Who is the best captain in the world? There is no single answer, but the scorebook gives a good starting point: wins as captain across Tests, ODIs and T20Is. On that measure Ricky Ponting is still clear at the top with 220 wins, 42 more than MS Dhoni in second place.
The list below runs to 30 September 2026. Since our first version of this page, Kane Williamson has moved into the top ten, and Rohit Sharma has finished his captaincy with the best win rate of anyone who led in 100 or more internationals.
Most wins as captain in international cricket
Tests, ODIs and T20Is combined. Win % is wins divided by matches, so draws count against it.
| Captain | Mat | Won | Lost | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricky Ponting (Aus) | 324 | 220 | 77 | 67.90 |
| MS Dhoni (Ind) | 332 | 178 | 120 | 53.61 |
| Graeme Smith (SA) | 286 | 163 | 89 | 56.99 |
| Allan Border (Aus) | 271 | 139 | 89 | 51.29 |
| Virat Kohli (Ind) | 213 | 135 | 60 | 63.38 |
| Stephen Fleming (NZ) | 303 | 128 | 135 | 42.24 |
| Hansie Cronje (SA) | 191 | 126 | 46 | 65.96 |
| Eoin Morgan (Eng) | 198 | 118 | 67 | 59.59 |
| Steve Waugh (Aus) | 163 | 108 | 44 | 66.25 |
| Kane Williamson (NZ) | 206 | 107 | 84 | 51.94 |
| Mohammad Azharuddin (Ind) | 221 | 104 | 90 | 47.05 |
| Rohit Sharma (Ind) | 142 | 103 | 33 | 72.53 |
Ricky Ponting: 220 wins in 324 matches
Ponting is statistically the most successful captain in the game. He won 220 of his 324 matches in charge, 67.90 per cent, and led Australia to back-to-back 50-over World Cups in 2003 and 2007 and to the Champions Trophy in 2006 and 2009.
He is also Australia’s leading run-scorer in both Tests and ODIs, with more than 13,000 in each, and he is still the only player to have been on the winning side in more than 100 Tests (108). Shane Warne is next with 92.
MS Dhoni: 178 wins in 332 matches
Dhoni captained in more internationals than anyone (332) and won 178 of them, a win rate of 53.61 per cent. He is the only captain to have won all three ICC white-ball trophies: the T20 World Cup in 2007, the 50-over World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013.
Under him India also reached No. 1 in the Test rankings for the first time, in 2009.
Graeme Smith: 163 wins in 286 matches
Smith became South Africa’s youngest captain at 22, with only eight Tests behind him. He went on to lead in 109 Tests, still the only captain to pass 100, and his 53 Test wins are the most by any captain.
He made double hundreds in back-to-back Tests at Edgbaston and Lord’s on the 2003 tour of England.
Allan Border: 139 wins in 271 matches
Border took over in 1984-85, after Kim Hughes resigned, at a low point for Australian cricket. He led them to the 1987 World Cup and to Ashes success, and he captained in 93 Tests in a row between December 1984 and March 1994, still the record.
He retired with 11,174 Test runs, then the most by anyone, and he is still the only batter to score 150 in both innings of a Test (150* and 153 against Pakistan at Lahore in 1980).
Virat Kohli: 135 wins in 213 matches
Kohli won 135 of his 213 matches as captain, 63.38 per cent, a rate second only to Ponting’s among the five captains with the most wins. He first led India in the Adelaide Test of December 2014 and made a hundred, becoming the fourth Indian to score one on Test captaincy debut. Shubman Gill became the fifth at Headingley in 2025.
Kohli now has 86 international hundreds, second only to Sachin Tendulkar’s 100.
Kane Williamson: 107 wins in 206 matches
Williamson led New Zealand to the inaugural ICC World Test Championship in 2021, beating India by eight wickets in the final. That was New Zealand’s first ICC title since the 2000 KnockOut Trophy. He also took them to the finals of the 2019 World Cup and the 2021 T20 World Cup. He gave up the Test captaincy in December 2022 and the white-ball captaincy in June 2024.
Rohit Sharma: 103 wins in 142 matches
Rohit’s win rate of 72.53 per cent is the best of any captain with 100 or more internationals. He led India to the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy, and he is the only captain to have led a side in the final of all four ICC events: the 2023 World Test Championship, the 2023 World Cup, the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy.
He retired from Test cricket in May 2025, and in October 2025 Shubman Gill replaced him as India’s ODI captain.
Best win rate as captain (100 or more matches)
| Captain | Mat | Won | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rohit Sharma (Ind) | 142 | 103 | 72.53 |
| Ricky Ponting (Aus) | 324 | 220 | 67.90 |
| Asghar Afghan (Afg) | 115 | 78 | 67.82 |
| Steve Waugh (Aus) | 163 | 108 | 66.25 |
| Hansie Cronje (SA) | 191 | 126 | 65.96 |
| Virat Kohli (Ind) | 213 | 135 | 63.38 |
| Clive Lloyd (WI) | 158 | 100 | 63.29 |
| Michael Clarke (Aus) | 139 | 86 | 61.87 |
Who could join them?
Of the captains who have led sides in 2026, the most wins belong to Namibia’s Gerhard Erasmus (87 in 161) and Pakistan’s Babar Azam (85 in 152), both still some way short of the top ten. India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav has won 40 of his 52 matches in charge (76.92 per cent).
Source: ESPNcricinfo captaincy records (most matches as captain, all internationals, to 30 September 2026). For India’s next series, see our guide to the best cricket betting sites.
Featured Photo: INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP