India are currently on a streak of 11 unbeaten matches in Tests, something that equals the national team’s sixth best run of form over all formats and in all time. New captain Virat Kohli has started his campaign on an imperious note, and is in line to beat all previously standing records in this 2016/17 home season that is currently underway.
Apart from the five great captains who find place in this article, there has only been one instance when India have gone on a run of more than 10 matches without losing – an instance that deserves special mention also because of the time in which it was achieved.
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From January 1953 to January 1956, India did not lose a single Test, drawing 11 and winning 2. There was no single captain for the span of these three years, however – Vijay Hazare led a brave Indian team in West Indies, Vinoo Mankad’s team showed similar mettle in Pakistan, and Polly Umrigar’s side beat the touring New Zealand side 2-0. Having started playing the game barely 20 years ago, India had finally marked their arrival in international cricket.
However, it was to be more than twenty years till another similar run of form came about again.
# 5 – MS Dhoni (11 matches)
Like Kohli, his predecessor MS Dhoni also started his reign of captaincy with a golden touch, proving unbeatable in his first eleven matches in charge. He took over from Anil Kumble in the middle of a home series against Australia in November 2008, winning his first match and clinching the series 2-0. In December that year, Dhoni’s India trounced the visiting English side 1-0.
In March the following year, India travelled to New Zealand, for what was expected to be a tough series. However, it turned out to be an unexpectedly easy 1-0 series win for the visitors, buoyed by Sachin Tendulkar’s 160 in the first Test. India hosted Sri Lanka for a 2-0 series win after this success, following that up with a 2-0 series win in Bangladesh. Dhoni’s India was already among the most successful of all time – his record read 8 wins, 3 draws, 0 losses.
Unbeaten from November 2008 to February 2010 – 8 wins, 3 draws
# 4 – Virat Kohli (11 matches*)
Like his predecessor, Kohli took over the Test captaincy in the middle of a series against Australia. The vital difference was that this was an away assignment, the toughest of times to be given the reins of a team. Kohli started out with a defeat, but such was the bravery shown by him in the middle that it almost seemed like a victory. Under his captaincy, India have lost only once since, in the first match of the Sri Lanka series last year, owing to a fourth innings collapse brought about by Rangana Herath.
Since then, Kohli’s India have been invincible, and with the win in the 1st Test against New Zealand, he has matched the streak that Dhoni had started his captaincy with – in the last 11 matches, India have won 8 and drawn 3. This period has seen two tours to Sri Lanka and West Indies and a home series with South Africa.
Further records await, and if the home team can continue this vein of form against the Kiwis and England who are scheduled to visit, Kohli could go beyond the currently standing record.
Unbeaten from August 2015 to present – 8 wins, 3 draws
# 3 – Mohammed Azharuddin (14 matches)
Azharuddin is unfortunately remembered for many wrong reasons now, the latest among them being a film made fictionalising his life. Amidst all the dirt, and the grace of the leg glance and cover drive, it is easy to forget that Azhar brought a rare stability to the Indian team in the mid-1990s.
Azhar’s captaincy career started with tough away tours of New Zealand and England, where his team failed to register a single win. A horrendous 0-4 loss to Australia followed in 1992. The Africa series towards the end of the year too started badly, a win against Zimbabwe was not possible, and South Africa inflicted one defeat.
However, as the year turned, something unexplainable happened. India drew the last Test of the South Africa series, following it up with a 3-0 drubbing of England later that month. Azharuddin himself was in glorious form with the bat, as Kapil Dev and India’s spin trio formed a lethal team. And then there was the young Sachin Tendulkar, holding abundant promise. Kapil’s mantle was soon passed on to young Javagal Srinath, as India looked again like the team to beat.
India then went on to beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in Sri Lanka, compounding it with a 3-0 sweep of the return tour. When West Indies toured in the winter of 1994, India had not lost a Test for almost two years, something which had not happened since the 1950s and something that has not happened since. It was West Indies, inspired by Courtney Walsh, Brian Lara and Jimmy Adams, who finally brought Azhar’s glorious run to an end.
Unbeaten from January 1993 to December 1994 – 9 wins, 5 draws
# 2 – Kapil Dev (17 matches)
Kapil Dev might have led India to its first World Cup title, but India’s record in Tests were woefully bad in the initial part of his captaincy tenure. For almost four years, Kapil could not register his first win. However, in the winter of 1985, there was a turnaround. Kapil’s team managed to return undefeated from a tour of Australia, but a win still proved elusive.
The next year, India travelled to England, and this was when something completely unexpected happened. Dilip Vengsarkar played like a man possessed, India beat England in the first two Tests of the series and drew the last.
A long home season followed, where India stayed undefeated against Australia and Sri Lanka, beating the latter twice. This run of invincibility continued till 1987, with an excruciatingly narrow defeat to Pakistan. Sunil Gavaskar fell short of his century in the fourth innings by 4 runs, and India lost by 16 runs.
Unbeaten from September to 1985 to March 1987 – 4 wins, 12 draws, 1 tie
# 1 – Sunil Gavaskar (18 matches)
After the burst in the 1950s, similar highs were few and infrequent in Indian cricket for the next two decades, until the renaissance under Sunil Gavaskar. The mighty West Indies could not break through the Indian defence in 1978, marking the start of a period of two years when India would only lose one Test, that too when Gavaskar was not leading.
In the summer of 1979, India lost a series in England 0-1, drawing the last three matches of the tour. Srinivas Venkataraghavan was the captain during this series, but Gavaskar was reinstated in the series against Australia at home next month. Gavaskar had led on 7 occasions by then, not losing even once.
A long home season followed in 1979/80, with Australia and Pakistan visiting, what is remembered as one of the most successful periods in Indian cricket history. Gavaskar’s team beat both teams by a margin of 2-0.
Gavaskar finally lost a match in 1981, on a tour of Australia, ending a streak of 18 matches.
Unbeaten from December 1978 to January 1981 – 6 wins, 12 draws (India, however, lost 2 matches in this duration, one under Venkataraghavan and one under Gundappa Vishwanath)
Team India’s longest unbeaten streaks
Feb 53 to Jan 56 – 11 draw, 2 wins (Vijay Hazare vs WI, Vinoo Mankad vs Pak, Polly Umrigar vs NZ, broken by Aus in Chennai)
Aug 79 to Jan 80 – 11 draw, 4 wins (Venkataraghvan vs Eng, Gavaskar vs Aus and Pak, broken by Eng at Mumbai)
Sep 85 to Mar 87 – 12 draw, 4 wins, 1 tie (Kapil Dev vs Aus, Eng, SL, Pak, broken by Pak at Chinnaswamy)
Jan 93 to Dec 94 – 5 draw, 9 wins (Azharuddin vs Eng, SL, broken by WI in Punjab)
Oct 08 to Jan 10 – 6 draw, 8 wins (Kumble vs Aus, Dhoni vs Eng, NZ, SL, Bang, broken by SA at Vidarbha)
Aug 15 to present – 3 draws, 8 wins (Kohli vs SL, SA, WI)
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