India has given the world quite a few brilliant cricketers and after rummaging through the statistics, I have shortlisted five who make up a list of winning the most games for our country:

   1. Sunil Gavaskar
   2. Kapil Dev
   3. Sachin Tendulkar
   4. Rahul Dravid
   5. Anil Kumble

Sunil Gavaskar: Gavaskar was undoubtedly, one of world cricket's finest players and the most technically adept Indian batsman ever. Astonishingly, his average of 51.12 in Tests comes down to 43.97 in Tests won by India, quite a surprise!

'Gavaskar was undoubtedly, one of world cricket's finest players and the most technically adept Indian batsman ever'


Having held the record number of Test centuries (34), it is quite a rude shock to see he scored only six centuries and seven fifties in the 23 matches India won (17.64% centuries have helped India win matches). I haven't considered matches which India drew because there are other external factors such as the weather which affected these matches. India won 23 out of the 125 matches Gavaskar played, a total of 18.4%. We can conclude that his ability to win matches for India was not significant.

Kapil Dev: The only genuine all-rounder Indian cricket has ever produced (Irfan Pathan's claim to being Kapil's heir is dismissed). His wickets-per-match ratio was 3.31, and in matches India won was 3.75, which is better. His bowling average in victories, 18.30, is significantly better than a career average of 29.64. However he claimed only three five-fors out of the 23 hauls he has had through out his career in matches India won. Of the 131 games he played, India won only 18.32  per cent of them, an almost Identical record to Gavaskar's.

With regards to his batting, his career average of 31.05 went up to 33.48 in matches India won, this in spite of him scoring only one century in all the matches India won. In all, this is quite a disappointing study of his statistics.

Sachin Tendulkar:The most flamboyant, destructive, dominating and adored player in Indian cricket history. His career average of 54.92 jumped to 64.41 in matches India won. He holds the record for the maximum centuries scored in Tests, 37, and 35.13 per cent of these (13) have been in matches India won. This is significant because it is almost twice the percentage of Gavaskar's centuries scored in match-winning games.

Also 44 (31.42 per cent) of all Sachin's 140 matches were won by India - a far greater proportion than Gavaskar's and Kapil's matches. His impressive record is more significant given India's inability to win Test matches consistently.

Rahul Dravid: After reading Sachin's record, you could be forgiven for thinking he was the most successful batsman for India. But Dravid's record would make your jaw drop! His career average (the highest for any Indian batsman) of 56.50 soars to 74.54 in matches that India won, the largest such difference in averages. Out of 114 games, Dravid has been on the winning side 36 times with a winning percentage of 32.14. This is marginally more than Sachin, but more nonetheless. Also, 41.67 per cent of his 24 centuries have won matches for India – substantially higher than Sachin's 31.42 per cent.

No wonder he is called The Wall.

Anil Kumble: The most underrated and diligent player India has seen. Kumble holds a number of records, the most recent addition being the player to have played the maximum number of matches before scoring a Test century, 117. Of Kumble's 118 matches, India won 33.89 per cent - surprise surprise, the highest winning percentage for any Indian cricketer.

Kumble has taken 33 five-wicket hauls – 20 of them having been match-winning efforts, an astounding 60.60 per cent. His career bowling average of 28.73 goes down to 18.50 in the matches that India has won. And his wickets-per-match ratio in victorious matches is 6.8 compared to a career WPM figure of 4.80, much better than Kapil's rather modest figures.

To give Kumble's figures some perspective, Shane Warne, the leading wicket taker in world cricket, on average takes 4.88 WPM - fractionally more than Kumble's 4.8 and in matches that Australia has won, he has taken 5.54 WPM (Kumble - 6.8) .This, of course, shows the greatness of the Australian side where each player contributes and the team doesn't rely heavily on any one player; but at the same time, it also demonstrates how dependant Indian bowling has been on Kumble.

It is clear that the Indian selectors erred in choosing the captain after Sachin's disastrous stint as skipper in 1999/2000. They shouldn't have chosen Mohammed Azharuddin, instead they should have appointed Kumble.

Summary:

Player

Number of times the player has been a part of the winning team

Winning Percentage†

Difference in Batting Average in matches won by India††

Career WPM / WPM in matches won by India‡

Century or 5wkt haul winning percentage**

Matches played for every century or 5 wicket haul.

Gavaskar

23

18.40

- 7.15

-

17.64

3.67

Kapil Dev

24

18.32

+2.43

3.31/3.75

12.90*

4.22

Tendulkar

44

31.42

+9.49

-

35.13

3.78

Dravid

36

32.41

+18.04

-

41.67

4.75

Kumble

40

33.89

+2.07

4.80/6.80

60.60

3.47

 
† Winning Percentage – (Matches won / Matches played) x 100


†† Difference between Batting averages in matches won and the career batting averages.


‡ WPM – Wickets per match.


** The percentage of total career matches which were won by India, where a century has been scored and/or a five-wicket haul has been claimed by the cricketer.

*Being the only person to have a century as well as a five-wicket haul in winning Tests – the figures for Kapil indicate a statistic for five-wicket hauls and centuries combined.
 
The statistics clearly show that whenever Dravid delivered with the bat, more often than not India won. And with the ball, it is Kumble who comes up on top. But going by the century/five-wicket haul winning percentage (column 6) and also the least number of matches taken for a five-wicket haul and/or a century, Kumble outshines Dravid. Hence, it is clear that statistically, Kumble is undoubtedly the Indian cricketer who has won the most games for India.