The ultimate stopgap captains

The ongoing Adelaide Test is Virender Sehwag's fourth as captain of India. It's probably a one-off assignment, because the regular leader, MS Dhoni, is serving a one-match ban for a repeat over-rate offence. Sehwag's three previous appearances as captain were also stand-in roles for solitary Tests - in 2005, 2009 and 2010. The first call to duty was because Rahul Dravid had gastroenteritis, the next two because Dhoni had back problems. India won two of those Tests and drew the other. After the first day in Adelaide, given the form India's batsmen are in, Sehwag will do well to keep his unbeaten record intact.

Four such one-off endeavours for Sehwag is the Test record. England's Alec Stewart is the only other player who has been called on to lead a team in four one-off matches, but he had longer stretches as captain as well. This week's column is about stopgap captains, and those whose leadership tenures had several interruptions.

Javed Miandad led Pakistan in 34 Tests, over six separate captaincy stints, the most for any cricketer. He was appointed captain for the first time in February 1980, when Australia toured Pakistan for three Tests. Asif Iqbal had retired following a series defeat in India and Miandad was his successor. Pakistan went on to win the series 1-0, their first series victory against Australia apart from the victory in the one-off Test in October 1956. It was the start of a 13-Test stint as captain for Miandad, which was his longest. Pakistan won four, lost three and drew six of those games. By the time Pakistan toured England in the summer of 1982, Imran Khan was the captain.

Miandad's second stint comprised the tour of New Zealand and the home series against Sri Lanka in 1985. Zaheer Abbas had been the captain during the home series against New Zealand but arrived in New Zealand only in time for the second and third Tests. In the absence of Imran, who was playing for New South Wales in 1984-85, Miandad was made captain again. Pakistan lost the series 0-2. Miandad resigned the captaincy after the 2-0 victory at home against Sri Lanka, a series during which Zaheer announced his retirement and Imran took over the leadership once again.

Imran retired after the 1987 World Cup, soon after which England toured Pakistan, who were led by Miandad again, in November. The hosts won it 1-0. That series is now remembered for the infamous row between the England captain Mike Gatting and Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana.

Pakistan had returned from a heroic performance in the West Indies in 1988, where they drew the Tests 1-1 under Imran's captaincy. He had come out of retirement. Imran, however, opted out of the home series against Australia, in protest over the timing of the tour. According to the Wisden Almanack, Imran felt it was too hot to play in Pakistan in September. So Miandad was back again as captain, and Pakistan won 1-0.

Imran was back as captain after that and led Pakistan in Australia in 1989-90. However, according to Wisden, he declined the PCB's invitation to play New Zealand at home in 1990, and appealed to the board to cancel the tour because he felt the visitors were a B team. Richard Hadlee and Martin Snedden had retired, while John Wright, Andrew Jones and John Bracewell were unavailable. So the PCB turned to Miandad again, and Pakistan won 3-0.

After leading Pakistan to victory in the 1992 World Cup, Imran had initially made himself available for the summer's tour to England, but then pulled out, citing a shoulder injury. He never played for Pakistan again. So Miandad once again was captain and he led Pakistan to a 2-1 victory in England. Miandad's final Test as captain was the one-off match against New Zealand in Hamilton in January 1993. Pakistan won it by 33 runs. By the time Pakistan toured the Caribbean that year, the leadership was Wasim Akram's.

During Miandad's stop-start Test captaincy, he also led Pakistan in 62 ODIs, which were broken into 12 stints. The longest stretch was 15 ODIs - between 1980-81 and 1981-82, and also between 1984-85 and 1985-86. Pakistan won 26, lost 33 and tied one ODI under Miandad.

Adam Gilchrist was vice-captain for large parts of his 12-year career and he led Australia in 17 ODIs, divided into 12 stints as well. There was one three-match stretch, against West Indies and Zimbabwe in 2000-01, while eight matches were one-off captaincy requirements, and the others in three batches of two. He was only called upon when either Steve Waugh or Ricky Ponting was unavailable, which wasn't very often.