Greater Noida: The Indian cricket team has had a 127-year-long cricketing history. However, ignoring the pre-independence era would still leave us with a healthy 70 years to analyse and choose India's most successful captain which boasts of a long list of glittering stars, each a champion in his own right.

Unfortunately, not many have tasted success when given a shot at captaincy and ultimately the list boils down to a few names, viz, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

While the former two are often ignored in most of the conversations on picking India's best captain largely due to the young fan base in the country with the sport taking centre stage in the last leg of the 20th century and for most of the 21st century now. Hence, the question has always been Sourav or Dhoni.

Recently, when Yuvraj Singh who is fresh of a defeat at the hands of India Blue in the Duleep Trophy final, was posed with the same question, he had a tough time picking the best as he has played vital roles under the reins of Ganguly as well as Dhoni and therefore found it hard to differentiate between the two. However, he ultimately went for Dada as it was under him that Yuvraj got his lucky break when Ganguly rest his faith on the youngster who repaid in grand fashion with match winning knocks, notably in the famous Natwest Series final and on several other occasions.

He also went on to add that while Dhoni has taught the side to win frequently and has also won all the major trophies that are on offer, it was Dada who taught the side to play fearlessly in overseas conditions.

Point taken, to each his own, as Yuvi deeply benefited from Dada, who chose to go with him. Maybe someone like an R Ashwin or Suresh Raina who have been mentored by Dhoni would go for the current Indian limited overs skipper. Ultimately, it is all about performing well on the big occasions and bringing laurels to the nation.