Updated 30 October 2026: India have had 38 Test captains, 28 ODI captains and 15 T20I captains. Shubman Gill leads the men’s team in Tests and ODIs and Shreyas Iyer in T20Is. Virat Kohli has the most Test wins as captain (40 in 68), MS Dhoni the most in ODIs (110 in 200) and Rohit Sharma the most in T20Is (49 in 62).
CK Nayudu led India in their first Test, at Lord’s on 25 June 1932. Ajit Wadekar captained the first ODI, at Leeds on 13 July 1974, and Virender Sehwag the first T20I, at Johannesburg on 1 December 2006. Below are the full captaincy records in each format, the captains who have won ICC trophies, and the men who shaped each era.
Most successful India Test captains
| Captain | Span | Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn/tied | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virat Kohli | 2014–2022 | 68 | 40 | 17 | 11 | 58.82 |
| MS Dhoni | 2008–2014 | 60 | 27 | 18 | 15 | 45.00 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 2000–2005 | 49 | 21 | 13 | 15 | 42.86 |
| Mohammad Azharuddin | 1990–1999 | 47 | 14 | 14 | 19 | 29.79 |
| Rohit Sharma | 2022–2024 | 24 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 50.00 |
| Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi | 1962–1975 | 40 | 9 | 19 | 12 | 22.50 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 1976–1985 | 47 | 9 | 8 | 30 | 19.15 |
| Rahul Dravid | 2003–2007 | 25 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 32.00 |
| Shubman Gill | 2025–2026 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 54.55 |
| Bishan Singh Bedi | 1976–1978 | 22 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 27.27 |
| Ajit Wadekar | 1971–1974 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 25.00 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 1996–2000 | 25 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 16.00 |
| Kapil Dev | 1983–1987 | 34 | 4 | 7 | 23 | 11.76 |
| Anil Kumble | 2007–2008 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 21.43 |
| Dilip Vengsarkar | 1987–1989 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 20.00 |
| Nari Contractor | 1960–1962 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 16.67 |
| Lala Amarnath | 1947–1952 | 15 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 13.33 |
| Vijay Hazare | 1951–1953 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 7.14 |
Most successful India ODI captains
| Captain | Span | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied/no result | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS Dhoni | 2007–2018 | 200 | 110 | 74 | 16 | 55.00 |
| Mohammad Azharuddin | 1990–1999 | 174 | 90 | 76 | 8 | 51.72 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 1999–2005 | 146 | 76 | 65 | 5 | 52.05 |
| Virat Kohli | 2013–2021 | 95 | 65 | 27 | 3 | 68.42 |
| Rohit Sharma | 2017–2025 | 56 | 42 | 12 | 2 | 75.00 |
| Rahul Dravid | 2000–2007 | 79 | 42 | 33 | 4 | 53.16 |
| Kapil Dev | 1982–1987 | 74 | 39 | 33 | 2 | 52.70 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 1996–2000 | 73 | 23 | 43 | 7 | 31.51 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 1980–1985 | 37 | 14 | 21 | 2 | 37.84 |
| KL Rahul | 2022–2025 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Ajay Jadeja | 1998–1999 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 61.54 |
| Shubman Gill | 2025–2026 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 53.33 |
| Dilip Vengsarkar | 1987–1989 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 44.44 |
| Virender Sehwag | 2003–2012 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 58.33 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 2021–2022 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 58.33 |
| Suresh Raina | 2010–2014 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 50.00 |
| Ravi Shastri | 1987–1991 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 36.36 |
| Krishnamachari Srikkanth | 1989–1989 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 30.77 |
Most successful India T20I captains
| Captain | Span | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied/no result | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rohit Sharma | 2017–2024 | 62 | 49 | 12 | 1 | 79.03 |
| MS Dhoni | 2007–2016 | 72 | 41 | 28 | 3 | 56.94 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | 2023–2026 | 52 | 40 | 8 | 4 | 76.92 |
| Virat Kohli | 2017–2021 | 50 | 30 | 16 | 4 | 60.00 |
| Shreyas Iyer | 2026–2026 | 24 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 58.33 |
| Hardik Pandya | 2022–2023 | 16 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 62.50 |
| Shubman Gill | 2024–2024 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Rishabh Pant | 2022–2022 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 40.00 |
India captains who have won ICC trophies
India have won eight ICC men’s titles, under five captains. MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma have won more than one, and the 2002 Champions Trophy was shared.
| Tournament | Captain |
|---|---|
| 1983 Cricket World Cup | Kapil Dev |
| 2002 ICC Champions Trophy (shared) | Sourav Ganguly |
| 2007 World Twenty20 | MS Dhoni |
| 2011 Cricket World Cup | MS Dhoni |
| 2013 ICC Champions Trophy | MS Dhoni |
| 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup | Rohit Sharma |
| 2025 ICC Champions Trophy | Rohit Sharma |
| 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup | Suryakumar Yadav |
Tiger Pataudi: the youngest captain of India
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi became captain at 21 years and 77 days. That was the world record for the youngest Test captain until Zimbabwe’s Tatenda Taibu in 2004, and he is still India’s youngest. In 1961, a year before he became captain, a shard of glass from a car windscreen in an accident in Hove had permanently damaged his right eye. He led India in 40 Tests and won nine, including India’s first Test win overseas, against New Zealand in 1968, and India went on to win that series, their first series win abroad.
Kapil Dev: the first World Cup
Kapil Dev captained India to the 1983 World Cup, the country’s first ICC title (how the final was won). He led India in 74 ODIs and won 39, and in 34 Tests, which brought four wins and the second tied Test in history, against Australia in 1986.
Mohammad Azharuddin: three World Cups
Mohammad Azharuddin led India at three World Cups, in 1992, 1996 and 1999, and captained them in 174 ODIs, winning 90. That stood as India’s record for ODI wins as captain until Dhoni passed it. His 14 Test wins in 47 matches were also the Indian record until Sourav Ganguly. His career ended in 2000, when the BCCI banned him for life over the match-fixing scandal.
Sourav Ganguly: winning away
Sourav Ganguly won 21 of his 49 Tests and 76 of his 146 ODIs. He led India to the 2003 World Cup final, their first since 1983, where they lost to Australia, and to a shared Champions Trophy in 2002. In the final of the 2002 NatWest Series at Lord’s he took off his shirt and waved it in the air to celebrate India’s win.
MS Dhoni: three ICC white-ball trophies
MS Dhoni won the 2007 World Twenty20, the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy, and he is the only captain to win all three ICC limited-overs tournaments. He led India in 200 ODIs (110 wins), 60 Tests (27 wins) and 72 T20Is (41 wins).
Virat Kohli: the most Test wins
Virat Kohli won 40 of his 68 Tests as captain, more than any other Indian, and in 2018–19 he led India to their first Test series win in Australia (Border-Gavaskar Trophy history). He had already captained India to the 2008 Under-19 World Cup. Kohli won 65 of 95 ODIs and 30 of 50 T20Is as captain, and he had stepped down from the T20I, ODI and Test captaincy in succession by 2022.
Rohit Sharma: two ICC titles in eight months
Rohit Sharma captained India to the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy, and he is the only captain to have led a side in all four ICC men’s finals: the 2023 World Test Championship final, the 2023 World Cup final, the 2024 T20 World Cup final and the 2025 Champions Trophy final. His 49 T20I wins in 62 matches are India’s most. He led in 24 Tests (12 wins) before retiring from Test cricket on 7 May 2025, and in 56 ODIs (42 wins).
Suryakumar Yadav and the 2026 T20 World Cup
Suryakumar Yadav led India to the 2026 T20 World Cup in March, and won 40 of his 52 T20Is in charge. In June he was left out of the squad altogether and Shreyas Iyer was named T20I captain; the World Cup final was Suryakumar’s last match for India.
The current captains
Shubman Gill became India’s 37th Test captain in May 2025, aged 25, for the tour of England after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli left Test cricket. He has led in 11 Tests (6 won, 3 lost, 2 drawn) and 15 ODIs (8 won). Shreyas Iyer has captained 24 T20Is since taking over in June 2026, winning 14 and losing 8. For win percentages across all three formats, see India’s most successful captains.
Captaincy figures are from ESPNcricinfo’s India captains lists and cover men’s internationals only.
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