In Pics - Top five: Most matches as India ODI captain

From building a team to taking it to greater heights, Indian captains, over the last couple of decades have enjoyed more success than failures and have had the backing of the players and the Board in tough times -- helping them serve as a leader for a longer period of time. TimesofIndia.com here takes a look at the top five Indian cricketers who have captained the country the most number of times in One-day Internationals:

From clinching the inaugural T20 World Cup trophy in 2007 at a time when T20 cricket was in its infancy and India were not even counted amongst the favourites for the title, to bringing back the 50-over World Cup title to the country after 28 years, to winning the 2013 Champions trophy, Dhoni during his 11-year long reign as the Indian skipper emerged as one of the best the country ever produced in it's cricketing history. The only captain to have all the three ICC trophies in his cabinet and who also took India to no.1 spot in the Test rankings in 2009, India found one of its best cricket leaders in MS Dhoni. And amidst all this, Dhoni, during his run as the ODI skipper, led India in a record 200 international matches -- the most in the history of Indian cricket -- and produced some of the most impressive figures. With 110 wins, 74 losses, 5 ties and 11 no-results, Dhoni had a win percentage of 59.52 as captain in ODI cricket, one of the highest in the world.

From emerging as an artist with the bat to being banned for life after the match-fixing allegations of 2000, to the ban being overturned in 2012 by an Indian court, to being elected President of the Hyderabad Cricket Association, Azharuddin's life, while playing and after has been a roller-coaster ride. But even though his career ended abruptly, Azharuddin between 1990 to 1999 was one of the most impactful leaders that the country ever saw. Marshalling the troops in 174 ODIs, Azharuddin sits second on the list of captains who led India in the most number of matches in ODIs. Just five years after his debut in ODI cricket in 1985, Azharuddin was handed the command of Indian cricket and the cricketer from Hyderabad led the team to great success during those nine years. With 90 wins and 76 losses, Azharuddin had a win percentage of 54.16 in ODIs.

One of the greatest leaders in the history of cricket overall, Ganguly built one of the most formidable teams around the world during his captaincy career that began in the backdrop of the worst cricketing scandal -- the 2000 match-fixing saga. From there on Ganguly took charge of the Indian team and took India to unprecedented heights. Ganguly led India in 146 ODIs and his most memorable run as the leader came in the 2003 ICC ODI World Cup, where he led the team to the final, but unfortunately faltered at the last hurdle against Australia. With 76 wins, 65 defeats and 5 no-results, Ganguly had a win record of 53.90 percent during his reign as the skipper.

One of the modern greats, who has just not shown any signs of pressure or weakness with the added responsibility of leading the side, Kohli has been one of the select few whose batting quality has improved with the leader's mace in hand. As far as ODIs are concerned, Kohli so far, has led India in 89 matches and has a very high win percentage of 71.83 with 62 wins, 24 defeats, 1 tie and 2 no results. Kohli took over as the Indian limited overs captain after MS Dhoni stepped down as skipper in January 2017. Kohli, so far, might not have any big ICC trophy in his cabinet, but success across countries, including South Africa, Australia, West Indies and sub-continental countries makes him an impactful leader.

One of the finest students of the game. Rahul Dravid, during his run in international cricket emerged as one of the best batsmen. Even though Dravid was not as regular as the others while captaining the Indian side, the number of ODIs he captained India in puts him in fifth place on this list. Dravid captained India in 79 ODIs where he led the team to 42 wins, with a win percentage of 56. Dravid is one of the few with such a high aggregate despite not being a regular skipper. One of the biggest setbacks in his captaincy tenure was when the Indian team was knocked out in the group stages of the 2007 ICC ODI World Cup in the Caribbean under his leadership.