Blown away: Top 5 Test captains and the toughest touring nation for them

The Test format of cricket is the lengthiest format across the game, and due to the same reason, it tests players on several factors. Along with having a class, players need to remain calm, cool, and mentally tough to keep going smoothly. Also, in recent years, it has been seen that home pitches have turned favourable for nations to play Test cricket. Though some of the captains maintained their dominance on a foreign land too, most of them have failed in the same cause. In the same light, let’s look at five Test captains who had dismal records outside their country.

Michael Vaughan in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka used to dominate teams at home due to the presence of star players in their backyard. Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara, and Mahela Jayawardene used to give a tough time to the visitors. Michael Vaughan led the English team to tour Sri Lanka and failed to win a single match there. He led the side for six Tests during two tours. Sri Lanka won the series on both the occasions, with some matches resulting in a draw due to rain.

Ricky Ponting in India

This was Ricky Ponting’s last test in India.

As a captain he never won a single test in India. He led in 7 Tests, lost 5, drawn 2.

As a player he played 25 innings in India and scored 662 runs with an average of 26.48 (his worst test average in any country). https://t.co/IUUiJy3SVA pic.twitter.com/mCIBDqvKZa

— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) October 13, 2020

Though Ponting was an exceptional batsman and has troubled Indian bowlers on several occasions, his story as a captain of the Test side in India is terrible. He failed to win a single Test on Indian soil while leading his team. Ponting was leading the team during Australia’s victorious tour in 2004 but he had to leave due to his thumb injury and the side was led by Adam Gilchrist. Out of 14 Tests he played in India, he was part of a victorious side only on two occasions but never as a captain.

Sunil Gavaskar in Pakistan

Though India are enjoying their dominance over Pakistan in a recent couple of years, it wasn’t the same earlier. Before the 21st century, Pakistan used to have an upper hand when both the teams locked horns in Test format. In fact, it remained a one-sided affair. Sunil Gavaskar had the toughest time of his captaincy as he led the Indian side on eight occasions while playing Test cricket in Pakistan. He failed to gather a single victory on Pakistan soil across these series.

Stephen Fleming in Australia

The two neighbouring nations have played good competitive cricket against each other over the years, but Australia used to have an edge always over the Kiwis. Between these two nations, it mostly used to be a one-sided event, just like the recent 3-match Test series in 2019-20. Even a solid captain like Stephen Fleming couldn’t turn things in their favour during his reign. The prolific cricketer led his side on eight occasions in Test cricket while touring Australia, and he failed to win even a single Test across three tours.

Brian Lara in South Africa

When Brian Lara was the skipper of West Indies Test side, the Caribbean team toured South Africa in 1998. Both the teams locked horns in a 5-match Test series during 1998-99 that lasted over two months. Unfortunately, the West Indies failed to see the face of victory even once out of a total of 9 Tests. With these records, Lara holds the record for being a captain without even a single victory for most Test matches on foreign land.