Team India are set to appoint their new men’s Test captain on Saturday ahead of the 2025 five-match tour to England, starting June 20. India will be naming a replacement for Rohit Sharma as the skipper of the side, after the Mumbai batter announced his retirement from the format earlier this month.
Since their first Test in 1932, India have witnessed 36 Test captains across 589 matches. CK Nayudu led India in their maiden Test match in 1932 against England. However, it was only 20 years later that India tasted their first Test victory under the captaincy of Vijay Hazare against England on February 10, 1952 at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
India’s first overseas Test series win came in the 1967-68 season under Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi who led the national side in 40 Tests, winning nine games.
Only five Indian captains – Mohammed Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma – have managed to notch up at least 10 Test victories. Kohli remains as India’s most successful Test captain, winning 40 of the 68 Tests he led in with a 58.82 success rate. Leading in 60 games between 2008-14, Dhoni is the second-most successful Test skipper for the country, winning 27 matches.
Sachin Tendulkar remains the youngest man to lead India in a Test, aged 23 when he faced Australia in Delhi in 1996.
| Full list of India’s men’s Test captains | ||||||
| No. | Captain | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn/Tied | Win % |
| 1 | C. K. Nayudu | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | Maharajkumar of Vizianagram | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | Lala Amarnath | 15 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 13.33 |
| 5 | Vijay Hazare | 14 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 7.14 |
| 6 | Vinoo Mankad | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 7 | Ghulam Ahmed | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | Polly Umrigar | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 25 |
| 9 | Hemu Adhikari | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | Datta Gaekwad | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Pankaj Roy | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Gulabrai Ramchand | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 20 |
| 13 | Nari Contractor | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 16.67 |
| 14 | Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi | 40 | 9 | 19 | 12 | 22.5 |
| 15 | Chandu Borde | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Ajit Wadekar | 16 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 25 |
| 17 | Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 18 | Sunil Gavaskar | 47 | 9 | 8 | 30 | 19.14 |
| 19 | Bishan Singh Bedi | 22 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 27.27 |
| 20 | Gundappa Viswanath | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 21 | Kapil Dev | 34 | 4 | 7 | 23 | 11.76 |
| 22 | Dilip Vengsarkar | 10 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 20 |
| 23 | Ravi Shastri | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| 24 | Krishnamachari Srikkanth | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 25 | Mohammad Azharuddin | 47 | 14 | 14 | 19 | 29.79 |
| 26 | Sachin Tendulkar | 25 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 16 |
| 27 | Sourav Ganguly | 49 | 21 | 13 | 15 | 42.86 |
| 28 | Rahul Dravid | 25 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 32 |
| 29 | Virender Sehwag | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50 |
| 30 | Anil Kumble | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 21.42 |
| 31 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 60 | 27 | 18 | 15 | 45 |
| 32 | Virat Kohli | 68 | 40 | 17 | 11 | 58.82 |
| 33 | Ajinkya Rahane | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 66.67 |
| 34 | KL Rahul | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67 |
| 35 | Rohit Sharma | 24 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 50 |
| 36 | Jasprit Bumrah | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 33.33 |