Former India captains felicitated ahead of historic 500th Test

Kanpur, Sep 22 : The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) felicitated former India Test captains ahead of the historic 500th Test at Green park stadium here on Thursday.

Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association president Rajeev Shukla felicitated former captains, including Ajit Wadekar, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Kris Srikkanth, Ravi Shastri, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The former captains were honoured with a shawl, a memento and a coin with the words "500th Test" written on it.

Conspicuous by their absence, former India captains Bishan Singh Bedi and Gundappa Viswanath were reportedly not invited by the BCCI for the historic 500th Test match.

The 69-year-old Bedi has led India in 22 Tests while Viswanath has captained in two Tests.

India played its inaugural Test in June 1932 against England at the iconic Lord's ground. 

A total of 285 players have played Test cricket for India in which they had 32 captains starting from C.K. Nayudu to Virat Kohli and will join England (976), Australia (791) and West Indies (517) in reaching the 500 mark.