Virender Sehwag to Shikhar Dhawan: India’s 7 T20I captains

After the toss at the R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday, Shikhar Dhawan will be the seventh man to lead India in T20I cricket.

India’s T20I journey has been rather fascinating. From being skeptical about the format to being crowned the inaugural T20 World Champions to being a powerhouse of the shortest format through the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL), India have enjoyed good success in the format, registering 88 outright wins from their 142 matches over the past 15 years. They have also registered three ties, which they have converted to victories through bowl-outs and super overs.

For all teams that have played at least 100 T20Is, India have the best win-loss ratio of 1.872. They are also the only side on the list to have a batting average above 30.

As the audition for the T20 World Cup in October begins in Sri Lanka on Sunday, let us glance through the men who have led India in the shortest format.

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List of T20I captains for India

#1 Virender Sehwag (2006)

Played 1 | Won 1 | Success 100%

Virender Sehwag was one of India's most explosive cricketers.

India’s long-awaited T20I debut finally happened in South Africa in December 2006. The BCCI weren’t interested in the format, and therefore, India didn’t even have a domestic T20 tournament until April 2007.

India were humiliated 0-4 in the ODIs, with regular skipper Rahul Dravid injuring himself in the third game. The lone T20I was squeezed between the fourth and the fifth ODI. Dravid’s unavailability meant vice-captain Virender Sehwag would lead India in the historic match. It was a format suited to Sehwag’s skills, and he had experienced playing it during his County cricket stint.

In a nail-biter on a damp Johannesburg surface, India clinched a thriller. Skipper Sehwag led from the front by providing an apt start, while Dinesh Karthik slipped into the role of a successful finisher. This match remains the only T20I of Sachin Tendulkar’s career.

Though Sehwag’s leadership skills proved useful in the IPL later, he never captained India in T20Is again.

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#2 MS Dhoni (2007-16)

Played 72 | Won 41 | Lost 28 | Success 59.28%

• 2007 T20 World Cup

MS Dhoni celebrates India's T20 World Cup win in 2007.

The MS Dhoni-fairy-tale as Indian captain began with this format. With senior cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan backing out of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, a young Dhoni was trusted with leading an inexperienced side. In one of cricket’s most sensational stories, the young Indian side toppled all odds of being crowned world champions.

There was no looking back as Dhoni was soon trusted with the national captaincy across formats. Leading the Test side for six years, he remained India’s regular white-ball skipper for nine years. Under his leadership, India were also the runners-up in the 2014 T20 World Cup and semi-finalists in the 2016 edition at home.

One of the sharpest minds in the shorter formats, Dhoni’s World Cup triumph helped him become Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) first captain and the most expensive cricketer in the IPL. 13 years later, he remains the captain of the yellow brigade and has three IPL silverware in his cabinet alongside two CLT20 trophies. Having participated in 11 complete IPL editions, CSK made it to the playoffs 10 times and played eight finals.

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#3 Suresh Raina (2010-11)

Played 3 | Won 3 | Success 100%

Suresh Raina was one of India's early T20 stars.

Thanks to the IPL, Suresh Raina became one of India’s early T20 heroes. A deputy to Dhoni at CSK for years, he soon got promoted to the same role in the national side. During the 2010 T20 World Cup, he also became the first Indian to score a hundred in T20Is.

The following month in the absence of Dhoni, he led India to a T20I series win in Zimbabwe. Interestingly, the first match of the series marked the T20I debuts of Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin.

A year later, he also led India to a win in the one-off T20I in the West Indies. With the rise of Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Raina didn’t get another opportunity to lead and eventually lost his place in the side.

Raina remains Dhoni’s deputy at CSK and has even led the side in the latter’s absence. He led the Gujarat Lions in the 2016 and 2017 seasons after CSK was slapped with a two-year ban.

#4 Ajinkya Rahane (2015)

Played 2 | Won 1 | Lost 1 | Success 50%

Surprisingly, Ajinkya Rahane led India in T20Is before Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

In the absence of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane was handed the Indian white-ball captaincy as a young side toured Zimbabwe in 2015. Despite winning the first match, Rahane failed to win the series as India suffered a 10-run defeat in the second game.

Despite a brilliant T20I debut in 2011, Rahane didn't find enough success in the format. He couldn't replicate his leadership success in Tests in white-ball cricket. Even as skipper of the Rajasthan Royals, he was replaced by Steve Smith midway through the 2019 IPL season.

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#5 Virat Kohli (2017-21)

Played 45 | Won 27 | Lost 14 | Success 65.11%

Virat Kohli has only lost two out of the 17 series he has led India as the T20I captain.

Dhoni stepped down from the captaincy in early 2017, and expectedly, the cloak fell upon Virat Kohli. Though Kohli hasn’t inspired his IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) enough, he has done well as Indian captain. In the 17 series that he has led, he has lost just two.

During Kohli’s tenure as the Indian T20I captain, his most significant achievement has been winning three consecutive series (2016-17, 2018 and 2020-21) against the very strong Eoin Morgan-led England.

Kohli is the only T20I cricketer with over 3,000 runs. For anyone with over 500 T20I runs, Kohli’s batting average of 52.65 is the highest. Of all the international captains in T20Is, Kohli has the best batting record. He has amassed 1,502 runs in the 45 T20 at 45.45, striking at over 143.

Despite a good success rate, Kohli’s inability to win ICC tournaments has attracted criticism. How India fares in the upcoming 2021 T20 World Cup will mark his legacy.

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#6 Rohit Sharma (2017-20)

Played 19 | Won 15 | Lost 4 | Success 78.94%

Rohit Sharma has won most number of IPL trophies.

With five IPL trophies and a CLT20 title in his cabinet, Rohit Sharma is arguably the finest T20 brain in India. His tactical acumen is evident from his strategy and bowling changes, especially while marshaling his troops for Mumbai Indians. Unfortunately, Rohit happens to play in the Kohli era. Many across the cricket fraternity believe Rohit should be appointed as India’s white-ball captain.

In Kohli's absence, Rohit has led India in six series and one tournament, winning six of them. His finest achievement as Indian skipper came during the Nidahas Trophy tri-series in 2018, which was won by a young and inexperienced side. His decision to hold back Dinesh Karthik for death overs in the final paid dividends as the wicketkeeper-batter won India the tournament with a six off the last ball.

As captain, Rohit has a fantastic batting record. He has two T20I hundreds and strikes at 160. He is the regular vice-captain of India’s limited-overs setup.

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#7 Shikhar Dhawan (2021)

Shikhar Dhawan is set to be the seventh cricketer to lead India in T20Is.

Shikhar Dhawan, who led Delhi last season in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT 2021), is all set to be the seventh man to lead India in T20Is. After winning the ODI series earlier in the week, he will now captain the young troop in the absence of the regular stalwarts – Kohli, Rohit, Jasprit Bumrah and KL Rahul.

Dhawan has limited exposure to the IPL captaincy, having led the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) during the early stages of the 2014 IPL. After six losses and four wins, the team management replaced him with Daren Sammy for the rest of the tournament.

The Sri Lanka T20Is will test Dhawan’s leadership skills and provide him with a platform to audition for the T20 World Cup as the competition for places has further stiffened with the emergence of Prithvi Shaw Devdutt Padikkal. Dhawan currently holds the Orange Cap in the 2021 IPL.