Is King Kohli India’s best captain ever?

A lot of people believe that cricket is the hardest sport to win away from home. This does seem to be true - most cricket teams fare better on their home grounds than when they are away.

The Indian cricket team is no different. When they are battling other teams at home, we usually play a great game.

On the other hand, when the Indian team players have made the journey elsewhere and are traveling overseas, they often don’t perform as well. For the Indian team, this seems to have been the norm - until 2017.

Today, under the leadership of Virat Kohli, the Indian team seems to be setting its own rules. With impressive performances both at home and overseas, India has donned more than a few feathers in its cap over the past few months.

Historically, the Indian team is no stranger to record-setting achievements. In the past, Indian cricket has had stalwarts and legends such as Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid leading their teams to victory.

But is the Indian cricket team doing better now than ever before? Looking at One-Day Internationals, here’s a comparison of the leadership records of the three greatest captains of the 21st century - Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and Kohli.

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#1 Sourav Ganguly

Ganguly revived team spirits and give the confidence to play a more aggressive game

His approach:

Ganguly took on the captaincy of the Indian team during a time of crisis in 2000 when the match-fixing scandal had hit cricket in a big way.

The timing of this decision proved invaluable - at a time when the team was lacking motivation, he was able to revive their spirits and give them the confidence to play a more aggressive game.

No longer did the team play under the shadow of losing the top order, as was common in the 1990s - instead, they doggedly played on and gave some incredible performances.

Ganguly also recognized and honed the talents in his team, building a strong future with the likes of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan.

Ganguly - ODI Captainship Performance in Home and Away

The stats:

With Ganguly at the helm, the Indian team played an even and consistent game, though they won a few more games away (53%) than at home (50%).

Impressive overall, as the team actually played a lot more away matches during Ganguly's tenure. Over 146 matches played in all, Ganguly had a win percentage of 52%.

#2 MS Dhoni

Dhoni is the only captain to have won all three major ICC tournaments

His approach:

For Dhoni as well, it was a difficult time when he was made Captain in 2008. Following a resounding loss in the World Cup, at the group stage no less, the coach of the cricket team had been sacked.

Team India wasn’t doing too well. But with patience, resilience and clear-minded thinking, Dhoni was able to lift the team spirits and abilities back up to a point where the victories began to stack up again, even during times when the pressure was building.

Dhoni went on to become the only captain to have won all ICC tournament cups - the World T20 in 2007, the 2011 Cricket World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy.

MS Dhoni - ODI Captainship Performance in Home and Away

The stats:

Compared to Ganguly, Dhoni stacked up more wins at home, winning 59% of all matches at home.

His team's performance in away matches was comparable to Ganguly, though, who also won 53% of all away matches.

Overall, Dhoni played 199 games as captain and the team under Dhoni’s leadership won 55% of all matches.

#3 Virat Kohli

Kohli has racked up many records as a captain

His approach:

Kohli has been the captain of the India national team since 2017. With a fairly young team to preside over as captain, it is significant that Kohli did not have more experienced players in his team.

Even though he has only been the captain for a short while, the team’s diligence and passion are unlike anything that has been seen before in any of the previous team line-ups.

Kohli himself has a staggering number of records under his belt - he now holds the record for most centuries scored during One-day Internationals, has had the most consecutive wins as India’s captain and was even the fastest to rack up 1000 runs in ODIs as an ODI captain.

Kohli - ODI Captainship Performance in Home and Away

The stats:

The numbers speak for themselves. Both at home and away, the Indian cricket team under the captaincy of Kohli has won 78% of all matches so far, with victories as impressive at home 80% as away 76%.

There is no question that all of our captains have contributed significantly to India’s performance and successes.

But there is little question that under Kohli, Indian cricket is reaching new heights and being recognised on the world stage.

His performance, especially when it comes to games abroad, has been phenomenal. He has been able to prove that determination and intensity can turn the game around, and bring together the team as a high-functioning, well-oiled unit in the field.

It is still early days, though, and many more tours are still on the cards - for instance, Kohli’s team is yet to tour Australia and England. The next few years will be the true test for Kohli and his young team.