Dhoni overtakes Ganguly's tally of 21 test wins as captain

[Raghav_12]

We were never whitewashed under Dada' date=' were we??[/quote'] Under dada we always competed well everywhere in the world, never capitulated like 8-0, barring NZ series (02-03) - which can't be taken seriously as test cricket. Biggest achivement under Ganguly was drawing a series in Australia and winning a series in Pakistan. Dhoni's best achievement in test cricket is a drawn series vs SA. But humiliation of 8-0 and home series loss against poms wipe away any chances of Dhoni being considered a decent captain. Anyway soon he is going to accumulate maximum number of test losses for Indian captain since Nawab Pataudi times.

[Raghav_12]

Not sure if serious or not ... Since 2011 World cup ... we have played 13 tests at home (including the two remaining in this series) and 11 tests away. however after this, for the next two years we have just 1 home test series scheduled against west Indies while we play 14 tests away in NZL, SAF, ENG and AUS. That will make it 25 tests away and 16 tests at home in between WC 2011 and WC 2015. Now explain, how we play 75% games at home?? And You Call yourself Number ... HUH

I believe this is numb-er not number.

[saneindian]

Under dada we always competed well everywhere in the world' date=' never capitulated like 8-0, barring NZ series (02-03) - which can't be taken seriously as test cricket. Biggest achivement under Ganguly was drawing a series in Australia and [b']winning a series in Pakistan. Dhoni's best achievement in test cricket is a drawn series vs SA. But humiliation of 8-0 and home series loss against poms wipe away any chances of Dhoni being considered a decent captain. Anyway soon he is going to accumulate maximum number of test losses for Indian captain since Nawab Pataudi times.

In which Dada missed the 1st 2 tests and Dravid was the captain? It's similar to saying Aussies conquered the final frontier in 2004-05 under Punter when in fact it was Gilchrist who led them to a 2-0 win before Punter took over and lost the 4th test at Mumbai.

[Sachin=GOD]

Not in a 3 or more test series. Under Dada we lost to Zim, WI, NZ away and could not win at home vs NZ and Pak but obviously 8-0 under Dhoni has no parallel in our test history.

while Kaptaan Kool has achieved this remarkable feet twice :hatsoff:

[saneindian]

while Kaptaan Kool has achieved this remarkable feet twice :hatsoff:

Rain and Mike Dennes saved Dada on the SA tour of 2001. Scoreline reads 1-0, we lost the 3rd 'unofficial test' and rain washed out 5 sessions in the 2nd test. Dhoni has a few firsts to his credit like 8-0 but Dada too has a few things up his sleeve like losing a test to Zim and losing a series to WI. But guess all that Dada did has been forgotten. :P

[Crookbond]

Rain and Mike Dennes saved Dada on the SA tour of 2001. Scoreline reads 1-0, we lost the 3rd 'unofficial test' and rain washed out 5 sessions in the 2nd test. Dhoni has a few firsts to his credit like 8-0 but Dada too has a few things up his sleeve like losing a test to Zim and losing a series to WI. But guess all that Dada did has been forgotten. :P

Not to mention the pathetic ODI record at home. Just 1 ODI series win against a good opposition (South Africa) in all those years of captaincy.

[Raghav_12]

In which Dada missed the 1st 2 tests and Dravid was the captain? It's similar to saying Aussies conquered the final frontier in 2004-05 under Punter when in fact it was Gilchrist who led them to a 2-0 win before Punter took over and lost the 4th test at Mumbai.

but in this case Dada won the decider. Rahul onliy drew series by 1-1 :dontknow: Though it's Rahul's batting which won the test but here we talking about captaining only. Also going by the same logic, Ganguly didn't lose Australia (in India) series.

[Raghav_12]

Rain and Mike Dennes saved Dada on the SA tour of 2001. Scoreline reads 1-0, we lost the 3rd 'unofficial test' and rain washed out 5 sessions in the 2nd test. Dhoni has a few firsts to his credit like 8-0 but Dada too has a few things up his sleeve like losing a test to Zim and losing a series to WI. But guess all that Dada did has been forgotten. :P

which one you referring to? what was new in that?

[saneindian]

but in this case Dada won the decider. Rahul onliy drew series by 1-1 :dontknow: Though it's Rahul's batting which won the test but here we talking about captaining only. Also going by the same logic, Ganguly didn't lose Australia (in India) series.

Credit for that series win vs Pak should be shared. Dravid won us our first ever test in Pakistan and Dada gave the finishing touches to complete the series win. You do remember the Nagpur fiasco and how the Indian captain feigned an injury to stay away from the rest of that series? Forget wins and losses and all other achievements, that mysterious back injury minutes before the toss was the biggest blot on Ganguly's captaincy career irrespective of the behind the doors BCCI politics being played .

[Raghav_12]

Credit for that series win vs Pak should be shared. Dravid won us our first ever test in Pakistan and Dada gave the finishing touches to complete the series win. You do remember the Nagpur fiasco and how the Indian captain feigned an injury to stay away from the rest of that series? Forget wins and losses and all other achievements, that mysterious back injury minutes before the toss was the biggest blot on Ganguly's captaincy career irrespective of the behind the doors BCCI politics being played .

Yes. That was a blot I agree. But indian skippers are in habit of throwing tantrums around pitch to hide their inabilities to win outside India. Tantrums that Dhoni threw during England series ahead of Kolkata test were also disgusting almost to the same level. What worse, Dhoni lost series despite receiving ordored pitches.

[SLICKR392]

We have got people who can lead and get better record than Dhoni on this thread...so.. :hatsoff: Indian cricket's future is bright !

[G_B_]

i guess the news to take home from all of this is that India have had their most successful captains nearly back to back (barring a dravid captaincy) Shows the general trajectory of Indian cricket despite downs recently is upwards.

[Lord]

barring Dravid?

[G_B_]

barring Dravid?

statistically Dravid has won 8 lost 6 and drawn 11 in the 25 matches he was captain. Therefore statistically Ganguly and Dhoni are better captains * i am fully aware of his series win in england and the windies. Which is why i said statistically. Taking statistics aside that away win to england was one of the biggest achievements for indian cricket in recent years. I fully acknowledge that stats are not the only thing to go on.

[Ultimate_Game]

If you want to nit-pick any Indian captain will give you plenty of ammunition to take your shots. I guess people having wet dreams about Ganguly's captaincy have forgotten the atrocious record he had in the finals where we lost like 10 straight finals under Ganguly's captaincy. Ganguly managed to lose to WI and NZ, and a test to Zim for crying out loud. And then feigning injury and sitting out of a "make or break" Test against Aussies at Nagpur surely oozes leadership for Ganguly lovers. My point being if you want to poke holes, you can do so with any Indian captain. Historically we have been a poor side who has under-achieved for the most part. We still don't have a series win in SA and Aus and our away record is one of the worst. Yes, 0-8 happened under Dhoni but it wasn't his fault the whole batting lineup went AWOL or Zak reverted back to his "fat and unfit" days. Ganguly had the luxury of one of the best batting lineups in the history of the game with VVS, Dravid, Tendulkar and Sehwag at their best under him, not to forget Kumble. It's like saying Clarke is a worse captain than Waugh or Ponting when you simply can't compare given the disparity in the teams which Clarke and others have led. At the end of the day Dhoni has been more than decent with success in all formats - a T20 Cup win, World Cup win and 22 wins in Tests. If someone had told me this is what India would get with Dhoni as a captain, I would have gladly taken it.

[Sachin=GOD]

If you want to nit-pick any Indian captain will give you plenty of ammunition to take your shots. I guess people having wet dreams about Ganguly's captaincy have forgotten the atrocious record he had in the finals where we lost like 10 straight finals under Ganguly's captaincy. Ganguly managed to lose to WI and NZ, and a test to Zim for crying out loud. And then feigning injury and sitting out of a "make or break" Test against Aussies at Nagpur surely oozes leadership for Ganguly lovers. My point being if you want to poke holes, you can do so with any Indian captain. Historically we have been a poor side who has under-achieved for the most part. We still don't have a series win in SA and Aus and our away record is one of the worst. Yes, 0-8 happened under Dhoni but it wasn't his fault the whole batting lineup went AWOL or Zak reverted back to his "fat and unfit" days. Ganguly had the luxury of one of the best batting lineups in the history of the game with VVS, Dravid, Tendulkar and Sehwag at their best under him, not to forget Kumble. It's like saying Clarke is a worse captain than Waugh or Ponting when you simply can't compare given the disparity in the teams which Clarke and others have led. At the end of the day Dhoni has been more than decent with success in all formats - a T20 Cup win, World Cup win and 22 wins in Tests. If someone had told me this is what India would get with Dhoni as a captain, I would have gladly taken it.

Pointing out that we have had THE WORST RUN in the history of Test cricket under Dhoni isn't nit picking - its simply the reality. No other Indian team has even come close to being beaten 8-0 before. You sound like the supporters of Rahul Gandhi - if the party wins, all credit goes to Rahul Baba and if the party loses then its the organization's fault.

[Crookbond]

I admire Ganguly as a captain but talks about him having a worse team than Dhoni are all really exaggerated. A player named Rahul Dravid averaged over 100 in the 21 Test wins in which Ganguly was a captain. No other captain in Test cricket history has had that luxury.

[saneindian]

Pointing out that we have had THE WORST RUN in the history of Test cricket under Dhoni isn't nit picking - its simply the reality. No other Indian team has even come close to being beaten 8-0 before. You sound like the supporters of Rahul Gandhi - if the party wins, all credit goes to Rahul Baba and if the party loses then its the organization's fault.

Isn't that truly reflected in your own post SG? You talk about the worst run which is fine but then do not even mention the longest undefeated run for the team. Right now Ganguly is being hailed as the benchmark, go back to 2005 and the same Dada was crucified as a villain for his captaincy and there were all sorts of jokes on him in the social media of that time with even hate sites being created in his name!

[Ultimate_Game]

Pointing out that we have had THE WORST RUN in the history of Test cricket under Dhoni isn't nit picking - its simply the reality. No other Indian team has even come close to being beaten 8-0 before. You sound like the supporters of Rahul Gandhi - if the party wins, all credit goes to Rahul Baba and if the party loses then its the organization's fault.

Yup, 0-8 was bad but at the same time the fact Dhoni's the only captain to have reached the pinnacle in Test cricket or to have won multiple World Cups - T20 Cup and the World Cup. Just like other captains he's had both good and bad under his captaincy. If he led the 0-8 debacle, he also led the team to the pinnacle of WC 2011 and T20 Cup wins, which at least to me have been the biggest wins in our history since 1983 WC win. My point was that if you look at his overall performance he's not that bad, and I showed that by simply highlighting bad parts from Ganguly's record as a captain. IMO Ganguly and Dhoni have been the two of the best captains we have had and to make it sound as if Dhoni is the "worst captain India had" (there's already a thread to that effect) is more than a stretch IMO. As for example of Rahul Gandhi, IMO you seem to be displaying that behavior not me. You are the one blaming Dhoni for 0-8 while giving no credit for accomplishments under his captaincy.

[Aaku]

Bestest :isalute: