Black feather in Sachin's cap(taincy)

On 26th February 2000, Sachin Tendulkar might not have been aware that he walked into the record books when he lost the first Test at Mumbai against South Africa. He entered into the history books as the first Indian captain to lose four Tests in a row.

Since their first Test series, no Indian captain has lost more than three consecutive matches. The last time a captain lost three Tests in a row for India was Dilip Vengsarkar in 1988-89 in the West Indies. The others sharing this dubious honour are Lala Amarnath (1947-48), Vijay Hazare (1952), DK Gaekwad (1959), 'Tiger' Pataudi thrice (1961-62; 1967 and 1967-68), Ajit Wadekar (1974), Bishen Bedi (1976-77) and Sunil Gavaskar (1982-83).

There have been instances where the team has lost five or more Tests on a trot but under different captains. Though India lost 5-0 against England in 1959, Gaekwad was lucky not to be the first captain to lose four in a row. He led in the first which India lost, didn't play in the second and came back to lead India in the remaining three Tests of the series. Pankaj Roy led India in the second Test.

In 1967-68 India lost seven matches at a stretch. Pataudi who led India against England in 1967, lost three in a row. Chandu Borde lost a Test against Australia in 1967-68 and Pataudi then took over to lose the next three games.

In 1974, India lost five matches in a row. Ajit Wadekar who led India to two series victory abroad lost three matches in England. Then when the Windies toured in 1974-75, the first two Tests were lost under Pataudi and off spinner S.Venkataraghavan.

Now it remains to be seen whether Tendulkar will go one better and sign off in style by losing his fifth consecutive Test. It is certainly a difficult standard for future captains to measure up to. Or will Tendulkar himself return and surpass his own achievement. Only time will tell.

On the other side of the coin, the captain with the most consecutive Test match victories is Md Azharuddin with four in a row on two separate occasions (against England and Zimbabwe in 1992-93) and Sri Lanka in 1993-94 and West Indies in 1994-95.