Final Introspection

Since making their one-day debut in 1974, India have reached 43 one-day tournament finals, lost 24 of them - nine of them under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy - and won just 17 titles.

India’s latest defeat in a final came yesterday when the Ganguly-led side went down by six wickets to New Zealand in the Videocon Triangular Series at Harare. After being 155/2 in 25 overs, the men in blue could not capitalize on the good start.

India made their one-day debut against England on 13 July 1974 at Leeds. Since then, of the 43 tournament finals, India have lost 24 (55.81 percent) and won 17 (39.53). They shared two titles – the 2002 Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka at Colombo and the TVS Cup with South Africa at Dhaka in 2003. Both could not be completed due to rain.

Ganguly, who took over captaincy after Sachin Tendulkar resigned in 1999-2000, has an unenviable record as India’s one-day captain vis-à-vis finals, having lost nine of them.

The lone triumph under his leadership was the 2002 NatWest Trophy, which India won by beating England in London, prompting an excited Ganguly to take off his shirt while celebrating the win at the Lord’s balcony.

The Kolkata-based player is the world’s ninth most successful - and India’s No. 1 - One-Day International captain in terms of overall winning percentage. Ganguly, who has played 279 one-dayers, has led India in 147 matches, winning 76 of them (51.70 per cent) and losing 66 (44.90). Current Australia captain Ricky Ponting leads the table with 76.24 per cent (77 wins out of 101 ODIs) and only 16.83 per cent defeats (or 17 matches).

India have shared only two one-day titles in all these years and both times it happened under Ganguly’s captaincy. Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and Sachin Tendulkar are the other captains who have lost One-Day International finals since April 1999.

Under Jadeja and Dravid, India have lost two finals each, under Tendulkar and Azharuddin one each and the rest under Ganguly. But there is an interesting paradox to Ganguly’s captaincy, when it is viewed in terms of overall success percentage.

Although India continue their pathetic record in tournament finals, their first title triumph came in the best possible manner - the 1983 World Cup at Lord's, when Kapil Dev’s team beat the mighty West Indies by 43 runs. Within 10 months, India won the Asia Cup in Sharjah (there was no final but only league matches in this tournament). Then Sunil Gavaskar’s side won the Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket beating Pakistan in Melbourne on 10 March 1985. Within 20 days of that victory, Kapil Dev was holding aloft the four-nation Rothman’s Cup in Sharjah. That was India’s best phase in one-day cricket during which they won four titles in 21 months.