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* The Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram: A mediocre
cricketer, he led India on the tour of England in
1936. On several occasions on the tour, senior
players suggested to him that he step down and hand
over charge to C.K. Nayudu, India's first Test
captain and the premier player in the side. 'Vizzy'
refused.
* Vijay Hazare: In his first Test as captain,
against England at Delhi in 1951-52, he teamed up
with opener and long-time batting rival Vijay
Merchant in a partnership of 211. It was obvious
during the stand that they were playing against
each other more than the English bowlers. Merchant
got out at 154, which was at that stage the highest
individual score by an Indian in Test cricket.
Hazare carried on until he surpassed the score, and
then promptly declared. Merchant's pride was hurt
and he did not play a Test again. The match ended
in a dull draw.
* Four leaders in the same series: The five - Test
home series versus the West Indies in 1958-58
witnessed as many as four Indian captains in Polly
Umrigar, Ghulam Ahmed (two Tests), Vinoo Mankad and
Hemu Adhikari. India lost the series 0-3.
* Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi: The Nawab of Pataudi
(Junior) was vice-captain of the team that toured
the West Indies in 1961-62. He took over the
captaincy on the tour at the age of 21 years 77
days when Nari Contractor, the skipper, suffered a
near-fatal skull injury at the hands of Windies
paceman Charlie Griffith. Pataudi was at that point
the youngest-ever Test captain. Contractor
underwent an emergency brain operation and played
no further Test cricket. Pataudi went on lead India
in forty Tests.
* Ajit Wadekar : Vijay Merchant, the Chairman of
the national selection committee, exercised his
prerogative of the casting vote in favour of
Wadekar for India's tour of the West Indies in
1970-71. Wadekar went on to register a hattrick of
series victories, the first two of them overseas,
but was unceremoniously sacked after India's 0-3
whitewash in England in 1974.
* S. Venkatatraghavan: He led India in the first
two World Cups and the tour of England that
followed the 1979 edition. He and his teammates
were embarrassed when the captain of the plane
carrying them back to India after the England tour
announced the news that the captaincy had been
handed back to Sunil Gavaskar.
* Three skippers sacked after tours of Pakistan: As
many as three Indian captains lost their job after
a tour of Pakistan; Bishan Singh Bedi in 1978-79 (
lost series 0-2), Sunil Gavaskar in 1982-83 ( lost
0-3) and Krishnamachari Srikkanth in 1989-90 (drawn
0-0 ) .
* Mohammad Azharuddin: Poor form and allegations of
match-fixing resulted in his final ouster from the
captaincy after the 1999 World Cup.
* Sachin Tendulkar: He had two separate tenures as
captain; from 1996-97 to 1997-98, and then for most
of the 1999-00 season. He decided to relinquish the
mantle of captaincy after the disastrous tour of
Australia in 1999-00.
* Rahul Dravid: He has had several stints as
stand-in captain in place of the injured or
suspended Sourav Ganguly. He has led India in five
Tests in three different series and in 17 ODIs in
seven separate rubbers!
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