An Indian cricketing tradition that has been maintained

During Sourav Ganguly's recent protracted lean trot, there was never any talk among his playing colleagues or the team management that he should perhaps step down even for one match, let alone be replaced as captain. The practice of the captain opting out of the team or being dropped by the authorities due to lack of form has generally been frowned upon in Indian cricket. In the formative years of Indian Test cricket, there was the example of the Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram who led the country in all three Tests in England in 1936 despite his limitations as a player, emphasized by the fact that he scored just 33 runs at an average of 8.25.

From all available evidence there has been no change in the trend in the post independence era too, even if the cricketers are eminently more qualified as players than `Vizzy'. Take the case of Gulabrai Ramchand. Well past his best as a player, he was appointed captain as a desperate measure in 1959-60 against Australia, but for the first two Tests only. The miraculous victory in the second Test at Kanpur however saw him appointed for the rest of the series. But his non performing role both with bat and ball meant that, as a player, he was virtually a passenger in the side. A meagre tally of 111 runs from nine innings and a haul of just one wicket at a cost of 200 runs for a man recognized as one of the leading all rounders of his time made for sorry reading. Fortunately, his dismal form did not have a demoralising effect on the team members who did very well and the side lost only by two matches to one instead of the 4-0 rout predicted at the start of the contest against formidable opposition.

Two years later, Nari Contractor was in much the same position. He was only in his second season at the helm and in six innings from four Tests against England the left handed opening batsman was reduced to just 91 runs. The first three Tests had been drawn while the fourth had been won. There was no talk however of Contractor stepping down and he stayed on as captain for the final Test which India won to clinch a series against England for the first time. For good measure, Contractor showed a timely return to form by scoring 86 in the first innings.

During MAK Pataudi's long reign as captain, there were at least two occasions when there was some talk that he would be replaced. The first was in 1963-64 when he was not yet fully entrenched in the post. One reason, his detractors pointed out, was the lean trot he was going through around the domestic circuit. Unfortunately he carried this to the Test series against England. In the first five innings he scraped through just 30 runs. Some in authority in fact suggested that he have an eye check up, as he recalls in his autobiography `Tiger's Tale' but he would have none of it. His way of hitting back was to get an unbeaten 203 in the fourth Test and from then on, he was the undisputed monarch of Indian cricket.

That is, until 1969-70. In the twin rubbers against New Zealand and Australia, a series of low scores meant that questions were raised as to whether Pataudi's best days as captain were behind him, particularly as there seemed to be a ready made successor in Ajit Wadekar. However, through the poor form, Pataudi stayed on as captain. It was only by the time of the next rubber against West Indies in 1971 that Wadekar succeeded him.

In the 80s, it was Sunil Gavaskar's turn to feel the heat twice. The first occasion was against Australia in 1980-81 when he scored but 48 runs in five innings. Even if Gavaskar was then the undisputed monarch of Indian cricket, there might have been talk of replacing him as captain, if his deputy was not the more gentle and mild Gundappa Viswanath. Gavaskar however came under severe pressure three years later when against England at home he could score only 140 runs from eight innings. He was not exactly at the height of his popularity then and the fact that the series was rather unexpectedly lost made matters worse for him. Again however, he remained at the helm through the contest even though he never captained India in a Test match again. But that, as they say, is another story.

At the end of the decade, another Indian captain had to bear the brunt of criticism for failing repeatedly with the bat. K Srikkanth's team did very well in Pakistan, drawing all four Tests against the odds but the captain himself found runs as hard to come by as water in the desert. He scored just 97 runs from seven innings at an average of 13.85 but such were his leadership qualities that there was never any chance he would be asked to step down. At the end of the series however Srikkanth was dumped as captain but his dismissal had nothing to do with his failure with the bat.

During his long reign, Md Azharuddin also came under the microscopic eye more than once. India were hardly winning anything under his captaincy and when he failed in Australia in 1991-92 questions were asked about his capabilities even though there was hardly any talk of his deputy Ravi Shastri taking over the reins. Azharuddin stayed on as captain and by the mid nineties was firmly entrenched in fact as the country's most successful leader, statistically, if not tactically. By 1996 in England the halo had become dimmer and a poor run with the bat in the three Tests - besides a loss in the series - saw him lose the captaincy to his hand picked successor Sachin Tendulkar. But again it was only at the end of the tour and not midway through the series that Azharuddin was replaced and so the tradition through the decades, of the captain not stepping down on his own or being replaced midway through a contest, in spite of displaying variable form, has been maintained.