Anil Kumble made his debut as Captain in Test Matches for India
It is a great achievement for any player to taste victory on his debut as captain in test matches. There are various ways to celebrate a test win. Anil Kumble’s first triumph as Indian captain, a hard-fought one, has just been achieved at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. Anil Kumble mentioned it more in Just, but it summed up India’s attitude in this match. To be honest, stay focused, fight hard, and do not give up. Ever imagined Kumble dancing around in a frenzy? Now that’s just not cricket.
Make sure that a single test is too early to frame and judge anything; leave alone the multifaceted art that is the captaincy. However, Anil Kumble has already given many positive indicators. Before the match, Kumble had written about a document he was preparing for the side. It was a mission statement that would set the match agenda. And by the end of the match, it was very clear that one side was acting far better in response to their leader than the other.
Kumble himself left a positive impact on the game, something that couldn’t be said about Shoaib Malik, his counterpart, who has been under fire. Anil Kumble made a winning start to his captain inning and became the seventh India captain after Polly Umrigar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Virender Sehwag to win his maiden Test match as captain. After that, MS Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane achieved the same feat.
India’s six-wicket win over Pakistan in the first Test match at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground in 2007 in Delhi was the first under Kumble to set a new world record for leading the side after playing the highest number of Test matches. He played 118 Test matches before becoming India’s 30th captain in Test cricket.
Steve Waugh, who led Australia after playing 111 test matches, held the previous record. Waugh, who made his Test debut against India at Melbourne in 1985–86, captained his team for the first time against the West Indies at Port of Spain in 1998–99. At 37 years and 36 days, Kumble was the fifth-oldest Indian captain in Test cricket after Vinoo Mankad (41 years and 289 days), Lala Amarnath (41 years and 95 days), Hemu Adhikari (39 years and 195 days), and Cottari Kanakaiya (CK) Nayudu (38 years and 105 days) and the third-oldest on debut.
CK Nayudu was the first Indian captain in Test cricket. He led India in four Test matches, lost three, and drew one. India achieved their first victory under the captainship of Lala Amarnath who captained India in 15 Test matches. He led India to an innings and eight-run victory over England at Madras in 1951-52, which came in the country’s 25th Test match.
CK Nayudu (four Tests), the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram (three tests), Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi (three tests), Lala Amarnath (15 tests), Vijay Hazare (14 tests), Vinoo Mankad (six tests), Ghulam Ahmed (three tests), Polly Umrigar (eight tests), Hemu Adhikari (one Test), Dattajirao Gaekwad (four Tests), Pankaj Roy (one Test), Gulab Ramchand (five tests), Nari Contractor (12 tests), Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (40 Tests), Chandu Borde (one Test), Ajit Wadekar (16 tests), Srinivas Venkataraghavan (five tests), Sunil Gavaskar (47 Tests), Bishan Singh Bedi (22 Tests), Gundappa Viswanath (two tests), Kapil Dev (34 Tests), Dilip Vengsarkar (10 tests), Ravi Shastri (one Test), Krishnamachari Srikkanth (four Tests), Muhammed Azharuddin (47 Tests), Sachin Tendulkar (25 tests), Sourav Ganguly (49 Tests), Rahul Dravid (25 tests) and Virender Sehwag (one Test) have captained India before Kumble.
The first Indian to lead his team, Kumble, to victory in his maiden Test match as captain was Polly Umrigar. He made his debut as India captain after playing 26 Test matches against New Zealand at Bombay in 1955–56 and achieving an innings and 27-run victory in this match. Sunil Gavaskar led India to an eight-wicket victory over New Zealand at Auckland in 1975-76 in his maiden Test match as captain. He was leading the India side after playing 17 Test matches in the absence of the unfit Bishan Singh Bedi (leg injury).
India recorded a 255-run victory in the only Test match in which Ravi Shastri was leading the side. He was captaining the India team in the absence of the injured Dilip Vengsarkar. Ravi Shastri became India’s captain after playing 57 Test matches. Sachin Tendulkar was the fourth Indian captain to win his first Test match. He led India for the first time against Australia in Delhi in 1996–97 after playing 41 Test matches. His initial Test match as captain culminated in his receiving the new Gavaskar-Border Trophy for the winners of the series between these two countries. India achieved a seven-wicket win in the only Test match of the series.
Sourav Ganguly, who holds the record for leading the India team in the highest number of Test matches, led India to a nine-wicket win against Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2000-01 in his maiden Test as captain. He captained India after playing 35 Tests.
The ace leg spinner says he is very well aware of the accountability associated with the job, and captaincy has come at a time in his career when he can enjoy the challenge. Kumble also feels that the newfound aggression in the young India team was always there. As a fighter on the field, the 37-year-old sees nothing wrong with the younger lot showing their emotions on the ground.
Virender Sehwag was the sixth Indian captain to win his first Test match. He led the team to a 259-run hit against Sri Lanka at Ahmadabad in 2005-06 after playing 38 Test matches. India went into this match in some turmoil. A huge public outcry after the exclusion of Sourav Ganguly was followed by Rahul Dravid being hospitalized with gastroenteritis, ending a run of 93 consecutive Tests since his debut.
Anil Kumble, who lost the toss on his debut as captain, also led India to victory in his only one-day international match against England at Chennai on January 25, 2002. In the Kotla Test, there were three former Indian captains, Sachin Tendulkar (25 tests), Sourav Ganguly (49 tests), and Rahul Dravid (25 tests), who played under Kumble. It was not the first time that an Indian captain had three former skippers playing under him.
When Mohammed Azharuddin led the India team in the first Test match against Australia at Brisbane in 1991–92, there were four former Indian skippers, Kapil Dev (34 Tests), Dilip Vengsarkar (10 Tests), Ravi Shastri (one Test), and K Srikkanth (four Tests), in the team.
In the first Test match of the three Test-match series against Pakistan at Lahore in 2005-06, three former Indian captains, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Virender Sehwag, were playing under Rahul Dravid.
Only the third spinner after Bishan Singh Bedi and S Venkataraghavan to Captain the Indian team, Anil Kumble He says that, as a bowler, he knows the “subtleties” of the game well and can use that knowledge while leading the country in Test matches.
The ace leg spinner says he is aware of the responsibility associated with the job, and captaincy has come at two times in his career when he can “relish the challenge.”, He also feels that the new-found aggression in the young India team was always there. As a fighter on the field, the 37-year-old sees nothing wrong with the younger lot showing their emotions on the ground.
Anil Kumble, MS Dhoni, and Ajinkya Rahane registered their names to add to the list of nine captains victorious on debut as captains in Test matches for India. Ajinkya Rahane’s majestic character helped India race to victory at Dharamsala. The young captain led the team brilliantly after losing the toss against the West Indies in 2017. He has been very positive about adapting to conditions since regular captain Virat Kohli was ruled out of the Test match due to a shoulder injury. MS Dhoni tasted a similar victory over South Africa in 2008.
