Delhi: November 13, 2026 was a memorable day for Shreyas Iyer, because he was the captain of India in the fourth ODI against New Zealand at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. Became the 29th ODI captain of India. It is a different matter that like T20 International, the debut as captain in ODI International too was not good and started with a shameful defeat of 244 runs.

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A special fact is that Iyer, who made his ODI debut in December 2017, had to wait for 85 matches to become the captain in this format. Still, he became captain out of necessity. When Shubman Gill withdrew from the team for the last two ODIs of the series to prepare for the Test series, Shreyas Iyer got the command of the team.

This was Shreyas Iyer's 86th ODI International match, that is, Shreyas Iyer became the captain after waiting for 85 matches. Although this is not a new Indian record, but it is worth noting that the wait for cricketers to become ODI captain is even longer than that. In this context, Anil Kumble is at the top of the list, who had played 217 ODI Internationals before captaincy. Shreyas Iyer is now at number 14 in this list. 13 Indian cricketers who had played more ODI matches than Shreyas Iyer before captaining the 50 over format for the first time:

1. Anil Kumble (217 ODIs): Almost 12 years after his ODI debut, he became captain for a match when regular captain Sourav Ganguly was not available. Then he was one of the seniors and led India to victory by four wickets.

2. Rohit Sharma (171 ODIs): A top batsman and IPL-winning captain of Mumbai Indians, he waited many years to captain the ODI team since his debut in 2007. Finally the opportunity came when regular captain Virat Kohli was rested against the Sri Lankan team that had come to India.

3. Shikhar Dhawan (142 ODIs): In the 'bio-bubble' period of Covid in July 2021, two Indian teams played together at two different venues. When the Test team with Virat Kohli was in England, Shikhar Dhawan was made the captain of the white ball team in Sri Lanka.

4. Rahul Dravid (138 ODIs): Because of Sourav Ganguly, his wait was very long. Finally, in December 2000, when Sourav was banned for one match against Zimbabwe for 'slow over-rate', Dravid got the captaincy.

5. Ajay Jadeja (129 ODIs): He became captain at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in September 1998, due to a scheduling conflict with the two tournaments. One team played in the Sahara 'Friendship' Cup and the other in the Commonwealth Games. Ajay Jadeja was the captain of the team that went to Malaysia.

6. Sachin Tendulkar (119 ODIs): In August 1996, the selectors decided to replace longtime captain Azharuddin. Then Tendulkar was promoted from vice-captain to captain and it started with the 'Singer World Series' in Sri Lanka.

7. Sourav Ganguly (111 ODIs): Captained for the first time in September 1999 when regular captain Sachin Tendulkar was out of the Singapore Tri-Series. He became the regular captain in 2000 after Tendulkar's resignation.

8. K Srikanth (111 ODIs): In March 1989, he became the captain due to Vengsarkar not playing against West Indies. After this West Indies tour, when Dilip Vengsarkar was removed, Srikanth was given the regular captaincy.

9. Virat Kohli (104 ODIs): His wait was because of MS Dhoni. Eventually, when MS Dhoni was ruled out with a hamstring injury during the West Indies Tri-Nation series in July 2013, Kohli got the command of the team.

10. Gautam Gambhir (100 ODIs): Ahead of the 2011 World Cup, the selectors reduced the workload of senior players and rested some of them for the series against New Zealand. Then the command of the youth team was handed over to Gambhir and India won the series 5-0.

11. Dilip Vengsarkar (98 ODIs): In the 1987 Reliance World Cup, when India was out of the semi-finals, the selectors ended the era of giving alternate captaincy to Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar and made Vengsarkar, who was playing in excellent form, the captain in all formats against West Indies.

12. Mohammad Azharuddin (98 ODIs): He was captain for the first time against New Zealand in Dunedin in March 1990. When Srikkanth was removed after the 1989–90 Pakistan tour, despite less experience, Azharuddin became the new captain and remained captain for years.

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13. Suresh Raina (90 ODIs): He was the captain for the first time in May 2010. Following the 2010 T20 World Cup, India sent a second-string squad for an ODI tri-series and a T20 International series in Zimbabwe. Rested MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh and made 23-year-old Suresh Raina the captain.