Temba Bavuma extended his unbeaten run as South Africa captain in his side's historic win over India in Guwahati, and set a world record with the result.
Having led South Africa to World Test Championship glory at Lord's earlier this year, Bavuma has now converted his fast start into one of the all-time great winning streaks as captain.
When he was appointed captain in 2023, Bavuma started with an 87-run win at Centurion over West Indies. At the time, South Africa were coming off the back of a humiliating Test series loss in Australia, and had crashed out in the group stages of the men's T20 World Cup. Since his appointment, South Africa have reached the knockout stages of both the 50-over and 20-over men's World Cups, and won the World Test Championship.
South Africa swept the 2023 series against West Indies 2-0 before Bavuma's first true test in hosting India at home. While South Africa hammered India in the first Test, it will go down as a freebie on Bavuma's captaincy record as he was absent for most of the game after straining his hamstring on day one. After sitting out for the rest of the series, the only draw so far on Bavuma's record came against West Indies in August last year, before South Africa won the second Test.
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Their march to the WTC title accelerated when they beat both Sri Lanka and Pakistan 2-0 at home. Then came their famous win over Australia at Lord's, before they began their new cycle with their toughest assignment in India. Bavuma, however, is now the only South Africa captain apart from Hansie Cronje to complete a series win in India.
That's extended his unbeaten run as Test captain to 12 games, and he now has the most wins (11) of any Test captain in history before their first defeat. The next best is Mike Brearley, who won 10 matches in 15 before losing a match as England captain from 1977-1978. However, the solitary draw in West Indies last year means Bavuma has a way to go to match the longest winning streak of any captain, which belongs to Ricky Ponting, who won 16 matches in charge between 2005 and 2008.
Full list: Most Test wins as captain before first loss
| Player | Team | Matches without loss | Wins | Span |
| Temba Bavuma | South Africa | 12 | 11 | 2024-2025* |
| Mike Brearley | England | 15 | 10 | 1977-1978 |
| Percy Chapman | England | 9 | 9 | 1926-1930 |
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