Peshwa Baji Rao I (The Undefeated)

Baji Rao I (1700–1740), born Baji Rao Ballal, was appointed Peshwa (Prime Minister) of the Maratha Empire by Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj in 1720 at just twenty years of age. Regarded as one of the finest cavalry generals in world history, Baji Rao famously proclaimed his grand strategy: 'Let us strike at the trunk of the decaying Mughal tree, and the branches will fall off themselves. Thus should the Maratha flag fly from the Krishna to the Indus!'

Baji Rao never lost a battle in forty-one engagements. He perfected the art of lightning cavalry warfare, covering sixty miles a day with troops carrying nothing more than millet and water. In 1728, he outmaneuvered Nizam-ul-Mulk of Hyderabad at the Battle of Palkhed without artillery or frontal assault, trapping the Nizam in arid hills. In 1737, he carried out a daring cavalry dash on Delhi, appearing at the gates of the Mughal capital in forty-eight hours and putting Emperor Muhammad Shah to flight.