The captain's right-hand men

Who has scored the most runs under a particular captain? Yash Sharma asked us this question during the week, and if you know the answer without reading further, you're bigger cricket geeks than we are. If you don't, read on.

We've also looked at those who have taken the most wickets and played the most matches under a particular captain in Tests and ODIs.

The most Tests anyone has played under a captain are David Boon's 88 matches while Allan Border was Australia's leader. Boon made his debut in Australia's eight-wicket defeat against West Indies in Brisbane in 1984, following which Kim Hughes resigned the captaincy in tears. Border's reign began in the next match, at the Adelaide Oval, and continued for 93 Tests, until 1994. Boon then finished his career by playing 18 Tests under Mark Taylor before announcing his retirement in 1996.

Six other entries in the table for most Tests under a captain - Steve Waugh, Ian Healy, Craig McDermott, Mark Taylor, Merv Hughes and Geoff Marsh - were also under Border's tenure.

The only active player-captain combinations in the table below are the South Africans under Graeme Smith. Smith's only 28 years old and has already led his country in 69 Tests. Fitness and form permitting, he's likely to break Border's record for the most Tests as captain. Will Makhaya Ntini (66 Tests under Smith), Mark Boucher (64) and Jacques Kallis (63) last long enough to pass Boon?

Boon also holds the record for most Test runs scored under one captain. He made 6502 at an average of 46.44 in 158 innings while Border was leading Australia. And when Boon retired, after the 1995 Adelaide Test against Sri Lanka, he had played 107 Tests and scored 7422 runs, fittingly second only to Border on both counts in Australian records.

Rahul Dravid was a significant contributor to Sourav Ganguly's record as India's most successful captain (21 wins). Ganguly led India in 49 Tests; Dravid played in all, and scored 4912 runs at an average of over 73. It was a prolific time for Indian batting: Sachin Tendulkar weighed in with an average of nearly 63 under Ganguly, while VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag had means of 52. The captain himself averaged only 37 under his own leadership.

Ntini's 278 wickets for South Africa in 66 Tests during Graeme Smith's tenure are by far the most wickets by a bowler under a particular captain. They are the only current bowler-captain combination among the top 20 entries in the table below.

Both Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan accumulated their record wicket hauls primarily under three captains. Warne claimed 200 wickets under Ricky Ponting, 199 under Taylor and 175 under Waugh. Among these three captains, Warne's best record was under Ponting - an average of just over 24 and a strike-rate of just over 49. Murali's split was 230 wickets at 20.22 each under Sanath Jayasuriya, 203 at 26.90 under Arjuna Ranatunga, and 186 at 21.25 under Mahela Jayawardene.

Ranatunga, whose 193 matches as captain was an ODI record until he was overtaken by Stephen Fleming, had Aravinda de Silva in his team for 185 games. And in 1992, de Silva captained Ranatunga in eight ODIs. Three other players - Roshan Mahanama, Jayasuriya and Hashan Tillakaratne - also played over 150 ODIs under Ranatunga and formed the mainstay of his batting order.

Ponting has led in 199 ODIs - the second most - and surprisingly, no one has played for him in more matches than Adam Gilchrist's 147. Among current players Michael Clarke has played 134 times under Ponting.

De Silva scored 6562 out of his 9284 in ODIs in which Ranatunga was Sri Lanka's captain - nearly 71%. Tendulkar on the other hand, despite scoring over 17,000 runs, made only 6270 - 37% - in 160 ODIs under Mohammad Azharuddin. Tendulkar's played for 10 captains (himself included) and his best record was under Ganguly - an average of nearly 50 in 99 innings.

Like in Tests, it is a current bowler-captain combination that heads the list for ODIs: Brett Lee has taken 242 wickets in 133 games under Ponting's captaincy. The Ntini-Smith pair is also there, with 146 wickets in 92 games. The best average in the table below is Muralitharan's 18 for each of his 165 games when Jayasuriya was Sri Lanka's captain.

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