4 Indian cricketers who could have been great captains

Unlike football, a captain's job in cricket is not merely a formality. It requires a person who has the requisite skills, temperament and the desired cricketing acumen.

It is a specialist's job, history has shown that a great batsman or a great bowler who were made captains on the basis of their greatness as a batsman or as a bowler often proved to be disastrous. Then there were some examples like Mike Brearley who played as specialist captains for their respective teams.

Indian cricket has witnessed some great captains. Saurav Ganguly's name instantly comes to mind when we talk about great Indian captains. Ganguly was known for his man-management skills, which gave India many great cricketers like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, MS Dhoni and Zaheer Khan. Dhoni was a great captain in one-dayers, the way he used to handle spinners in the middle overs was quite remarkable.

These great leaders are on one end of the spectrum and on the other end of the spectrum are those Indian players who could have been great leaders, if they would have got sufficient opportunities. Let's take a look at them:

#1 Gautam Gambhir

Gambhir has a great cricketing mind

Gautam Gambhir, who was one of the mainstays of Indian batting during the period from 2008 to 2011, could have been a great captain for India. Unfortunately for him, during the tenure he played most of his cricket for India, there was no vacancy for captain's post. Dhoni was firmly at the helm during this period. In Dhoni's absence, Gambhir got to captain India during 6 one-dayers and India won all 6.

Gambhir showed his captaincy acumen during his IPL stint. KKR - a team which was struggling to find its feet in IPL before Gambhir was appointed the captain, went on to win two IPL titles under Gautam Gambhir. The way he handled players like Sunil Narine and Manvinder Singh Bisla, speaks a lot about his man management skills.

Sunil Narine's batting skills (who plays as an all-rounder in T-20 cricket nowadays) were discovered under Gautam Gambhir's captaincy. If Gambhir, who got ICC Test cricketer of the year of the year award in 2009, would have carried on his rich vein of form as an Indian batsman, then India might have witnessed a great spell under captain Gambhir, but, unfortunately, that was not to be.

#2 Ajay Jadeja

Jadeja was a street-smart cricketer

Jadeja was a street-smart cricketer who was known for his great cricketing acumen. one can still sense that microscopic viewpoint that he has towards the game when he is commenting on the game.

There were two major reasons due to which he could never be a regular Indian captain - He was never a certainty in the Indian Test side. He played most of his cricket during 1990's and during that era having separate captains for separate formats was not a norm Azharuddin and Tendulkar were the regular captains during the time he played with the Indian team.

Post Tendulkar, he could have got an opportunity, but, by that time he was embroiled in the match-fixing saga which resulted in an abrupt end to his international career.

Jadeja off and on led India in 13 ODIs, out of which India won 8.

#3 Virender Sehwag

Sehwag had a knack of understanding match situations really well

Another street-smart cricketer from Delhi who had all the ingredients of being a good captain had he got the opportunity. Sehwag's smartness as a cricketer came to the fore whenever he came on to bowl. He used to get most of his wickets by outfoxing the batsmen.

He had this special ability to judge a match situation really well. Having said that, the biggest asset of Virender Sehwag was his calm demeanour. He was cool as a cucumber on a cricket field, which is a must for being a good leader.

Sehwag led India in 12 ODIs, out of which India won 7, he also led India in 4 Tests.

#4 Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri had

great

cricketing acumen

Ravi Shastri had a great cricketing acumen and at one point of time, he was touted as the future Indian captain. But, his image outside cricket and his frequent injuries prevented him from becoming an Indian captain.

Shastri captained India in just one Test - against West Indies in 1988 which India won by a margin of 255 runs. Apart from this, Shastri captained India in 11 ODIs as well. Shastri led his domestic side Bombay to Ranji title during the final year of his playing career.