8 greatest Indian Test captains of all time

#6 Kapil Dev

Kapil’s devils defeated England in back to back Tests – at Lord’s and Headingley in 1986

The man who led India to their first crowing jewel in cricket, and arguably the best all-rounder to have ever played for India, Kapil Dev had a sense of daredevilry around him that always left his admirers befuddled. Whether it was his dashing 175 in a 1983 World Cup game, coming in to bat at 17/5, or his brilliant running catch to dismiss Clive Lloyd in the final of the same tournament, Kapil always brought the action to the table.

In Test cricket, he became the first ever Indian bowler to get to 300 and 400 Test wickets and held the record for the most number of wickets by any bowler in Tests – at 434 – at one stage before being overtaken by Courtney Walsh.

In his second series in Test cricket, against the West Indies at home, the all-rounder scored 329 runs at an average of 65.80 and took 17 wickets at 33.00 from 6 Tests. In the next home series, against Australia, he went a notch higher picking up 28 wickets against Australia in 6 Tests and also scored 212 runs.

When Pakistan arrived later the same year, Kapil Dev unleashed his fearsome best, scalping 32 Pakistanis from 6 Tests and also making 238 runs. These tremendous performances saw him being handed over the captaincy of the side five years into his Test career.

His first assignment, against the West Indies in West Indies in 1983 was a tough one, as India went down to Clive Lloyd’s men 0-2 in a 5-match series. However, Kapil did his share of work in that series as well, scoring 254 runs at 42.33 and picking up 17 wickets 24.94 against a West Indian line-up that had Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall.

Post the World Cup victory of 1983 – that made India’s presence felt in the cricketing world – Kapil’s devils, as they were known thereafter, drew a series against Pakistan at home and lost to the West Indies, again at home. In Tests, Kapil Dev’s moment of glory came in 1986, when India, for the first time, won back to back Tests in England and defeated them 2-0 in a three-match series.

Dilip Vengsarkar, one of India’s finest batsmen, scored 2388 runs at 61.23 – his highest average under any captain – under Kapil’s captaincy and Azharuddin scored over 1000 runs in the formative years of his career between 1985-87 under Kapil Dev.