West A
                    Virender Sehwag RHB OB Delhi North A
                   Robin Uthappa RHB RMF Karnataka South -
                      Wasim Jaffer RHB OB Mumbai West -
                       Specialist middle-order batsmen
                  V. V. S. Laxman RHB OB Hyderabad South A
                     Yuvraj Singh LHB SLA Punjab North B
                Mohammed Kaif RHB OB Uttar Pradesh Central B
                 Suresh Raina LHB OB Uttar Pradesh Central C
                 Venugopal Rao RHB OB Andhra Pradesh South -
                                 All-rounder
                     Irfan Pathan LHB LMF Baroda West A
                    Dinesh Mongia LHB SLA Punjab North -
                                   Seamers
                     Vikram Singh RHB RFM Punjab North -
                     Ajit Agarkar RHB RFM Mumbai West B
             Rudra Pratap Singh RHB LMF Uttar Pradesh Central -
               Shanthakumaran Sreesanth RHB RFM Kerala South C
                     Munaf Patel RHB RMF Gujarat West -
                      Zaheer Khan RHB LMF Baroda West C
                                Spin Bowlers
                    Anil Kumble RHB LBG Karnataka South A
                    Harbhajan Singh RHB OB Punjab North A
                      Ramesh Powar RHB OB Mumbai West -
                Piyush Chawla RHB LB Uttar Pradesh Central -

   The current coach of the Indian cricket team is Australian Greg
   Chappell who succeeded John Wright in 2004. India has recently
   developed a strategy of using foreign expertise in order to build the
   team. In the recent series against the West Indies, the touring squad
   included Ian Frazer as bio-mechanical expert, John Gloster as team
   physiotherapist and the manager of the team Ranjib Biswal.

Captains

   Twenty-eight men have captained the Indian cricket team in at least 1
   Test match, although only 6 men have led the team in more than 25 or
   more matches, and 5 men have captained the team in ODIs but not Tests.
   India's first captain was CK Nayudu, who led the team in four matches
   against England, one in England in 1932 and a series of 3 matches at
   home in 1933/4. Lala Amarnath, India's fourth captain, led the team in
   its first Test match after Indian independence. He also captained the
   side to its first Test victory and first series win, both in a 3-match
   series at home against Pakistan in 1952/3.

   The Nawab of Pataudi was captain for 36 matches from 1961/2 to 1969/70,
   returning for a final 4 matches against West Indies in 1974/5. India
   played its first ODI in 1974, under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar.
   India won its first ODI under the captaincy of Srinivasaraghavan
   Venkataraghavan in the 1975 Cricket World Cup, against East Africa.

   Sunil Gavaskar took over as Test and ODI captain in the late 1979s and
   early 1980s, leading India in 47 Test matches and 38 ODIs, winning 9
   Tests and 14 ODIs. He was succeeded by Kapil Dev in the 1980s, who
   continued for 34 Test matches, including 4 victories. Kapil Dev led
   India to victory in 40 of his 74 ODIs in charge, including the 1983
   Cricket World Cup.

   India has had only four regular Test captains since Mohammad Azharuddin
   took charge in 1989. Azharuddin led the team in 47 Test matches from
   1989/90 to 1998/9, winning 14, and in 173 ODIs, winning 89. He was
   followed by Sachin Tendulkar, who captained India in 25 Test matches
   and 73 ODIs in the late 1990s; Tendulkar was relatively uncuccessful as
   a captain, winning only 4 Test matches and 23 ODIs. He was replaced as
   ODI captain by Ajay Jadeja and then Sourav Ganguly; Ganguly became the
   regular captain in both forms of cricket in 2000. Ganguly remained
   captain for the first 5 years of the 2000s and was much more
   successful, winning 21 of his 49 Test matches in charge and 73 of his
   141 ODIs. The current captain, Rahul Dravid, took over as Test captain
   in 2005. In his fourth full series in charge, he led India to victory
   in the West Indies, the first instance of India winning in the
   Carribean in over 30 years.

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