INDIAN CAPTAIN & HIS (ir)RATIONAL NEED TO BOWL FIRST: EPILOGUE

Previous parts are available here and here.

Not all Indian captains suffered the fates of Kapil, Azhar, Sachin, Dada, Rahul or Virat. There were 3 men who escaped this "curse". Let's quickly take a look at how they managed to survive.

SUNIL GAVASKAR

Sunil Gavaskar took over from Venkataraghavan. He quickly realized the Indian bowling wasn't too strong and followed a safety first strategy. India won 3 painfully boring 6-test series at home against a Packer-weakened West Indies & Australia and later against England, 1-0, 2-0 & 1-0 respectively. India toured Pakistan for a 6-test in late 1982. After drawing a rain-affected 1st test, Imran Khan went Marsellus Wallace on Zed on India and Gavaskar lost the job to Kapil Dev.

Kapil's Devils did somewhat respectably in West Indies losing only 0-2 but won a seismic ODI in Berbice with the crowd of Indian descent purportedly cheering India. The confidence gained by this win helped India inflict the first ever defeat on the Windies in World Cups. After losing their way a bit, India qualified for the semis and upset the home side. Kapil's Devils made everyone who punted some cash on them richer by 66 times by defending a tiny total of 183 and India were World Champions in any sport for the 1st time in 8 years and only the 2nd time ever.

West Indies returned to India in late 1983 for a 6 test series. Burning for revenge, they inflicted the heaviest defeat on the home side in almost 25 years, West Indies themselves in 1958-59. Kapil lost the job to Gavaskar and the future Bombay Sheriff held the job till 1985 when the then 7 test playing nations were invited to play the 1985 World Championship of Cricket held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of White Settlement in Victoria.

Gavaskar announced even before the tournament began that it would be his last involvement as captain. Armed with a flamboyant if inconsistent opener in Srikkanth, a strong middle-order in himself, Dilip & young Azharuddin, a string of allrounders in Kapil, Jimmy, Ravi, Roger & Madan Lal and the trump card in leggie Sivaramakrishnan, India had one of the best ODI sides in their history. The large Australian grounds suited the spinners and Gavaskar's captaincy was outstanding. India rolled through the group stages with 3 wins out of 3, bowling out Pakistan, England & Australia in their group matches.

India faced New Zealand in the semis. Gavaskar won the toss and decided to bowl. The bowlers vindicated their captain's decision and took 10 wickets for the 4th time running and restricted the Kiwis to 206. This was a cake walk to the very long Indian line-up: Roger Binny batted at number 9. Yet Hadlee had Srikkanth in all sorts of trouble. India struggled and were a scarcely believable 46/1 after 20 overs. Azhar & Shastri tried to up the ante but NZ continued to be disciplined. When Shastri fell in the 32nd over, India needed nearly 6 runs an over to win.

Gavaskar made yet another inspired decision in a tournament full of inspired Gavaskar decisions: Kapil came at number 5 instead of his customary number 7. He began like only Kapil can with a flurry of boundaries just like he told W V Raman on the latter's podcast recently, (paraphrased) "Plan B & C is loser talk". He survived a difficult catch off Hadlee but kept cutting the Kiwi bowlers fiercely. Vengsarkar also joined the fun. The partnership was best summed up by Richie Benaud, "Tied down by some brilliant New Zealand work at the beginning, they've fought back and are now carving the attack". India rolled to the final with more than 6 overs to spare. 

Pakistan upset the mighty West Indies in the other semifinal and we had the first ever marquee India-Pakistan final in ODI history. We all know how that went: Kapil bustled, Siva hustled and Srikkanth muscled Pakistan into submission and India proved the win 2 years earlier was no fluke. Yet it could have all gone awry thanks to that decision to field by Gavaskar in the semis. Thank God for the greatest Indian cricketer of all time: Kapil Dev Nikhanj!

SACHIN TENDULKAR

Sachin Tendulkar is quite possibly the unluckiest cricketer in the world. Every failure of his is magnified by his haters and every success of his is waved off as "He's SRT". Indian selectors made him captain whenever India had difficult overseas trips and invariably our batting came up a cropper against superior attacks in conditions aiding them. The gambles he took, though seemingly logical, invariably failed. 

No better example of this than Robin Singh. In late 1997, England-India-Pakistan-West Indies played a 4-nation tournament in the 1st ever D/N matches in Sharjah. India lost their opener to England in a thriller. Sachin scored a brilliant 87 ball 91 with just 6 (4 4s 2 6s) boundaries and yet as is his wont, got out with 18 runs to win. India were a must win situation against their arch-rivals and luckily Sachin won the toss and decided to bat. Ganguly & Sidhu gave India a solid foundation with a century partnership. India were brilliantly placed at 143/1 with exactly 20 overs left. 

Sidhu was unfortunately run out and Sachin sent Robin Singh to get some quick runs. The Tamidadian (geddid?) was out 1st ball and India lost their way. Pakistan, despite a few jitters, won and virtually dumped India out of the tournament. Tendulkar was pilloried for the decision to send a pseudo-pinch-hitter up the order. Weeks later Tendulkar resigned, Azhar was now captain. In the 3rd final of Bangladesh's Independence Cup, with a large total beckoning, SRT went medieval on Azhar Mahmood but was out for a frenzied 41 off 26. Azhar, the Indian one that is, sent Robin Singh at number 3. This time the Tamidadian delivered with an 83 ball 82 as India won a manic, record breaking chase with Hrishikesh Kanitkar hitting, with due respect to MSD's Wankhede 6, the greatest ever boundary in ODI history. Did you observe how unlucky SRT is?

Anyhow, this Azhar-Sachin carousel meant that Tendulkar never captained India in a major multi-nation tournament. The poor guy was spared from making a decision to bat orbowl in a big match that invariably India would have lost and getting another set of brickbats for that.

MAHENDRA SINGH DHONI

Mahendra Singh Dhoni captained India in 2 50 over World Cups, 3 T20 World Cups and 2 Champions Trophies. India won 1 tournament apiece. Here's his record after winning the toss:

2007 World T20

SF vs Australia: Won toss & batted

F vs Pakistan: Won toss & batted

2011 World Cup

SF vs Pakistan: Won toss & batted

2013 Champions Trophy

SF vs Sri Lanka: Won toss & fielded

2015 World Cup

QF vs Bangladesh: Won toss & batted

Only anomaly is the Sri Lanka decision but that was because it rained heavily and he thought Indian bowlers could take advantage. Otherwise, MSD knew India's abilities and always chose to bat when he won the toss.

Smartest. Cricketer. Ever.