Kanpur: Over the past 84 years since India first entered the Test Cricket arena, being the sixth team to do so, we have we witnessed a lot of ups and downs. Be it the young Indian team which learnt from its defeats or the fierce Indian team boasting of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble which began putting up consistent performances and slowly started grabbing the headlines. The average Indian has stood witness to this sinusoidal wave of ups and downs that the Indian cricket has been through.

Ahead of India's 500th Test, the BCCI has planned to felicitate all of its former Test captains during the first Test against New Zealand at Green Park, Kanpur. The nation has had 32 Test skippers in all, starting from CK Nayudu in 1932 to Virat Kohli at present.

The felicitation is expected to be attended by the likes of Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Kris Srikkanth, Ravi Shastri, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag to name a few. These gentlemen will also be joined by the Indian national coaches for the junior and senior teams, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. It needs to be seen if Azharuddin would be invited for the event as he has not been a part of the board's scheme of things for a long time now. A specially minted gold coin marking the occasion will be used at the toss come next Thursday.

This move by the BCCI is highly appreciated as it is always the captain who bears the brunt of the media and comes under scrutiny on occasions when the team does not perform well.