India has been part of the Cricket World Cup tournament right from its inception in 1975. Their performance in the first two editions of the tournament was abysmal, to say the least. India only managed one win in the first two editions of the tournament.
It came against East Africa and was the first-ever victory by 10 wickets in ODI history. However, under the captaincy of S Venkataraghavan in the 1975 and 1979 World Cups, which were both held in England, India was still grappling with the new format of cricket.
Things changed from 1983 onwards when India became the champions for the first time. The 1987 World Cup was moved out from England and came to India and Pakistan, and the popularity of the sport skyrocketed.
Since then, India has won the World Cup once more in 2011, while it made it to the knockouts in 1996, 2015, and 2019 editions. The 2023 World Cup kickstarted on October 5 with a scintillating encounter between New Zealand and England. India will open its World Cup campaign against Australia on October 8 under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.
Here is the list of Indian captains in World Cup tournaments from 1983 to 2023:
1. Kapil Dev (1983, 1987)
After the debacles of the 1975 and 1979 World Cup tournaments, there was not much hope from the Indian team as the 1983 World Cup arrived. The BCCI decided to punt on youngsters and sent a team full of young blood and to bring some fresh ideas, named 24-year-old Kapil Dev as captain.
He led brilliantly from the front in the tournament, scoring the first ODI century by an Indian and taking the first ODI fifer by an Indian. He took India to the World Cup title win, defeating West Indies in the final at Lord’s.
He was once again named captain ahead of the 1987 World Cup, taking over from Sunil Gavaskar, who had won the 1985 World Championship of Cricket. India had gotten the hang of the game by now and Kapil Dev inspired India to the semi-finals. Unfortunately, England bested them in the knockouts. Kapil Dev never captained India again in any format.
2. Mohammad Azharuddin (1992, 1996, 1999)
After Kris Srikkanth was removed from captaincy after the 1989 Pakistan tour, Mohammed Azharuddin was given the mantle to lead the Indian team. He began his captaincy stint in 1990 and in the process, captained India in three ODI World Cups in 1992, 1996, and 1999.
India performed poorly in the 1992 World Cup, failing to make it into the semi-finals. They won only two matches out of the 8 they played in the league stage. The 1996 World Cup was a better one, as, under Azharuddin, India made it into the semi-final, only to lose to Sri Lanka when the match was awarded to them due to crowd riots.
The 1999 World Cup was also a disappointment for Azharuddin as despite India making it into the Super Six stage, they performed poorly there and couldn’t make it into the semis.
Sourav Ganguly- 2003
Sourav Ganguly had taken over from Sachin Tendulkar as India’s captain in 2000 and turned the team around with coach John Wright. He led the side in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. India had lost an early match to Australia poorly, and the reaction back home lit a fire in the players.
After that encounter, India didn’t lose a game right till the finals. Ganguly led from the front scoring three centuries in the tournament, including one in the semi-finals against Kenya. However, Australia bested them in a one-sided final in the end.
4. Rahul Dravid (2007)
Rahul Dravid was the captain of the Indian team when the 2007 World Cup was played in the Caribbean. Considered to be the most unsuccessful World Cup event, it was plagued by scheduling issues, and the format used was criticized a lot.
India was grouped with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Namibia. However, the Men in Blue performed poorly on slow surfaces in the Caribbean. They lost their first match to Bangladesh. Then they became the first team to post 400+ scores in World Cup history, against Bermuda.
They needed to win against Sri Lanka but lost by 69 runs and were knocked out of the competition. This led to Rahul Dravid stepping down from the Indian captaincy.
5. MS Dhoni (2011, 2015)
MS Dhoni became India’s captain in 2007 and took the Indian team to newer heights. He had already won the T20 World Cup in 2007. His next big test was the ICC World Cup 2011 at home and he passed it with flying colors. Buoyed by performances from Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni led the team masterfully to the title.
He was also the captain when India played in the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. India had a great run in the tournament group stage. They made it into the semi-final, where once more, they fell to Australia, who defeated them by quite a margin.
6. Virat Kohli (2019)
Virat Kohli had taken over as captain from MS Dhoni in 2017 and had led India to the final of the ICC Champions Trophy that year. His only appearance as captain in World Cups came in the 2019 edition in England. India qualified into the semi-final losing just one match. But in a tight knockout game against New Zealand, India’s batting crumbled and they lost the game despite heroics from MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja.
7. Rohit Sharma (2023)
Rohit Sharma is captaining India in the 2023 World Cup for the first and probably the last time. India is coming into the tournament as Asia Cup champions and ODI series win over Australia. They have a balanced side and Rohit Sharma as a captain has impressed with his strategies. He will have home crowd support and everyone expects him to emulate MS Dhoni by winning the World Cup, at home.