Lucky leaders

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has led India in three Tests so far - two as stop-gap captain and one after Anil Kumble retired - and he has won all of them. The first was against South Africa in Kanpur earlier this year, the next two were against Australia in Mohali and Nagpur during the recent series. If Dhoni can lead his team to a 2-0 victory in the upcoming Tests against England, he will leap leapfrog 12 other captains on the list of leaders with most consecutive victories after taking charge of a team.

The record for most wins in a row from captaincy debut belongs to Percy Chapman who was nine Tests old when he led England in 1926. His first assignment was the final Ashes Test at The Oval, a timeless match that England won by 289 runs to clinch the series 1-0. That victory was the first of nine in a row for England under Chapman. The streak included a hat-trick of innings victories against West Indies and the first four Ashes Tests in Australia in 1928-29. Chapman captained England in 17 Tests, of which they lost only two.

The mark Chapman passed was that of Warwick Armstrong, who led Australia to eight successive victories against England in 1920-21. His run was broken during the 1921 Ashes in England, the last two three-day Tests of which were drawn. Armstrong's captaincy record read: eight wins, two draws and no defeats.

India did not lose any of Sunil Gavaskar's first 18 Tests as captain - the second longest such streak. Gavaskar's first defeat was against Australia in Sydney in 1981, nearly five years after his captaincy debut. His win percentage during that period, however, was only 33 - India drew 12 out of those 18 Tests - though four of the six wins contributed to series victories at home against West Indies, Australia and Pakistan.

Kapil Dev, who was Gavaskar's long-term successor as Indian captain didn't have as successful a start. India did not win any of Kapil's first 20 Tests as captain, losing six and drawing 14. Only in June 1986 did they savour victory for the first time under him. And the win was a momentous one - India's first ever success at Lord's. Fittingly, Kapil, who was named Player of the Match hit the winning runs.

The top three captains with the largest number of consecutive defeats after captaincy debut are all from Bangladesh. The two Khaleds, Mashud and Mahmud, are the leaders with 12 and nine defeats respectively. Mohammad Ashraful could have been in contention to equal Mahmud had rain not forced a draw in the recent Test against New Zealand in Mirpur and ended his streak on eight losses.

In one-day internationals, Inzamam-ul-Haq's streak of nine matches is the longest for a captain before a maiden defeat. He was the stop-gap option when the incumbent, Waqar Younis, was rested for the final two ODIs of the tour of Zimbabwe in 2002. Pakistan won both those matches and Inzamam was appointed captain after Waqar presided over a disastrous World Cup campaign in South Africa. Under Inzamam, Pakistan swept aside Bangladesh 5-0 at home and beat South Africa twice in Lahore before losing to them in Rawalpindi. The future captain most likely to beat Inzamam's streak is Michael Clarke. Australia have won all five of the ODIs in which Clarke has stood in for Ricky Ponting.

Zimbabwe's 17 consecutive defeats under Tatenda Taibu is the worst beginning for a captain in ODIs. Mashud is in third place with 14 but he actually went 26 matches in a row without a victory as Bangladesh captain. That streak included 24 defeats but it was interrupted by two washouts against West Indies.

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