The most successful Captains of the Indian Cricket Team
David Craig
Updated on April 02, 2026
The most successful Captains of the Indian Cricket Team. MS Dhoni is the most successful captain of India in the ODI. The former skipper won a total of 110 of his 200 ODI matches as captain between 2007-2018. He is the only Indian captain to hold a record of more than 100 wins in the 50-over format.
In 2008, he was bestowed with the Padma Shri award. In 2009, Dhoni helped India to win its first bilateral ODI series in New Zealand. The highlight of him being a captain came in 2011 when he played a match-winning strike against Sri Lanka to help India lift the ICC World Cup after 28 years.
During his 11-year career as ODI captain, Dhoni scored 6641 runs at an average of 53.55. He remained unbeaten on 48 occasions.
On the other hand, Mohammad Azharuddin holds the record for being the second most successful ODI captain of India. The middle-order batsman was in command of the 50-over team between 1990-1999, winning 90 matches out of his 174 matches as captain.
Sourav Ganguly is ranked third in the list after having won 76 matches of the 146 ODI matches as captain.
Virat Kohli clings to the fourth spot after winning 65 matches of his 95 One-Day Internationals as a skipper. During the tenure of Kohli, Team India won the bilateral ODI series in Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, and Zimbabwe. As the ODI captain, Kohli scored 5449 runs in 91 innings with an impressive average of 72.65. He was able to smash 21 tons and 27 fifties.
Only former Australia cricket team captain Ricky Ponting (22) has registered more hundreds than Kohli in ODI matches as a captain.
Virat Kohli has the best win percentage of 70.43 among all the Indian captains. He has won at least 10 matches as a skipper.
List of most matches played as captains
| Player | Span | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | Draw | W/L | %W | %L |
| V Kohli | 2014-2022 | 68 | 40 | 17 | 0 | 11 | 2.35 | 58.82 | 25 |
| MS Dhoni | 2008-2014 | 60 | 27 | 18 | 0 | 15 | 1.50 | 45 | 30 |
| SC Ganguly | 2000-2005 | 49 | 21 | 13 | 0 | 15 | 1.61 | 42.85 | 26.53 |
| M Azharuddin | 1990-1999 | 47 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 19 | 1.00 | 29.78 | 29.78 |
| SM Gavaskar | 1976-1985 | 47 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 30 | 1.12 | 19.14 | 17.02 |
| Nawab of Pataudi | 1962-1975 | 40 | 9 | 19 | 0 | 12 | 0.47 | 22.5 | 47.5 |
| N Kapil Dev | 1983-1987 | 34 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 22 | 0.57 | 11.76 | 20.58 |
| R Dravid | 2003-2007 | 25 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 11 | 1.33 | 32 | 24 |
| SR Tendulkar | 1996-2000 | 25 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 12 | 0.44 | 16 | 36 |
| BS Bedi | 1976-1978 | 22 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 0.54 | 27.27 | 50 |
| AL Wadekar | 1971-1974 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 1.00 | 25 | 25 |
| L Amarnath | 1947-1952 | 15 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0.33 | 13.33 | 40 |
| VS Hazare | 1951-1953 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0.20 | 7.14 | 35.71 |
| A Kumble | 2007-2008 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0.60 | 21.42 | 35.71 |
| NJ Contractor | 1960-1962 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1.00 | 16.66 | 16.66 |
| DB Vengsarkar | 1987-1989 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0.40 | 20 | 50 |
| PR Umrigar | 1955-1958 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1.00 | 25 | 25 |
| MH Mankad | 1955-1959 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0.00 | 0 | 16.66 |
| AM Rahane | 2017-2021 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | – | 66.66 | 0 |
| GS Ramchand | 1959-1960 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.50 | 20 | 40 |
| S Venkataraghavan | 1974-1979 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0.00 | 0 | 40 |
| DK Gaekwad | 1959-1959 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 100 |
| CK Nayudu | 1932-1934 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 0 | 75 |
| V Sehwag | 2005-2012 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2.00 | 50 | 25 |
| K Srikkanth | 1989-1989 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 |
| Ghulam Ahmed | 1955-1959 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 0 | 66.66 |
| Nawab of Pataudi | 1946-1946 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Vizianagram | 1936-1936 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 0 | 66.66 |
| RG Sharma | 2022-2022 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 100 | 0 |
| GR Viswanath | 1980-1980 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 0 | 50 |
| HR Adhikari | 1959-1959 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 |
| CG Borde | 1967-1967 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 100 |
| JJ Bumrah | 2022-2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 100 |
| KL Rahul | 2022-2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 100 |
| P Roy | 1959-1959 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 100 |
| RJ Shastri | 1988-1988 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 100 | 0 |
List of most successful Indian Captains
| Player | Span | Matches | Won | Lost | Win % |
| MS Dhoni | 2007-2018 | 200 | 110 | 75 | 59.52 |
| Mohammad Azharuddin | 1990-1999 | 174 | 90 | 76 | 54.16 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 1999-2005 | 146 | 76 | 65 | 53.90 |
| Virat Kohli | 2013-2021 | 95 | 65 | 27 | 70.43 |
| Rahul Dravid | 2000-2007 | 79 | 42 | 33 | 56.00 |
| Kapil Dev | 1982-1987 | 74 | 39 | 33 | 54.16 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 1996-2000 | 73 | 23 | 43 | 35.07 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 1980-1985 | 37 | 14 | 21 | 40.00 |
| Dilip Vengsarkar | 1987-1989 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 44.44 |
| Ajay Jadeja | 1998-1999 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 61.53 |
