Who is the best captain India ever had?

[Dumbbells]

Well, If u think, playing at no.4 in the WC final was Dhoni's best move, think again. It was Gary kirsten who asked Dhoni to bat at no.4. Kirsten:

I remember before the final that we had been floating him at No 5 or 6 in the batting order and Yuvraj was batting at No 4. Every now and then, I would walk up to him and ask whether we want to do any rotations? We had Randiv (Lankan spinner) bowling and it was tough for the left-handers. So, I just went up to him and said ‘MS why don’t you go in now’. And he said ‘I don’t know’ and he walked away.

http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_i-would-go-to-war-with-dhoni-by-my-side-gary-kirsten_1556275

[G_B_]

good old gary who knows we might not have been white washed under gary (probably would have still lost) its a shame Gary left.

[vvvslaxman]

Well, If u think, playing at no.4 in the WC final was Dhoni's best move, think again. It was Gary kirsten who asked Dhoni to bat at no.4. Kirsten: http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_i-would-go-to-war-with-dhoni-by-my-side-gary-kirsten_1556275

yea Dhoni is somewhat afraid of changes. Lack of out of the box thinking was there all the time. Even while defending a total of 414 he let the game drift away until the last few overs. Then our pacers pulled it off. That is where he loses it. He just doesn't know when to realize "enough is enough" ... he allows it to drift far too long before getting proactive. Mostly it was too late .

[rkt.india]

Yes but for me the important thing was the highlighted

Yes, that is the reason I always a captain is most often as good as the players he is handling.

[Crookbond]

Well, If u think, playing at no.4 in the WC final was Dhoni's best move, think again. It was Gary kirsten who asked Dhoni to bat at no.4. Kirsten: http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_i-would-go-to-war-with-dhoni-by-my-side-gary-kirsten_1556275

Could you post a more credible source? Thanks.

[yoda]

Heard a lot about Pataudi, ofc never seen him in action. Kapil was good with energy and leadership, Dravid was pretty good on field captain as well but could not handle Chappell the maniac. Ganguly was good at man management and exhibiting control over the team, altho tactically he left a lot to be desired. Dhoni's strength is his calmness and coolness, but too many bone headed moves make the team's achievements look like despite his captaincy than because of it.

[Dumbbells]

Could you post a more credible source? Thanks.

Forget Gary, Even Dhoni agreed that it was Gary's idea to send at no.4

I hadn't planned to promote myself and play earlier. Gary (then coach Kirsten) asked me if I would go early... I thought with two spinners, may be I should. It worked for me, said Dhoni at the NDTV Indian Of The Year Awards 2011, where the Indian team won the award for IndiaÃÔ Heroes of the Year for the World Cup magic and history.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111019/jsp/sports/story_14641632.jsp

[vvvslaxman]

Heard a lot about Pataudi' date=' ofc never seen him in action. Kapil was good with energy and leadership, Dravid was pretty good on field captain as well but could not handle Chappell the maniac. Ganguly was good at man management and exhibiting control over the team, altho tactically he left a lot to be desired. Dhoni's strength is his calmness and coolness, [b']but too many bone headed moves make the team's achievements look like despite his captaincy than because of it.

True. Mahela jayawardane exhibited better tactical nous compared to Dhoni in most matches despite losing against us. Dhoni never learnt anything from his counterparts. He is the same as the one we saw him in 2007. He didn't improve as a captain. HE just depended on his gut feeling. He still does.

[Crookbond]

Forget Gary, Even Dhoni agreed that it was Gary's idea to send at no.4 http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111019/jsp/sports/story_14641632.jsp

A lot of times it is said that MS Dhoni doesn't listen to any other ideas. I think this instance shows that he does listen if he feels it's correct. So, surely it was Kirsten's idea to promote Dhoni but MS did listen to him which is a nice thing.

[Sidhoni]

So the guy who tallied wins against the mighty Bangladesh and Zimbabwe is our best captain!

[Sidhoni]

10-1 against Australia and England in 12 matches for your best captain.

No.1 test team for the same guy as well. And that 1-10 is now 2-10 :D

[Pakistan]

Dhoni has a weird record as a captain. He reached absolute peak (world cup wins) also registered lot of "first" wins then hit absolute rock bottom.

Dhoni is Indian Ponting. Both were great until they had great players in their respective teams. Once those great players retired or past their prime, they became average captains. I do not know if Dravid is the best Indian captain but he is the best captain out of all the Indian captains i have seen in last 20 years and he is a very level headed guy. I would love to see him become batting coach of Pakistan.

[ravishingravi]

Ganguly. Followed by Dravid. Is there even a contest here ?

[Crookbond]

Dhoni is Indian Ponting. Both were great until they had great players in their respective teams. Once those great players retired or past their prime, they became average captains. I do not know if Dravid is the best Indian captain but he is the best captain out of all the Indian captains i have seen in last 20 years and he is a very level headed guy. I would love to see him become batting coach of Pakistan.

I would rate (at the current stage) Ponting better than Dhoni after the retirement of those "great players". The tour of South Africa in 2009 is a very good point.

[Crookbond]

Ganguly. Followed by Dravid. Is there even a contest here ?

Yes - you can't ignore Wadekar, Pataudi et al. just because they didn't remove their T-shirt at Lords.

[Raghav_12]

For my money Shastri would have been a great captain. A shrewd onfield tactician. But his selfish batting dug his own grave. Srikkanth was great in uniting the team. But his own form took a nosedive. Sunny was not bad. Kapil dev performed brilliantly when he captained the side. Nepotism' date= politics were always there.

He has 100% win record as test captain :winky:

[vvvslaxman]

Dhoni is Indian Ponting. Both were great until they had great players in their respective teams. Once those great players retired or past their prime, they became average captains. I do not know if Dravid is the best Indian captain but he is the best captain out of all the Indian captains i have seen in last 20 years and he is a very level headed guy. I would love to see him become batting coach of Pakistan.

i wouldn't say that. When India won T20 , they hardly had a great team. India had the same team when they fell from grace. After world cup his entire fortunes took a nose dive with the same team.

[Clarke]

Which captain has the most losses ? Dhoni could end up at the top if he isn't already there with this 'settled' combination outside the subcontinent.

[bharat297]

He has 100% win record as test captain :winky:

Pretty sad that Indians here consider Dhoni as the worst ever Indian captain. I think it's pretty indicative of the mentality of Indians that if someone is built up (usually by us), then as soon as we find flaws we exaggerate those flaws. I'm not saying Dhoni is the greatest captain ever, in fact I voted for Ganguly but to call Dhoni the worst is pretty terrible tbh. At the end of the day, he took a side that had long struggled to win major tournaments and: * 2007 World T20 victory * 2008 CB series victory * #1 Test ranking for 1.5 years * 1-1 draw in South Africa (our best performance in a long time) * 2011 World Cup victory I too, like many others find him to be too defensive nowadays, but surely those achievements I listed above can't be the worst amongst Indian captains. I think people that call him the worst captain ever are being overly emotional.

[Debutant]

Sourav Ganguly. :aggressive: