MS Dhoni Vs Virat Kohli Vs Rohit Sharma: Which Ex-India Captain Has Better ODI, Test Records? Result Will Shock You

MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli fans always debate over who has been a better captain. Rohit Sharma, in his short stay as captain of Team India, has also done well. In this story, we do a comparative study of records of all three captains across ODIs, Test matches, T20Is and IPL.

Virat, Rohit and Dhoni. (Image: ANI)

In the last two decades, Indian men's cricket team has seen three brilliant captains take charge. They are MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Dhoni is considered arguably the greatest ODI captain the country has ever seen as he won India as many as three ICC trophies - ICC T20 World Cup 2007, ICC ODI World Cup 2011, ICC Champions Trophy 2013. At the same time, Virat Kohli made India a strong Test side, winning series abroad and taking India to number 1 in rankings and also to the first final of the World Test Championship (WTC). Under Rohit, India made it to the second successive ICC WTC final in 2023 and won the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home in 2023 too. Rohit was not a captain back then but he won India Asia Cup as well as Nidahas Trophy in 2018. 

But who has better records among them? Let's find out.

Virat Kohli has captained India in 213 matches, Dhoni in 332 while Rohit is still leading India's Test and ODI sides and has captained the team in 64 internationals so far. Kohli's overall win rate is 63 as compared to Dhoni's 53. But in ODIs, Dhoni has won more matches than Kohli. However, Kohli has better victory rate, of 68 percent, than Dhoni (55 percent). Rohit's winning percentage in ODIs is the highest as in 27 matches, he has won India 20 games, while losing 7. His winning percentage stands at 74.07. 

In T20Is, Kohli has captained India in 56 matches, winning 41 of these games. His winning percentage is better than Dhoni but when it comes to comparison with Rohit, he falls short. Rohit has captained India in 51 T20Is so far, winning 39 matches and losing 12 and his win percentage if 76.47 percent.

When it comes to Test cricket, Virat has led India in 68 Tests, winning 40 matches. But Dhoni had only won 27 of the 60 Tests he led India in. Rohit, at the same time, has captained India in only 9 Tests so far, winning 5 and losing 2. Clearly, Kohli stands out as the Test leader.

When it comes to IPL, Rohit and Dhoni are clearly winners with Virat failing to win a single trophy in seven years he led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Dhoni and Rohit have won five trophies each for their sides Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI).

Reading all the stats above, one gets to know that Kohli has better record than Dhoni across Tests and ODIs but it is the trophies that MSD has won is what makes him stand out. Honestly, the trophies are what count and what make you a legendary captain. Trophies make history, not number of wins. Dhoni has had a decent win percentage too in ODIs. In Tests, Virat has to be considered a better Test captain as he was an attacking captain unlike Dhoni, who was very defensive, hence his excellence as an ODI skipper. Rohit is surely the best in T20Is as captain. Dhoni did win one ICC T20 trophy but Rohit has proven to be a better leader with winning percentage of 76.47.