Most successful captains in Test cricket

There is no limit to the responsibilities and roles played by the captain of a team. Starting from deciding the batting order bowling order position of the fielders to keeping a look at every part of the match, the captain needs to do all of these. Every decision made by a captain is very vital for the match and winning or losing the match is dependent a lot on the decisions made by the captain. Here's a table of the 8 most successful captains in Test cricket.
(Disclaimer: All of them have captained a minimum of 40 matches) There is no limit to the responsibilities and roles played by the captain of a team. Here's a table of the 8 most successful captains in Test cricket.

1. Steve Waugh

The former Australian captain is considered to be one of the greatest captains ever. It is said that he is the one who has transformed test cricket into something great. He knew the exact tricks to play on the opposition's weaknesses and use his strengths at that time. Under his captaincy 57 matches, Australia won 41 out of them. He has a winning percentage of 71.92%.

Read also: WTC stats: Most Runs in World Test Championship

2. Ricky Ponting

Another gem of the Australian Cricket team is Ricky Ponting. He is one of the most successful captains in the history of cricket. He is also the only cricketer who was a part of 100 test victories. Ponting was clearly one of the finest cricketers who showed his skills and aggressiveness on the field and won several matches. The great captain had a huge contribution in making Australia the most dominant cricket team. He won 48 matches in 77 Tests within a span of 6 years with a winning percentage of 62.3%.

3. Virat Kohli

The king of cricket and a nightmare of every bowler has also shown some amazing captaincy on the field. He is arguably one of the successful captains of the Indian cricket team and is often compared with legends like Ponting and Waugh. After MS Dhoni resigned from test cricket in 2014, Kohli was appointed the captain of the team and since then he did captaincy in 60 Test matches. In a span of 7 years, he has won 35 matches with a winning percentage of 60%.

Read also: Driven: The Virat Kohli Story

4. Michael Clarke

The skipper of the Australian Cricket team and one of the finest batsmen of his generation is the 4th most successful captain in Test Cricket. He is one of the three Australian captains to whitewash the England team with a 5-0 at the Ashes. He was the captain of 47 matches and with a winning percentage of 51.05%, he won 24 matches.

5. Michael Vaughn

The former captain of the England cricket team became the captain of the England Test team in July 2003. The decision of appointing him as a captain was a bit certain but as time passed he showed his caliber and made a national record of winning 26 matches in 51 tests with a winning percentage of 50.98%. He was the skipper in these 51 matches.

6. Joe Root

Joe Root is the current skipper of the England test cricket team. He became the captain of the Test team on 13 Feb 2017 after Alastair Cook was replaced. On his debut match as a captain, he smashed a century against South Africa and made 190 at the Lord's. Till now, he did the captaincy 51 matches and won 26 of them with a winning percentage of 50.98%.

Read also: WTC Stats: Most Wickets in the World Test Championship

7. Hansie Cronje

The late cricketer of the South African cricket team was appointed as the captain after Kepler Wessels got injured. He became the youngest captain of the South African test team but his initial captaincy career was quite unsuccessful. But over a few years, hay got into a better form and started winning matches for the team. He created a record of winning the most number of matches by a South African captain after winning 27 matches in 53 tests with a win percentage of 50.64%. In October 2000, he was banned from playing or coaching by the United Cricket Board because of the match-fixing.

8. Clive Lloyd

The first West Indies cricketer to win 100 test caps is none other than Clive Lloyd. He is one of the most successful captains of the West Indies cricket team. Clive had a great contribution in establishing the West Indies cricket team and putting it out to the world. In 1981, he was appointed as the captain and after that, he captained 26 tests and win 11 following matches with a winning percentage of 48.64%.

Hence the total stats looks like-