Records & Stats
Top 3 Indian cricketers who led team India in all formats
Three Indian cricketers to have led across three formats
Indian Cricket Captaincy is a huge task and the one who leads the nation is considered a national treasure. Over a period of time, Indian cricket has seen some legendary names captain the side. The likes of Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, and Sourav Ganguly come to mind.
Ever since the inception of the T20I format, many teams have opted for the split captaincy. India though, has opted to go in with the tried and tested same skipper policy for all three formats.
In this article, we cast a closer look at the top three players to Captain India in all three formats.
MS Dhoni –
MS Dhoni (Source-Twitter)
If we speak about Indian captaincy and don’t take the name of Mahendra Singh Dhoni it would be injustice. The man from Ranchi first became the skipper of the T20I side in 2007. In his very first assignment, MS Dhoni led the side to the 2007 T20 World Cup title win.
Later in 2007, MS Dhoni was handed the ODI captaincy after Rahul Dravid stepped down. Forming his own core unit, MS Dhoni led the side to the ODI World Cup triumph in 2011. Test Captaincy came in 2008 after Anil Kumble retired from international cricket. In just a year, India was the top team in Test cricket for the very first time.
Virat Kohli –
Virat Kohli (Source-Twitter)
India’s best Test captain in terms of victories recorded and one of the most aggressive players. When Virat Kohli retires his name will go down as one of the greats in the Indian Cricketing annals.
Virat Kohli assumed Test captain in early 2015 permanently after MS Dhoni’s sudden retirement. The white ball captaincy came two years later when Virat Kohli was given charge of the ODI and Test teams. The 35-year-old helped India reach the inaugural World Test Championship final against New Zealand.
Under the leadership of Kohli, India reached the Champions Trophy finals in 2017. This was followed by a semi-final appearance in the 2019 ODI World Cup. Kohli led in only one T20I World Cup where India crashed out in the opening stages of the tournament.
Rohit Sharma –
Rohit Sharma (Source-Twitter)
One of the best captains India has produced in the modern era is none other than Rohit Sharma. The unassuming 36-year-old has changed Indian cricket in the two years he is at the helm.
Despite getting the ODI and T20I captaincy in a cloud of controversy, Rohit Sharma has done well. India reached the semi-finals of the T20I World Cup in 2022 before losing to eventual winners England. The Men in Blue also reached the finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup but failed to win the cup.
In the test format, Rohit Sharma has led in a handful of matches but his brand of captaincy is appreciated. Team India reached its second World Test Championship finals to keep their wait for a title going.
