4 reasons why Rahul Dravid is India's most underrated captain

In the ongoing millennium, Indian cricket gets defined and often compared between two distinct eras- The Sourav Ganguly era between 2000 and 2005 and the MS Dhoni era between 2007 and 2014 in Test Cricket and 2007 and 2016 in limited-overs cricket.

In between them, there was one other phase in Indian cricket which often gets forgotten because of one memory and one memory alone.

Rahul Dravid would arguably go down as India's greatest ever Test cricketer and would also be in the list of the finest Indian ODI batsmen, but whenever the question of his captaincy tenure comes up, only one event props up- the infamous maiden round exit from the 2007 50-over World Cup in the Caribbean.

However, while that remains the single biggest disappointment in Dravid's otherwise memorable ODI career, there were aspects in his tenure when India went forward and a lot of them never come in the forefront when one recalls his time at the helm.

Here are four reasons why he was perhaps the most underrated captain India have ever had:

The idea of the five-bowler theory

One of the things Dravid's predecessor- Sourav Ganguly- preached a lot during his time as the India captain was to have an additional proper batsman lower down the order and opt for a mere four bowlers down the order.

In order to have that luxury, Dravid took up wicket-keeping duties and Mohammad Kaif got his opportunity at Number 7. The theory paid off most famously on the evening of the 13th of July 2002 when Kaif and Yuvraj Singh rescued India and helped pull off one of the most sensational victories in the history of India's limited-overs cricket.

However, under Dravid, that line of thinking took a backseat, primarily because of his own theory of how India needed it's bowlers to rise to the occasion and deliver victories and not just the batsman. Often in limited-overs cricket, India went in five proper batsmen, with Irfan Pathan contributing with both bat and ball and had four mainstream bowlers, usually containing two fast bowlers and two spinners.

It's a theory which current captain Virat Kohli has employed with Hardik Pandya playing as the seam bowling all-rounder aiding four other frontline bowlers.

The chase masters

Often, either Yuvraj Singh or MS Dhoni or sometimes both played a crucial role in India chasing down big targets under Dravid

For his ability to track down any total in limited-overs cricket, Virat Kohli is labelled as the 'chase master' and rightfully so.

However, even before Kohli announced himself on the international scene, India went through a phase where under Dravid they tracked down targets with great consistency, even sharing at one point a record with the great West Indies side of yesteryear of winning on 14 consecutive occasions, batting second

The Indian teams before that, would often look to bat first, put up a big score and then hope for the bowlers to turn up, but Dravid looked to improve a tendency of Indian teams not chasing too well and succeeded superbly in its execution.

The overseas triumphs

After bowing out early from the 2007 World Cup, Dravid led India's to its first-ever Test series win in England in 21 years

Dravid's tenure as captain often gets marred by India's horror showing in the 2007 50-over cricket World Cup, where they were ousted in the opening round of the competition.

What doesn't get highlighted often are his results in bilateral series both in India and overseas in Tests and ODIs. During his tenure, India won Test series in West Indies in 2006 and in England in 2007. He was also the first captain to lead an Indian team to a Test win in South Africa in 2006.

In ODIs, India's performance at home against all teams was excellent, but perhaps under Dravid, their best triumph came in Pakistan in 2006, when they beat them 4-1 on their soil.

The followers of Indian cricket have always stressed upon the team playing well and winning overseas. Here was a captain who made that happen,

The development of Dhoni

Dhoni flourished under Dravid's leadership

Post the 2003 World Cup, there was some talk of how India needed to relieve Dravid from the wicketkeeping duties in order to continue getting the best out of him with the bat.

The selectors tried a few options before finally zeroing on a 23-year-old tyro from Jharkhand named Mahendra Singh Dhoni in late 2004. He started off with a bang by making 148 against Pakistan at Vizag in April 2005, but six months on under Dravid began to show more consistency, in making big scores and helping the team win.

In Jaipur that year against Sri Lanka, Dravid pushed Dhoni to Number 3 while chasing a 300+ score and he responded by making an unbeaten 183 to help India win. A few months later, Dhoni went to Pakistan and along with the lower-order guided India to safety in the Faisalabad Test by making his maiden Test hundred. On the same tour, he aided Yuvraj Singh in finishing off two matches in the ODI series against Pakistan.

Similar performances from his blade followed in the leadup to the World Cup and had it not been for Dravid, perhaps Dhoni would never have gone on to become the limited-overs great that he is today.