MS Dhoni vs Sourav Ganguly: India's greatest captain debate continues

By winning the Hyderabad Test against Australia on Tuesday by an innings and 135 runs, Mahindra Singh Dhoni surpassed Sourav Ganguly as India's most successful Test captain.

Dhoni has 22 Test wins, one more than Ganguly who held the record previously. To add to this record figure Dhoni also has the T20 World Cup win in 2007 and the ICC ODI World Cup win in 2011 under his belt as a testament to his success as a captain who has lead his troops in all formats of the game.

With a record of 21 Test wins, Ganguly stood on top of the record books for eight years before Dhoni overtook him.

Dhoni captained India in 45 Test matches having won 22, lost 12 and drawn 11 to ahve a total win percentage of 48.88. With time on his side, the 31-year-old Dhoni looks set to add wins to this new record that he has set.

Ganguly on the other hand led India in 49 matches with 21 wins, 13 losses and 15 draws to have a winning percentage of 42.85. Dhoni recorded more wins in fewer games in comparison to Ganguly.

However, Ganguly has more wins outside India than Dhoni. Under Ganguly, India has won 11 matches away from home while under Dhoni the Indian Team has just five away Test wins so far.

Given that Dhoni has some achievements that Ganguly never managed. The boy from Jharkhand already has a win in South Africa and New Zealand - but still has to prove his worth in Australia and England.

The stark difference between the two captaincys has to be that Sourav Ganguly was given a team that needed to be moulded and built, he took over at a time when VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Harbhajan Singh were not the power houses that they were when Dhoni was captain. Also, Sachin Tendulkar was going through a lean patch at that time.

Dhoni's team may also be going through a transition at the moment, but his opposition teams are also struggling with the same. Australia has a big hole in their line-up with Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey retiring while the Indian middle order still has Sachin Tendulkar to provide the experience that is needed.

The jury is out on who is the greatest captain, stats may point to MS Dhoni but given the situation Sourav Ganguly and the way he braved the storm as captain cannot be ruled out.

It can be rightly said that Sourav Ganguly did the bulk of the hard work to build Team India, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble added the much-needed boost to the growth process. Dhoni also did his share of the work; the result is the success that India has enjoyed in the last decade.