India is one of the most successful cricket teams in the entire world in all three formats of cricket. The credit for the glory and victory in the Indian Cricket team goes to the successful Indian Captains. Their captaincy has helped the squad to win and hold records. of the team depend a lot on the captain and As of now, a total of 24 players have been the captain of the Indian team in ODIs. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has played the most number of matches and successfully 110 of them virus the best win percentage of 70% has been made by Virat Kohli. Let's took a look at the top 9 most successful Indian captains in ODIs.

Most successful Indian Captains in ODIs

9. Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar became the captain of the Indian cricket team as a captain of in 1996. He is considered the God of cricket worldwide due to his excellent and outstanding batting skills. He overpowered everyone with his batting records and gained name fame and limelight. But his journey being the captain of the team was not similar to the journey as a batsman in the Indian cricket team. He led India in 73 ODI matches where the team successfully won only 23 matches. His winning percentage was only 35.07%. The fact that the team during that time was not strong is absolutely true his captaincy was also not good and could not pull up the team to a good mark.

Read also- Top 9 cricketers from the Indian U-19 cricket team who represented India

Read Also: 5 memorable performances by Indian football teams in Asian competitions

8. Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar became the captain of the Indian Test team in 1976. After a few years, he was given the ODI captaincy in 1980. During his captaincy in ODI, he led the team in 38 matches and won 14 matches out of it with a winning percentage of 36.84%. One of the most memorable moments of his captaincy career was winning the world championship of cricket in Australia in 1985.

7. Dilip Vengsarkar

The batsman popularly known as colonel due to his heroic performances is none other than Dilip Vengsarkar. He started leading the Indian cricket team as a captain in 1987. The period of his captaincy was very short and it ended in 1989. He played brilliantly in his first series as a captain where he scored two centuries but right after that the team had a horrible tour in West Indies in early 1989 and he lost his position. In the short span of his captaincy period, he led the team to play 18 matches where the team won only 8 matches with a win percentage of 44.4.

6. Mohammad Azharuddin

Azharuddin became the captain of the Indian cricket team in 1989. His first match was the tour to New Zealand. He led the Indian squad in a total of 174 matches where the team won in 90 matches with a percentage of 53.57. He is considered as one of the best captains are Indian team ever had and he also held the record of the highest number of wins in ODI and his record was then suppressed by MS Dhoni.

5. Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly is undoubtedly one of the most fearless and successful Indian captains of India. He started his captaincy in 1999 and took risks at every point in time and pushed his team forward always. He often willingly targeted himself to draw the attention of the opposition and benefited other players to give their best for themselves and the team. Ganguly was a part of the team's ups and downs. He did an exceptional job in captaincy and also helped players like MS Dhoni, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, and Virender Sehwag to have an exceptional career and achieve international acclaim. He played a total of 146 ODI matches as a captain and won 76 matches out of 146 matches, with a winning percentage of 54.

4. Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev is considered to be one of the most greatest and successful Indian captains of all time. He is one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of Indian cricket. During his career, he has made many unbreakable records like the only cricketer to score 5000 runs and take more than 400 wickets in test cricket. He is the first captain who led the team to win the historic world cup for the first time in 1983. He started his captaincy in 1982 and his first match was the tour of the West Indies. The team successfully won the match. Gavaskar was reappointed as the captain of the team in 1984 due to his poor performances.

But again in 1985 Dev started his captaincy and won the very first test match against England in 1986. He led the team in a total of 79 matches and won 39 matches with a winning percentage of 54.16%. His captaincy period was rough due to his inconsistency at some point in time. But as a whole, he is a better captain than a player according to statistics.

3. Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid became the captain of the Indian team after Sourav Ganguly in 2000. He was nicknamed the wall of cricket for obvious reasons. Be it during captaincy or at any other time, the team believed in him every time. When Dravid enjoy the Indian team, the situation was quite uncertain. But slowly and steadily he led and rebuilt the team. Cricketers like Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni Irfan Pathan were a crucial part of the team at that time. They helped Dravid to win matches and also brought improvement in the ODI considerably. He played 79 matches as a captain and won 42 matches. He has a winning percentage of 56.

2. Mahendra Singh Dhoni

"Dhoni hai to mumkin hai!"- The phrase praising Dhoni is 100% correct as he is one of the most successful Indian captains. We have seen him taking matches from very uncertain to wholesome wins. The cool captain holds many records and created history when it comes to Indian cricket. He started captaincy in 2007 and since then there is no looking back. He is always calm and composed always beat on-field or off-field. Dhoni holds the record of playing most ODI matches and scoring the most ODI runs as an Indian captain. As a captain, his batting average is the 3rd best after Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers. India became the number 1 ranked ODI team under MS Dhoni's captaincy in 2013 for the first time.

After Kapil Dev, he is the one who led the team to win the 2011 world cup. India won the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2013 champions trophy under his captaincy. He also played 200 ODI matches as a captain and won 110 of them. In addition, his winning percentage is a whopping 60. He is undoubtedly one of the most loved and appreciated cricketers all over the world. Dhoni announced his retirement on 15th August 2020 by an Instagram post. He played his last international match against New Zealand in the Semi-Final of the 2019 world cup.

Read Also: The Cricket Story: BCCI and Differently-abled Cricket Council Of India

1. Virat Kohli

The king of cricket made his debut in international cricket in 2008 and since then there is no looking back. In 12 years of his cricketing career, he has made and broke many records and is also the present captain of the Indian team since 2016. There has been a lot of conversations regarding Kohli's captaincy but he has overcome all of this with his captaincy and performances. He is the fourth most successful Indian captain in ODI after MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, and Mohammed Azharuddin. After his former captain MS Dhoni, Kohli is the second Indian captain with the most runs in ODI matches.

King Kohli also holds the record of most number of ODI centuries by an Indian captain. He has played 95 matches in ODI as a captain and has won 65 of them and he has a great winning percentage of 70% when it comes to ODI.

Who is your favorite among them?

Due to the increasing conflict between India and Pakistan, BCCI has postponed the IPL 2025 for a week. BCCI gave this information on Friday. The board said that it has taken this decision keeping in mind the concerns of the players and the sentiments of the fans. The new schedule of IPL will be released depending on the situation.

At the same time, according to media reports, all foreign players have been asked to return to their country. Meanwhile, Cricket Australia and South Africa Cricket Board have expressed concern over their players. There are still 12 league matches and 4 playoff matches left in IPL 2025. The final of the tournament was to be held on 25 May.

Also Read: India-Pakistan War: How Indian athletes reacted to it

It is believed that India's tour of Bangladesh in August will be cancelled. The Asia Cup to be held in September will also be postponed. The remaining matches of IPL can be held in India in their place.

It is difficult for BCCI to bring back foreign players

The biggest challenge for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in resuming the IPL in May is to bring back foreign players. As soon as the IPL was announced to be postponed for a week, most of the foreign players returned to their respective countries. The remaining players will leave India by Saturday.

It will be interesting to see how BCCI brings back the foreign players and restarts the tournament. Because without them, it will be difficult to organize matches.

Players will start playing for the country

If the IPL resumes at the end of May, most of the foreign players will be able to return. The teams believe so. If these matches are played after May 25, it will be difficult for the players to return. The biggest reason for this is that many players will be playing for their national team then.

The final of the World Test Championship (WTC) is also scheduled to be held between the Australia and the South Africa at Lord's from June 11.

Starting the tournament is not easy

BCCI has kept all three grounds ready. Despite this, officials believe that it will not be easy to restart this competition now. All the teams were informed about this on Friday without any formal announcement. People from many teams are saying that all the remaining matches can be held at the end of the year.

Punjab-Delhi match had to be canceled midway

On the night of 8 May at around 8.30 pm, Pakistan attacked the borders of Jammu, Punjab and Rajasthan of India with missiles and drones. During this time, a match was being played between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. It had to be stopped midway.

Gujarat on top, 3 teams out of the playoffs race

By the time IPL 2025 was halted midway, 57 matches of the league stage had been completed. The 58th match was halted midway. After 57 matches, Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bangalore had the highest points in the points table with 16-16 points.

GT remained on top due to better run rate. Punjab was third, Mumbai fourth and Delhi fifth. Whereas Chennai, Rajasthan and Hyderabad teams were out of the playoff race.

Also Read: Rohit Sharma stats in Tests: Is Rohit the greatest test opener since Virender Sehwag?

Gujarat-Bengaluru have 3-3 matches left

When the tournament was stopped, 4 teams had 2-2 matches left. Whereas 6 teams including Gujarat and Bangalore had not played 3-3 matches. A match was to be played between Lucknow and Bangalore in Lucknow on Friday, but the tournament was stopped before that.

Virat Kohli has decided to retire from Test cricket. He has informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) about this. However, BCCI has asked him to consider his decision. Earlier on Thursday, Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from Test cricket through a social media post.

According to media reports, Kohli has decided to retire and has told the board that he is saying goodbye to Test cricket. BCCI asked him to think again as an important tour of England is coming up. At present, he has not responded to BCCI's statement.

Also Read: Fav four in cricket: Kohli vs Root vs Williamson vs Smith overall stats

Let's take a look at the performance of Virat Kohli in Tests.

Scored less than 25 average in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Virat's performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was not good. He scored runs at an average of 23.75 in this series. He got out on a ball outside the off stump 7 times out of 8. In BGT, Kohli scored 190 runs in 9 innings including an unbeaten century.

In the last 5 years, he scored only 3 centuries in 37 Tests and his average was below 35. Earlier, Kohli had retired from T20I cricket, but he was in tremendous form in IPL 2025. He has scored 505 runs in 11 matches so far.

Kohli's performance in BGT 2024-2025

Virat Kohli in Tests | Career so Far

36-year-old Kohli has scored 9,230 runs in 123 Tests so far. He has also scored 30 centuries and 31 half-centuries in his innings.

Kohli scored most centuries against Australia

Virat Kohli has scored 30 centuries in his Test career. Out of these, he has scored the most number of centuries i.e. 9 against Australia. Whereas he has scored the least number of centuries i.e. 2 against Bangladesh.

Kohli scored most centuries in his Test career in Indian soil

Kohli has scored 30 centuries in Tests. Out of these, he has scored the most 14 centuries in India. He has scored only one century in New Zealand.

Kohli was better captain than Rohit and Dhoni in Tests

Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are the captains who have won ICC trophies for India. On the other hand, there is Virat Kohli. He has never been able to win an ICC tournament as a captain. However, when it comes to Test cricket, as a leader he seems miles ahead of both Dhoni and Rohit.

Under Rohit's captaincy, Team India even had to face a clean sweep from New Zealand. This never happened under Kohli's captaincy. He captained Team India in 11 Test series on Indian soil. India won all the 11 series.

Kohli captained for the first time on home ground against South Africa in 2015. With the support of Ashwin and Jadeja and Kohli's attacking field strategy, India won the 4 Test series 3-0. From here onwards, the team won all the Test series at home under Kohli's captaincy.

Kohli's captaincy in Tests (Home Tests)

Kohli's captaincy in Tests (Away Tests)

Also Read: Most successful Test captains from India

Scored 7 double centuries as captain

Batsman Virat Kohli gave his best performance under the presence of every captain, but when he himself became the captain, he turned all the shortcomings of Test batting into achievements. Kohli scored a record 7 double centuries under his own captaincy.

Kohli could not do much with the bat during the 2014 tour of England, but in 2018 he turned it around and became the top run scorer of the series. He scores runs every time in Australia, and he also scored a century in South Africa, which proved why ICC named him the best cricketer of the decade in 2020.

If anyone has followed cricket casually over the last decade, they're likely familiar with four key names: former Indian captain Virat Kohli, batting genius Steve Smith, English great Joe Root, and New Zealand's all-time leading run-scorer Kane Williamson.

They together are known as the 'Fab Four' in the modern era of cricket.

Each of them has set new benchmarks for performance, continually pushing one another to enhance their skills. These four batsmen have not only dominated the world of cricket but have also met the expectations of their respective nations.

In this article, we will examine the statistics of the Fab Four across all formats.

Fav Four in cricket: How many runs & centuries have they scored in International Cricket?

Virat Kohli has been the most prolific all-format batter among the fav-four. Kohli, till now in his 550 international games, has scored 27,599 runs with an outstanding average of 52.27. His record of 82 international centuries is only second to Sachin Tendulkar's 100 international centuries.

Read Also | Most ICC Trophies by any men's team

Joe Root comes in second among them with 20,724 runs so far for England across formats. However, undoubtedly, he has been the best test batter of his generation with 12972 test runs, which sets him as the highest test run scorer for England. Root has also scored 53 international hundreds, of which 36 came in tests only.

Read Also | Winners list of last 10 ICC Tournaments (men's)

Kane Williamson, New Zealand's highest runscorer in international cricket, comes at number three in terms of international runs among the fav four. The former Kiwi leader has scored 19,086 runs so far in his career at an average of 48.56. Kane is now only two short of reaching 50 international hundreds. 

Read Also | Most Test runs in 2024: Root, Jaiswal, Duckett and more

Aussie great Steven Smith comes at four with 17,165 runs at an average of 47.81. A late bloomer with the bat, Smith has been outstanding for Australia in tests and ODIs. Along with Root, Smith has also been one of the greatest test batters of this generation.

Here is a comparison of international stats of the fav four. 

Read Also: Most Wickets in Test Cricket

Fab Four in Cricket: Stats across different formats

Virat Kohli (IND)

Joe Root (ENG)

Kane Williamson (NZ)

Steven Smith (AUS)

Note: The article was initially written by Abishek Goswami and then got updated by Koushik Biswas

The journey of successful Indian captains have been remarkable over the years. The nation has got exceptional leaders who shaped the landscape of Test cricket for India. 

It is now time to look back at those victories brought to us by the Indian team under such efficient captains. Here are the most successful Test captains from India.

1. Virat Kohli (40 wins)

Virat Kohli is considered to be the most successful Test captain India could ever get! He had a stellar career as a captain from 2014 to 2022. Under his captaincy, India became aggressively dominant in home and held a streak of never losing or drawing a single home series.

Kohli secured 40 wins out of 68 tests, which is the highest as an Indian captain. He also holds the record for most double centuries by an Indian in Test cricket, with a total of 7 double centuries.

India has had several quality test batters, but there is no other captain who could match King Kohli's legacy.

Virat Kohli's test stats as captain:

Read Also: Virat Kohli became the Test captain on this very day; a look at Kohli's legacy as Test captain

2. MS Dhoni (27 wins)

MS Dhoni served as a Test captain for six years for India, and had a stellar career. He holds the record for most number of sixes by an Indian captain, which is 51 in number.

Under Dhoni's captaincy, India won 27 tests out of 60, having a win percentage of 45%.

Dhoni's test stats as captain:

3. Sourav Ganguly (21 wins)

Sourav Ganguly, who is widely known for his contributions as a player and captain for the Indian team, is a prominent name in this list of most successful Test captains from India.

Dada was the Indian test captain from 2000-2005 and won 21 tests out of 49 played. He also holds the 2nd position for record most wins as a test captain overseas, winning 11 out of 28 matches.

Sourav Ganguly's test stats as captain:

Read Also: Most Runs for India in Pink Ball Test

4. Mohammad Azharuddin (14 wins)

Mohammad Azharuddin is another big name to be mentioned when it comes to Test cricket captaincy for India. He served as a captain for 9 years, winning 14 matches out of 47.

Azharuddin mostly enjoyed dominating in home soil and sealing crucial victories for the team. 

Mohammad Azharuddin's test stats as captain:

5. Rohit Sharma (12 wins)

Rohit Sharma is another name for one of the most successful Test captains from India who led to 10+ victories for the team. He is the 5th captain to do so. He was also one of the most impactful opener for India in tests.

Even though Rohit's captaincy tenure was short-lived, as he decided to retire from test format on 7th May, 2025, he still managed to be on top with 12 wins in 24 matches.

Read Also: Rohit Sharma stats in Tests: Is Rohit the greatest test opener since Virender Sehwag?

Rohit Sharma'r test stats as captain 

Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from Test cricket on Wednesday. 38-year-old Rohit had already retired from T20I cricket. For now, he will continue to play for India in the ODI format and he is also the captain of Team India in this format. After this announcement by Rohit, his 11-year long Test cricket career also came to an end.

Rohit Sharma had a very good Test cricket career and he played for India in this format from number one to number six. However, he was very successful as an opener in Test cricket. 

Also Read: Rohit Sharma stats in tests

Let's take a look at Rohit Sharma stats in Tests as an opener.

Rohit scored most centuries as an opener

Rohit scored 4301 runs in 67 Test matches played in his career at an average of 40.57 with 12 centuries and 18 half-centuries, but he scored the most centuries as an opener.

Rohit was elevated to that role for the first time in October 2019, and since then, no other opener has scored as many tons. Overall, only four batters have scored more Test tons than Rohit in this period.

Rohit Sharma stats in Tests: Most sixes for India

Rohit has hit a total of 88 sixes in his Test cricket career and is second on the list of batsmen who have hit the most sixes for India in the longer format of cricket. If he had hit 3 more sixes in the Test, he would have become the batsman who has hit the most sixes in Tests for India. The record for hitting the most sixes in Tests for India is held by Virender Sehwag who hit a total of 90 sixes.

Rohit Sharma stats in Tests: Most centuries for India in won Test matches

Rohit Sharma is at number 5 in the list of batsmen who have scored the most centuries in Test matches won by India. He has scored a total of 12 centuries in Test matches won by India. Sachin Tendulkar is at the top of this list with 20 centuries.

• 20 - Sachin Tendulkar 
• 15 - Rahul Dravid 
• 14 - Virat Kohli
• 13 - Cheteshwar Pujara 
• 12 - Rohit Sharma

Also Read: Rohit Sharma in ICC tournaments for India

Rohit Sharma stats in Tests as an opener

As an opener in Test cricket, Rohit scored a total of 2697 runs in 66 innings for India. During this period, his average was 42.81 while in these 66 innings, he also scored 9 centuries and 8 half-centuries. His best score as an opener in Tests was 212 runs.