10 Players To Play The Most ODIs Before Captaining India For The First Time

One of the biggest proud moments for any player would be to captain their nation and it might take a lot of time for the management to select the player as the leader. A lot of things will be taken into account before naming a player as the captain of the side and the primary thing would be the performance of the player.

Some players may have underperformed but they are born leaders and have a good track in the captaincy but the majority won’t get that benefit. It is important to know the value of any player in the team and to analyze their own performances so that it will be easy while being appointed the captain. Here are 10 players to play the most ODIs before captaining India for the first time.

10 Players To Play The Most ODIs Before Captaining India For The First Time:

Gautam Gambhir:

The former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir is 10th on the list of playing the most ODIs before captaining India for the first time and he took exactly 100 games to get his leadership band on. The elegant left-hander had a 100% captaincy record in the 50 over format in the 6 games he captained and he is one of the heroes of the Worldcup triumphs in 2007 and 2011.

Virat Kohli:

The current Indian skipper Virat Kohli went on to take the captaincy duties for India after 104 ODI games and he has an excellent captaincy record which is among the best already. He has captained in 95 ODIs for India, winning 65 of them, and losing 27. He is the fourth successful captain for India ever in ODIs and is likely to become the best when he finishes his career.

Kris Srikkanth:

The popular Indian opener Kris Srikkanth took 111 ODI games to captain the nation and he has always given a lot of dashing starts to the Indian innings at the top of the order. The right-hander could captain the nation for only 13 games and he won just 4 of those games while losing 8 games. He had a decent career as a batsman and he never failed to take on the best of the bowlers from the start.

Sourav Ganguly:

Sourav Ganguly made his ODI debut very early and he had to wait for 111 games to get his captaincy band. The left-hander is one of the best players ever to have played the format and he captained India for 6 years from 1999 to 2005. Ganguly captained India in 147 ODI games in his career winning 76 games and losing 66 of those with a win percentage of 53.52.

Sachin Tendulkar:

Sachin Tendulkar is one of the greatest ever to have played the game and he took 119 ODI games before being handed the responsibility of captaining India. The right-hander captained India in 73 ODIs winning just 23 of them and losing 43 games with a win percentage of 35.07 and soon stepped down from the captaincy. He holds most of the records in the game but wasn’t the best of captains.

Ajay Jadeja:

Ajay Jadeja was one of the important middle-order batsmen in the 1990s for India and he managed to captain India in 13 ODI games out of which he won 8 games and lost games. He took 129 ODIs to captain India which is the sixth most number of ODIs before captaining India and he was one of the most stylish batsmen with some good numbers in the 50 overs format.

Rahul Dravid:

Rahul Dravid was one of the most underrated ODI captains who had a massive away record and he took 138 ODIs to captain India for the first time in ODI internationals. He captained India in 79 ODI games overall winning 42 of them and losing 33 games with a win percentage of 56. Dravid is considered to be one of the legends of the game and he had an impeccable record in both formats for India.

Shikhar Dhawan:

Shikhar Dhawan is the latest entry to the list as he became the captain of India against Sri Lanka in ODIs after 142 games which is the third most number. The left-hander has been very consistent in recent times, and with all the seniors in England at the moment, the opportunity has been given to Shikhar Dhawan to lead India for the first time in ODIs.

Rohit Sharma:

Rohit Sharma took 171 games to captain India in ODI internationals from his debut and the current Indian limited-overs vice-captain is one of the best captains going around in India at the moment. He has captained India in 10 ODI games so far winning 8 of those and losing just the 2 games. He is already one of the greats of the modern-day and he is a fine player at the top of the order already.

Anil Kumble:

Anil Kumble has played the most number of ODI internationals before becoming the captain of India. The legendary spinner took 217 games to become the captain of India in the 50 over format. Unfortunately, he led India in just one ODI game and India went on to win the game too. Kumble holds the record for the most number of wickets in One day international by an Indian bowler.