MSD captaincy achievements includes,
- Most matches played as captain in ODI for India.
- Most matches as captain by any player across all formats.
- Second most win as captain in ODI.
- Dhoni is the only captain to win all three major ICC limited-over tournaments.
If these don’t make him the best captain in the Indian cricket history, I wonder what does.
Let’s check his overall captaincy stats now!
MS Dhoni Captaincy Record (All Formats)
| Format | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | Draw | No Result | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 60 | 27 | 18 | – | 15 | – | 45.00 |
| ODI | 200 | 110 | 74 | 5 | – | 11 | 55.00 |
| T20I | 72 | 41 | 28 | 1 | – | 2 | 56.94 |
| IPL | 226 | 133 | 91 | – | – | 2 | 58.84 |
| Overall (Intl Only) | 332 | 178 | 120 | 6 | 15 | 13 | 53.61 |
COMPARE CAPTAINS’ RECORDS
MS Dhoni – Test Captaincy Records
MS Dhoni currently stands second in the chart of Indian captain who led the national side most times in Test cricket.
Virat Kohli enjoys the most win% by an Indian captain currently. Check the complete Indian Test captaincy record here.
MS Dhoni Test Captaincy Stats Home/Away
| Venue | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | Draw | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 30 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 70.00 |
| Away | 30 | 6 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 20.00 |
| Neutral | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Overall | 60 | 27 | 18 | 0 | 15 | 45.00 |
MS Dhoni’s win % had got a big dig when he suffered the controversial 8-0 overseas loss against England and Australia.
In 2009, India held the numero-uno position in tests under Dhoni.
In 2013, Dhoni became the first Indian captain to whitewash an Australian team in a Test series.
MSD overseas win count lies at 6, whereas Kohli has 16 to his name.
And now, let us check where MSD stands among the other top captains around the world!
Most Test Matches as Captains
| Captain (Team) | Mat | W | L | T | D | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graeme Smith (ICC/SA) | 109 | 53 | 29 | 0 | 27 | 48.62 |
| Allan Border (AUS) | 93 | 32 | 22 | 1 | 38 | 34.4 |
| Stephen Fleming (NZ) | 80 | 28 | 27 | 0 | 25 | 35 |
| Ricky Ponting (AUS) | 77 | 48 | 16 | 0 | 13 | 62.33 |
| Clive Lloyd (WI) | 74 | 36 | 12 | 0 | 26 | 48.64 |
| Virat Kohli (IND) | 68 | 40 | 17 | 0 | 11 | 58.82 |
| Joe Root (ENG) | 67 | 29 | 27 | 0 | 11 | 43.28 |
| Mahendra Singh Dhoni (IND) | 60 | 27 | 18 | 0 | 15 | 45 |
| Alastair Cook (ENG) | 59 | 24 | 22 | 0 | 13 | 40.67 |
| Steve Waugh (AUS) | 57 | 41 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 71.92 |
| Misbah-ul-Haq (PAK) | 56 | 26 | 19 | 0 | 11 | 46.42 |
| Arjuna Ranatunga (SL) | 56 | 12 | 19 | 0 | 25 | 21.42 |
| Michael Atherton (ENG) | 54 | 13 | 21 | 0 | 20 | 24.07 |
| Hansie Cronje (SA) | 53 | 27 | 11 | 0 | 15 | 50.94 |
| Michael Vaughan (ENG) | 51 | 26 | 11 | 0 | 14 | 50.98 |
Dhoni stands at 8th place when it comes to feature in the most Test matches as a captain.
The former Indian skipper has captained 60 matches whereas South Africa’s Graeme Smith ranks No.1 with 109 matches as captain.
MSD has 15 losses out of 30 away test matches during his stint as captain.
But still one could accept that the Indian Team during this phase was in a developmental stage when it comes to away Test matches.
With no proper pace attack, it is not easy to win tests in England, Australia & South Africa, which was apparent when India started to win in these countries under Virat’s captaincy.
This is one of my favorite improvement in the Indian team under Virat Kohli captaincy, where the Indian Pace bowlers are given the much-needed opportunity and they are shining brilliantly under Kohli. Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami look completely different bowlers under Virat Kohli.
MS Dhoni – ODI Captaincy Record
When it comes to shorter format of the game, MS Dhoni has always stood out as a leader.
MS Dhoni as captain had won so many games and has led the Indian team for a record 200 matches where he ends up on the winning side for almost 60% of those.
MS Dhoni ODI Captaincy Stats Home/Away
| Venue | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | No Result | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 73 | 43 | 26 | 1 | 3 | 58.90 |
| Away | 86 | 39 | 39 | 2 | 6 | 45.34 |
| Neutral | 41 | 28 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 68.29 |
| Overall | 200 | 110 | 74 | 5 | 11 | 55.00 |
MS Dhoni played his 200th ODI as captain in Asia Cup 2018, when Rohit Sharma, captain of Indian team in that tournament was rested. And, that match against Afghanistan ended as a tie.
Also, MSD holds the record for most win by an Indian captain in ODI.
With 200 matches as captain, MS Dhoni, with a big lead, is the Indian captain with the most ODI matches as a captain.
In fact, he is only behind Ricky Ponting in the world to cap more international ODI matches as captain. Find out where he stands in the overall list below.
Most ODI Wins as Captains
| Captain | Mat | W | L | T | NR | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricky Ponting | 230 | 165 | 51 | 2 | 12 | 71.74 |
| MS Dhoni | 200 | 110 | 74 | 5 | 11 | 55.0 |
| Allan Border | 178 | 107 | 67 | 1 | 3 | 60.11 |
| Hansie Cronje | 138 | 99 | 35 | 1 | 3 | 71.74 |
| Stephen Fleming | 218 | 98 | 106 | 1 | 13 | 44.95 |
| Graeme Smith | 150 | 92 | 51 | 1 | 6 | 61.33 |
| Mohammad Azharuddin | 174 | 90 | 76 | 2 | 6 | 51.72 |
| Arjuna Ranatunga | 193 | 89 | 95 | 1 | 8 | 46.11 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 147 | 76 | 66 | 0 | 5 | 51.7 |
| Eoin Morgan | 126 | 76 | 40 | 2 | 8 | 60.32 |
| Imran Khan | 139 | 75 | 59 | 1 | 4 | 53.96 |
| Mahela Jayawardene | 129 | 71 | 49 | 1 | 8 | 55.04 |
| Viv Richards | 105 | 67 | 36 | 0 | 2 | 63.81 |
| Steve Waugh | 106 | 67 | 35 | 3 | 1 | 63.21 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | 118 | 66 | 47 | 2 | 3 | 55.93 |
Ricky Ponting holds the record for the most ODI matches as captain (230) and also holds the record for the most wins by captain (165) in ODI.
The Australian former captain comes top with a mighty 76.14% as the win/loss ratio.
Dhoni places himself at No. 3 behind Ponting & his CSK coach S Fleming who had led his NZ national team for an elongated 10-year span captaining 218 matches.
He is just ahead of Arjuna Ranatunga, the 1996 World Cup winning Sri Lanka captain.
MS Dhoni – T20I Captaincy Record
When the format gets shorter and shorter, Dhoni just gets better & better with his stats.
MS Dhoni won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 with a team which is so young.
MS Dhoni T20I Captaincy Stats Home/Away
| Venue | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | No Result | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Away | 23 | 13 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 56.52 |
| Neutral | 29 | 18 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 62.06 |
| Overall | 72 | 41 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 56.94 |
MS Dhoni currently holds the Indian record for captaining the most number of T20I matches and second most wins, only behind Rohit Sharma.
Most T20I Wins as Captains
| Captain (Team) | Mat | W | L | T | NR | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gerhard Erasmus (NAM) | 90 | 53 | 36 | 1 | 0 | 58.89 |
| Rohit Sharma (IND) | 62 | 49 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 79.03 |
| Babar Azam (PAK) | 85 | 48 | 29 | 1 | 7 | 56.47 |
| Brian Masaba (UGA) | 60 | 45 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 75.0 |
| Aqib Iqbal (AUT) | 60 | 43 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 71.67 |
| Asghar Afghan (AFG) | 52 | 42 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 80.77 |
| Eoin Morgan (ENG) | 72 | 42 | 27 | 2 | 1 | 58.33 |
| Christian Munoz-Mills (ESP) | 50 | 42 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 84.0 |
| Charles Perchard (JER) | 58 | 42 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 72.41 |
| Mahendra Singh Dhoni (IND) | 72 | 41 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 56.94 |
| Muhammad Waseem (UAE) | 73 | 41 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 56.16 |
| Aaron Finch (AUS) | 76 | 40 | 32 | 1 | 3 | 52.63 |
| Suryakumar Yadav (IND) | 52 | 40 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 76.92 |
| Ahmed Faiz (MAS) | 67 | 39 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 58.21 |
| Mohammed Aslam (KUW) | 69 | 39 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 56.52 |
Now we have done with all the three formats of cricket, let us look into some records Dhoni as captain holds.
MS Dhoni Captaincy Records – Tests+ODIs+T20Is
MSD had captained the Indian team for about 10 years in all 3 formats. No surprise, he holds the record for captaining the most matches in all formats combined.
Dhoni is the only captain to win all three major ICC limited-over tournaments.
Under the leadership of Dhoni, India won the 2007 World T20, the 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy.
He led India in six finals of limited-over tournaments involving five or more teams and India won four of them, which is the joint most by any captain for a team in limited-over internationals.
Most Matches as Captain (All Formats)
| Captain (Team) | Span | Mat | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mahendra Singh Dhoni (IND) | 2007-2018 | 332 | 178 |
| Ricky Ponting (AUS) | 2002-2012 | 324 | 220 |
| Stephen Fleming (NZ) | 1997-2007 | 303 | 128 |
| Graeme Smith (SA) | 2003-2014 | 286 | 163 |
| Allan Border (AUS) | 1984-1994 | 271 | 139 |
| Arjuna Ranatunga (SL) | 1988-1999 | 249 | 101 |
| Mohammad Azharuddin (IND) | 1990-1999 | 221 | 104 |
| Virat Kohli (IND) | 2013-2022 | 213 | 135 |
| Kane Williamson (NZ) | 2012-2024 | 206 | 107 |
| Eoin Morgan (ENG) | 2011-2022 | 198 | 118 |
| Sourav Ganguly (IND) | 1999-2005 | 196 | 97 |
| Hansie Cronje (SA) | 1994-2000 | 191 | 126 |
| Imran Khan (PAK) | 1982-1992 | 187 | 89 |
| Mahela Jayawardene (SL) | 2004-2013 | 186 | 101 |
| Brian Lara (WI) | 1994-2007 | 172 | 69 |
His unbeaten 91 in the finals of the 2011 World Cup made him the third captain to win Man of the Match award after Clive Lloyd in 1975 and Ricky Ponting in 2003.
MS Dhoni Batting Records as Captain
MSD’s captaincy has never faded his batting skills and his chase-master skill in any occasion.
MS Dhoni scored 6,641 runs as a captain in ODIs, which is the second most by any captain after Ponting’s 8,497 runs.
His average of 53.56 in ODIs as a captain is also the second highest for any captain who has scored at least 1,000 runs in ODIs till date. AB de Villiers is at first place in the table by scoring 4796 runs from 98 ODIs as a captain, with an average of 63.95.
Most ODI Runs as Captain
| PLAYER (CAPTAIN) | RUNS | INNINGS | AVERAGE | 100/50 | HIGH SCORE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricky Ponting (AUS) | 8497 | 220 | 42.91 | 22/51 | 164 |
| MS Dhoni (IND) | 6641 | 172 | 53.56 | 6/47 | 139* |
| Stephen Fleming (NZ) | 6295 | 208 | 32.79 | 7/38 | 134* |
| Arjuna Ranatunga (SL) | 5608 | 183 | 37.64 | 4/37 | 131* |
| Virat Kohli (IND) | 5449 | 91 | 72.65 | 21/27 | 160* |
| Graeme Smith (SA) | 5416 | 148 | 38.96 | 8/37 | 141 |
| Mohammad Azharuddin (IND) | 5239 | 162 | 38.96 | 4/37 | 153* |
| Sourav Ganguly (IND) | 5104 | 143 | 38.67 | 11/30 | 144 |
| AB de Villiers (SA) | 4796 | 98 | 63.95 | 13/27 | 162* |
| Allan Border (AUS) | 4439 | 165 | 32.17 | 2/27 | 127* |
MSD Not-Outs count in T20I as captain has been at 32 is again a World Record.
Dhoni also holds the T20I record for doing the dual role of being a captain and the wicketkeeper for most matches – 331 matches.
NEXT UP: SOURAV GANGULY – CAPTAINCY RECORD
