Well, being crowned as the test captain of a national cricket team is nothing short of a dream for the majority of international cricketers out there. The glorious history of the test cricket format that spans over decades has on hand witnessed numerous prominent captains, including Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and many others who have proved their gut-wrenching calibre and led their teams to a phenomenal streak of victories.
On the other hand the decades-long history of Test cricket has also witnessed a few captains who disappointed their fans and teams and ended losing in their debut matches as skippers. From Virat Kohli to Shubhman Gill, numerous prominent cricketers have gone through the heart-wrenching pain of losing their debut test matches as captains in the test cricket format.
In this article we will take a look at the top four test captains who have lost their debut matches and left their fans utterly disappointed.
Top 4 Test Captains Who Lost On Their Debut
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Kapil Dev
Often popularly hailed as one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of cricket, the legendary Indian former international cricketer, Kapil Dev, is at the first spot in our list of the top four test captains who started off their test journey with terrible defeats. Kapil Dev, who captained the Indian cricket team that clinched the 1983 Cricket World Cup, was selected as the test captain of the Indian national cricket team in November 1982 in a match against Sri Lanka after Sunil Gavaskar stepped down from his captaincy.
During the 1982–83 Sri Lanka Tour of India, Kapil Dev led the Indian side from the front and although fans of the Indian cricket squad anticipated some high-octane action under his captaincy, the team’s middle-order majorly lacked to deliver, and Sri Lanka ended up defeating India in the three-match test series attracting harsh criticism towards Kapil Dev’s captaincy.
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Virat Kohli
At the second spot in our list of the top four test captains who have lost their debut matches and left their fans utterly disappointed, we have another legendary Indian international cricketer, Virat Kohli, who recently announced his early retirement from the test cricket format in May 2025, bringing the curtain down on a career that spanned 14 years and included 123 Tests – 68 of them as captain.
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Virat Kohli took over the test captaincy of the Indian national cricket team from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was unavailable for the first match due to an injury, as stand-in captain on December 9, 2014, during the Adelaide Test against Australia. Although Kohli left no stone unturned in leading India to a spine-chilling victory against Australia under his captaincy and also smashed his first century as a Test skipper, Australia’s annihilating batting unit, including Steve Smith and David Warner, destroyed his dreams and defeated the Indian side by a formidable margin of 48 runs.
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Steve Waugh
Next, at the third spot in our list of the top four test captains who started off their test journey with terrible defeats, we have the iconic Australian former international cricketer, Steve Waugh, who played for the Aussies from 1985 to 2004 and established himself as one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Steve Waugh was officially appointed as the test captain of the Australian national cricket team in February 1999.
Earlier, Waugh had already proved his unmatched captaincy calibre after leading the Aussies to a phenomenal victory at the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Owing to his past dominance, the fans of the Australian side anticipated Steve Waugh to lead the country to a spine-chilling streak of victory in the Test format as well. However, their dreams were brutally crushed after Australia ended up losing the high-stakes test match against West Indies by one wicket at the Port of Spain, Trinidad. Throughout his career, Steve Waugh captained the Australian side in a total of fifty-seven test matches and ended up clinching 41 out of them and losing the remaining nine.
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Stephen Fleming
Finally, at the fourth spot in our list of the top four test captains who have lost their debut matches and left their fans utterly disappointed, we have the former captain of the New Zealand national cricket team and current cricket coach, Stephen Fleming. New Zealand’s second-most capped Test cricketer with 111 appearances, Stephen Fleming was crowned the test captain of the Australian national cricket team in March 1997 in the test series against England held at the iconic Edgbaston, Birmingham.
Interestingly, Stephen Fleming was appointed as the test skipper of the New Zealand national cricket team at the age of 24, establishing him as one of the youngest Test captains in New Zealand’s history. Although Stephen Fleming gave his finest efforts to lead New Zealand to a sensational victory against England in his debut series as captain, his team ended up losing by nine wickets. Yet, Stephen Fleming continued leading the New Zealand side as the captain till 2006.
