3 Indian captains who won a bilateral ODI series in England
Ever since the ODI cricket got underway, England has been one of the strongest teams in the limited overs format. More importantly, England has proved to be one of most stringent teams to beat at home. Well, every team is hard to beat at home, but England has been absolute demanding in English conditions.
However, England has faced some serious setbacks at home by the Indian team in ODI format. Till date, India has managed three bilateral ODI series win against England in England.
Thus, this slider will look into three captains who proved to be tough for England and helped India win a bilateral ODI series against England in England.
#1 Kapil Dev, 1986: Series won by India, 1-1 (Due to high scoring rate)
Kapil Dev, aka The Haryana Hurricane, has been one of the best captains and all-rounders that India has India ever produced in its long history. The Haryana Hurricane set the paradigm shift for the Indian cricket.
Owing to his fiery batting skills and fast bowling, the southpaw took the world by storm and changed the perception of the world about the Indian team. Much more than his batting and bowling, it was his leadership that influenced the Indian cricket the most as he proved to be one of the best captains in the history of cricket.
Kapil Dev captained India in 74 ODI games and won 39 of them with a winning rate of 54.16 percentage.
Kapil Dev's best moments as a captain, after 1983 World Cup win, came in 1986 when India toured England. The fast bowling all-rounder was the captain of the Indian ODI team when England was hosting India for the Texaco Trophy 1986. India, under the leadership of Kapil Dev, won their first ever bilateral ODI series in England.
The Texaco Trophy commenced on 24 May 1986. The first ODI of the two-match series was at London while the second ODI was played at Manchester. Those were the times when an ODI match had 55 legal overs per innings instead of 50 overs.
India won the first ODI by nine wickets and Md. Azharuddin was adjudged player of the match. However, India had to face a defeat in the second as the then England captain, David Gower, struck a half-century to take England home.
David Gower and the present head coach of the Indian team, Ravi Shastri, shared the Player of the Series award between them.
The Texaco Trophy was tied 1-1, but India went on to win the series considering their high net run-rate as compared to England.