Indian Capatains: How They Handled Their Batting With Captaincy

I have really followed cricket for the last two or three years. In these years what I've really learned is how captaincy can change a player.

This is why I am doing this study on the last three captains of India.

Sourav Ganguly

The reason why I chose him first is simply because before him, India had everything but motivation to become one of the top teams. He was the man who converted the team into a well oiled machine from a rusted piece.

He was able to lift a bunch of players from talented players to world beaters. He had an eye for not only talent, but also talent that would do the team good in the long run. He proved many wrong by making it clear that India could achieve a great deal. I also think he played a part in being able to inspire other sub-continent teams to become a lot better.

It was also under him that Rahul Dravid realised his true potential and was able to improve his one day game

The main difference between him and the previous captains was that he had an arrogance that allowed him to hold his own in front of anyone.

Though in all this, he did sacrifice his batting quite a lot. His test average was in the thirties during this period and despite having good performances in ODI's, he was not as good as he could have been. Also, when things got bad for India he was not able to inspire the team with his batting.

Rahul Dravid

The man who I think was needed after someone like Ganguly. He was not a captain by any standards, but what he had was good form which he had converted into consistency for many years.

Once he got set into his new role, India started winning quite a bit. He kept on playing good knocks and supported the team like he always did.

But something that has always happened with Indian cricket is follow-up of a high by a low. This was the time when Dravid or "The Wall" started breaking up. It had not been a complete collapse of form.

Then of course as we know, India was out of the world cup very soon. After that though the team regained momentum, Dravid was unable to and the result we can see today.

M. S. Dhoni

This is the man who today is called "Captain Cool". I don't think I have to go into what all he has achieved and how good a captain he is.

He is the man who has taken us to the path that Ganguly built for Indian cricket. He is now making good use of the team; he has actually got us very close to the No. 1 spot, and may well take us there. 

But what I think is important in all this is the reinvention of his batting. He is no more the slam bang wicketkeeper batsman who entered cricket. He has now become a lot more cautious and responsible. Though we do not see Dhoni banging the ball the time, I think it would be fair to say that we do not miss it.

So here I keep in front of you the last three captains of Indian and how they handled captaincy. In the first case we see how Ganguly had to sacrifice his batting as he had to pay more attention to captaincy and how due to that India lost half a batsmen.

Then we saw how Dravid could not cope with captaincy and saw it result in his batting form.  The third case shows us how Dhoni recreated his batting or made a sacrifice of his natural batting to become a better leader.