Fate enjoyed by Indian Captains in Test series in England

#3 MS Dhoni, 2011

The men in blue were on a high post their 2011 World Cup triumph in Mumbai. Naturally, the expectations were sky high as India undertook its sojourn in England under the leadership of MS Dhoni. On a personal front, MS Dhoni was living a dream as had just claimed back-to-back victories as skipper (2011 WC and IPL 2011).

However, what followed was an unprecedented 4-0 whitewash at the hands of the Englishmen. The Indians were totally underprepared which was evident in their lackluster batting and lackadaisical bowling efforts. Apart from Dravid, none of the other batsmen really stood up for team India's cause. India progressively declined throughout the series as the margins of their defeats grew wider. While the first 2 matches were lost by 196 and 319 runs respectively, the last 2 games ended in innings defeats.

Constant injuries to senior pros also did not help Dhoni's cause. While regular vice-captain Sehwag was ruled out before the commencement of the tour due to injury, Gautam Gambhir, who was named as makeshift vice-captain, suffered an injury during the course of the series. Senior paceman Zaheer Khan, who was the player of the series in India's previous tour in 2007, was ruled out at the early stages of the series. The constant injuries meant that a completely undercooked Rudra Pratap Singh had to be flown in as a replacement, who was on a holiday in the US at that time.

With the bat, MSD had a fair series though. Considering the fragile nature of team India's batting on that tour and his personal lackluster record on seaming and bouncy tracks, Dhoni did a fair job by scoring 220 runs at an average of 31. However, Dhoni was spared by the selectors as they decided to persist with him as captain, even after such a disastrous series, due to the lack of viable alternatives.