From Clive Lloyd to MS Dhoni: Statistical analysis of captaincy record in first 50 Tests

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in the epic draw vs South Africa at Johannesburg, was captaining for the 50th time in Tests for India.

He became the first Indian to captain in 50 Tests, overcoming Sourav Ganguly’s 49 Tests as captain. He became only the 2nd Asian after Arjuna Ranatunga (56 Tests) to achieve this feat and 14th captain overall.

MS Dhoni, in his first 50 Tests as captain, led India to 26 victories, 12 draws and 12 defeats. Out of his 26 wins, 8 came against Australia, 5 against West Indies and 4 against New Zealand. He has captained against all nations except Pakistan and Zimbabwe as India haven’t played them since he became captain in 2008.

MSD became the first Indian and second Asian to captain in 50 Test Matches

Below is the break up of India’s performance under MS Dhoni’s Captaincy

Home vs Away

Performance of Captains in their first 50 Tests as Captain

The first player to captain in 50 Tests was Clive Lloyd when he captained led West Indies against India at Sabina Park in on 23rd February 1983. Allan Border and Vivian Richards were the next two to follow. After them, 11 other players captained in 50 or more Tests while Graeme Smith became the first to captain in 100 Test matches in 2013.

In all, MS Dhoni is the latest and 14th to reach the landmark.

The legendary Australian captains and batsmen, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting, lead others by a fair distance by winning 37 and 35 Tests respectively in their first 50 Tests as captain.

Viv Richards (27), Mark Taylor (26), Michael Vaughan (26), MS Dhoni (26) and Hansie Cronje (25) are the other captains to win 25 or more Tests in their first 50 Tests as captain.

Ponting and Waugh had the best success rate in their first 50 Tests as Captain

Arjuna Ranatunga had won the least number of matches (9) in his first 50 Tests as captain. He is followed by Allan Border (13) and Mike Atherton (13). Allan Border and Arjuna Ranatunga had most number of draws in their first 50 Tests as Captain – 24 each.

Australia had drawn only 5 Tests under Steve Waugh in his first 50 Tests as captain while under Ricky Ponting they drew 9 Tests. Ponting lost least number of matches in his first 50 Tests as captain (6) followed by Richards and Waugh – 8 each.

Below is the table containing the Win/Loss/Draw analysis of all those 14 captains.

Other Captains who won 20 or more Tests despite captaining in less than 50 Tests in their career.Greg Chappell – 21 in 48 Tests Sourav Ganguly – 21 in 49 Tests Peter May – 20 in 41 Tests

Performance at Home in their first 50 Tests as Captain

Among all the 14 captains, Andrew Strauss (31) and MS Dhoni (30) played 30 or more of their first 50 Tests as captain at home and won 19 and 21 respectively.

Leaving the number of matches played, the highest win % was Ponting’s 84.61% as he won 22 of his 26 Tests at home.

He is followed by his previous captain Steve Waugh who won 81.81% of the home matches. Both Aussie captains lost one and drew three while winning 22 and 18 respectively.

Strauss captained 31 of his 50 Tests as Captain at Home – Most by any captain

MS Dhoni won 70% of the Tests i.e. 21 out of 30 at home. Mark Taylor (62.96) and Richards (62.50) follow him.

Most wins at home were Ponting’s 22, Dhoni’s 21, Strauss 19, and the list goes on. Arjuna Ranatunga won only 6 of the 23 Tests at home, losing 5 and drawing 12.

Most draws were Border’s 13 followed by Ranatunga (12).

Ranatunga (26.08), Border (27.58) and Atherton (30.76) are the only captains to win less than 50% of their home matches as captain in first 50 Tests as captain.

Clive Lloyd captained only 16 Tests at home in his first 50 Tests. Still his win % is 56.25 as he won 9, losing 2 and drawing 5.

Below is the table containing the Win/Loss/Draw analysis of all those 14 captains at Home.

Performance Away from Home in their first 50 Tests as Captain

Only two captains could manage to win more than 50% of their away matches in their first 50 Tests as captain – S Waugh (67.85) and Ponting (54.16). Clive Lloyd captained most number of away Tests (34) out of his first 50 Tests as captain.

Arjuna Ranatunga could win only 11.11 % of away matches as he won only 3 out of his 21 Tests with 12 lost and equally drawn. Mike Atherton (20.83), Stephen Fleming (22.22) and Border (23.80) had less than 25% of wins away.

Clive Lloyd captained 34 of his first 50 Tests as Captain outside West Indies

Most wins – 19 S Waugh, 13 Ponting, 12 Richards and Lloyd.

Most loses – 12 Ranatunga, 9 Fleming, Atherton, Dhoni and Lloyd.

Most Draws – 13 Lloyd, 12 Ranatunga and Fleming.

Mike Atherton is the only captain to lose both his first Test and 50th Test as captain. Ponting, Waugh, Lloyd and Smith won both their first and 50th Tests as captain.