Cricket facts: Every ODI captain of India and their records (men’s)

A total of 27 players have captained the Indian ODI Cricket team. The very first ODI captain of the Indian cricket team was Ajit Wadekar. He captained the ODI team in 1974 and played just 2 matches as captain. Unfortunately, India lost both of them. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma are among the most successful Indian captains.

In any sport, including cricket, captaincy is perhaps the most important role that influences the overall performance of the entire team. Here is the cricket facts of every ODI captain of Indian Men's Cricket team and their records.

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Cricket facts: Every ODI captain of India and their records (men’s)

First ODI captain

It all started in the year 1974 when India played their first ODI match against England. Ajit Wadekar, who had earlier been a successful captain for India in Tests, was named captain of India's first ODI team.

Wadekar played an amazing knock of 67 runs, only to end up on the losing side. He couldn't do well in the next match and eventually retired right after the series. 

Wadekar was followed by Srinivasraghavan Venkataraghavan, who holds the remarkable record of captaining India in their first-ever ODI World Cup. He captained India in 7 matches and managed to win only one of those, against East Africa. His spin-bowling partner, Bishen Singh Bedi, then captained India in 4 matches, of which India lost 3. Gundappa Vishwanath also captained India in a solitary ODI match in 1980, which didn't go their way. 

India's ODI skipper in the 1980s

The earliest glory to India's ODI set-up came during the captaincy of Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. Gavaskar took up the captaincy in 1980, 9 years after making his debut for the Indian team.

Of all the cricketers who had captained India in ODIs till then, Gavaskar had the highest win percentage (40%), which he had notched up after winning 14 out of 37 matches. That was also the highest number of matches ever captained by any single cricketer for India in ODIs, till then. 

Then came Kapil Dev, who took the reins of captaincy from Gavaskar in 1982. Within just one year of Dev's captaincy, India managed to pull off the unthinkable by defeating all the big guns of world cricket and claiming India's first-ever World Cup in 1983.

Before the World Cup, he had also led India to their first-ever ODI win against two-time World Champions, the West Indies. Dev continued to captain India for a decade, the most by any player till then, and notched up a then-highest win percentage of 54.16. He captained India in 74 ODIs, out of which India won 39.

Azharuddin-Tendulkar era

Following Kapil Dev, wicketkeeper-batter Syed Kirmani and all-rounder Mohinder Amarnath captained India in 1 match each. Ravi Shastri, Dilip Vengsarkar and Krishnamachari Srikkanth then went on to captain India in 11, 18 and 13 ODIs respectively, but India attained a stable phase in 1989 with Mohammad Azharuddin holding the reins of the team. He continued to lead India for 10 years, captaining the team in 174 matches, of which India won 90.

Sachin Tendulkar's era coincided with that of Azharuddin, as he took up the leadership role in the year 1996 and led India in 73 matches throughout a period of 3 years. Under Sachin, India managed to win 23 matches.

Ganguly-Dhoni era

Saurav Ganguly took charge of the team at a time when it was going through a tough phase following the allegations of match-fixing. He revived India's fortunes by introducing the growth of future greats of Indian cricket, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and one of India's most successful captains, MS Dhoni.

He developed one of India's finest teams that played fearless cricket. Ganguly led India to the final of the 2002 Champions Trophy.

Rahul Dravid captained India irregularly for a few years before taking it up full-time from Saurav Ganguly in 2005. Dravid finished with a decent win percentage of 56 before meeting a disastrous end in the form of the 2007 ICC World Cup debacle. He captained India in 79 matches, of which the team won 42.

MS Dhoni then led India through one of their greatest phases, as under him, India won one ICC World Cup and one Champions Trophy. He captained India in a record 200 ODIs, the highest by anyone to date. Of those, India managed to win 110 matches, with a win percentage of 59.52 under Dhoni's captaincy.

Kohli-Rohit era

Two of the greatest captains of Indian cricket, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, have put up exceptional shows as skippers of the Indian team. Although unable to win an ICC Trophy, Virat Kohli boasts of the highest win percentage among Indian ODI captains with more than 50 matches under their belt. Captaining India in 95 matches, Kohli has a win tally of 65, thus making for an effective win percentage of 70.43.

Rohit Sharma first captained India in Kohli's absence in the year 2017 and managed to win 42 out of the total 56 ODIs that the team has played in his captaincy. Rohit Sharma failed to lift the coveted World Cup for the third time in 2023.

Also Read: Most Runs for India as a Captain

Every ODI captain of India and their records