There are twp prominent absentees in this feature.
The first is Sunil Gavaskar, who led India in the first Test of the 1975=76 series against New Zealand at Auckland after official skipper Bishen Bedi pulled a thigh muscle on the eve of the game. It was Gavaskar's first Test as captain, and he made it a debut to remember by scoring a century and leading the side to a fine eight-wicket win. It was India's fourth and till date, last Test win in New Zealand. Gavaskar apart, the chief architects of the win were EAS Prasanna who took 8-76 in the second innings, and Surinder Amarnath, who emulated his father Lala Amarnath by scoring a century on debut. That match also saw the debuts of two of India's all-time greats; Syed Kirmani and Dilip Vengsarkar.
The other absentee is S. Venkataraghvan, who led India in the second Test of the 1974-75 series against the West Indies, at Delhi. Skipper MAK Pataudi was injured in the first Test and Gavaskar, appointed to lead in the second, broke his index finger in a Ranji game. India lost the game with a certain IVA Richards scoring his maiden Test hundred.
In the 16th Oct edition, you have mentioned that Rahul Dravid is the 5th Indian captain to step in for the original captain, and that Ravi Shastri, Chandu Borde, Pankaj Roy and Hemu Adhikari are the other four. You have missed out on a very important one.
Sunil Gavaskar captained India in the Auckland Test against New Zealand in 1975-76 when Bishen Singh Bedi was injured. India went on to win the match by 10 wickets. Prasanna took 14 wickets in the match, Gavaskar scored 116 and Surinder Amarnath scored 124 on his Test debut. For NZ, Bevan Congdon scored 54 in each innings.
it was very intersting to know about other instances when india played under substitute skippers. and ravi shastri being the only lucky one to win. it seems as shastri is not going to be joined by any one else for quite some time, as rahul dravid is not in a position to win his first match as skipper. he was let down by his bowlers. kiwis are in a sound position now to build a massive total and put india under pressure of the fear of loosing the home series. its now totally dependent on indian batsmen and especially sachin tendulkar - he is expected to deliver a big score!!!
you have missed some instances. Sunil Gavaskar was substitute captain in the 1st test in the away tour against new zealand in 1975-76 in place of Bishen singh Bedi. Gavaskar scored 116 and 35 n.o. in that Auckland test. INDIA won that match by 8 wickets.
other highlights of the match - A stylish 124 by Surinder Amarnath at one drop on debut. Prasanna took 3-64 and 8-76 i.e. match figures of 11 for 140. Chandrasekhar took 6-94 and 2-85.
MAK Pataudi himself was a substitute captain when he captained India in place of Nari Contractor in the West Indies in 1962.
Venkataraghavan stood in place of Pataudi vs the West Indies in the Delhi test in 1974-75.
