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Tendulkar, another lucky skipper from Bombay

Anant Gaundalkar

16 October 1996

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who became the 26th Indian to lead the country in Test cricket, celebrated his appointment as skipper with an imposing seven-wicket triumph over Australia at the Ferozshah Kotla in New Delhi in his very first Test as captain.

The victory in the one-off Test makes Tendulkar only the fourth Indian to register a win in his first outing as Test skipper. Ironically, the three other skippers to have accomplished the feat all hail from Bombay.

The complete list of Indian skippers who have led their sides to victory in their first outing in Tests is Polly Umrigar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Sashtri and Sachin Tendulkar. Of these, Gavaskar and Shastri - now popular TV commentators - were appointed as captain when the regular skippers for the respective series, namely Bishen Singh Bedi in 1975-'76 and Dilip Vengsarkar in 1987-'88 season, were indisposed due to injury.

Incidentally, all these four triumphs were achieved by very big margins - - an innings and plenty against New Zealand under Umrigar, eight wickets against New Zealand by Gavaskar, 255 runs against the West Indies under Shastri and now seven wickets against Australia under Sachin Tendulkar.

Here are the complete details:

Season Skipper Venue Opponents Victory margin for India

1955-56 P.R. Umrigar Bombay New Zealand Won by an innings & 27 runs.

1975-76 S.M. Gavaskar Auckland New Zealand Won by eight wickets

1987-88 R.J. Shastri Madras West Indies Won by 255 runs

1996-97 S.R. Tendulkar Delhi Australia Won by seven wickets

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Date-stamped : 25 Feb1998 - 14:51