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Sehwag joins a select band

December 22, 2005 12:18 IST

Virender Sehwag on Thursday joined the select band of players who registered a win in their first ever Test as India's captain.

Sehwag is sixth Indian player to do so, which includes the names of Polly Umrigar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

Shastri - the previous record-holder for the biggest win by an Indian on captaincy debut - never captained India in a Test again.

The details:
Captain Test Opponent Venue Season Margin
PR Umrigar 2nd New Zealand Bombay 1955-56 Inns & 27 runs
SM Gavaskar 1st New Zealand Auckland 1975-76 8 wkts
RJ Shastri 4th West Indies Chennai 1987-88 255 runs
SR Tendulkar Only Australia New Delhi 1996-97 7 wkts
SC Ganguly Only Bangladesh Dhaka 2000-01 9 wkts
V Sehwag 3rd Sri Lanka Ahmedabad 2005-06 259 runs

The 259 runs win is India's biggest against Sri Lanka and fourth biggest of all time as is evident from the following table:

Margin Test Opponent Venue Season
280 runs 3rd South Africa Kanpur 1996-97
279 runs 2nd England Leeds 1986
272 runs 4th New Zealand Auckland 1967-68
259 runs 3rd Sri Lanka Ahmedabad 2005-06
255 runs 4th West Indies Chennai 1987-88
235 runs 2nd Sri Lanka Colombo SSC 1993-94
222 runs 3rd Australia Melbourne 1977-78
216 runs 3rd New Zealand Chennai 1976-77
212 runs 2nd Pakistan Delhi 1998-99

More statistics:
- Kumble highest wkt-taker vs SL
- Bajji claims sixth 7-wkt haul
- Best batting recoveries for India
- Most 10-wkt hauls in Tests
- Biggest wins for India
- Highest Test chases versus India
- Muralitharan's feats
- Comparing Sachin and Sunny
- India - Sri Lanka: Head to head

Rajneesh Gupta