Leading the Indian cricket team is one of the dreams of any individual who aspires to become a cricketer in the country. However, honor comes with a lot of responsibility. Although the concept of split-captaincy has been active in Indian cricket, we have also had players who have captained the country in all three formats of the game. On that note, in this article, we take a look at five players who captained India in all three formats of the game.
1) MS Dhoni
Test: 60 || ODI: 200 || T20I: 72
One of the most successful captains that India has seen is none other than MS Dhoni. Under him, the country won multiple trophies in both of the shorter versions of the game. The country also achieved the No.1 ranking in Tests when MSD was the captain.
It is in the shorter formats that Dhoni enjoyed brilliant success. He was one of the very few minds that affected the proceedings of the game very often with his tactics. As a result, India won three trophies and also managed to build a good limited-overs squad.
2) Virat Kohli
Test: 68 || ODI: 95 || T20I: 50
Virat Kohli was the recent all-format captain of India. While he first became the full-time skipper of the Test Team, after MS Dhoni quit the limited-overs captaincy, Virat became the all-format skipper.
Although he enjoys a decent record in the shorter formats, it is the lack of trophies that has not given him an elite status. That said, with 40 victories from 68 games, Virat is the most successful Test skipper of India. The current dominance of the Test team is mainly because of Virat and his vision.
3) Rohit Sharma*
Test: 2 || ODI: 13 || T20I: 28
Rohit Sharma is the current all-format captain of Team India. The likes of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul are part of the leadership group and are the captains in the absence of Rohit.
While Rohit had been regularly captaining India in T20Is whenever Virat Kohli was on a break, it is only recently that he has started leading the squad in the other two formats. The home series against Sri Lanka was the first time when Rohit captained India in Tests. Known for his tactical acumen in the shorter formats, there is an expectation that Rohit will lead India to victories in the upcoming ICC events.
4) Ajinkya Rahane
Test: 6 || ODI: 3|| T20I: 2
Although he is restricted to the longer format now, Rahane was part of all the formats of Team India in the past. Hence, he has also got an opportunity to lead the country in shorter formats. This happened when India toured Zimbabwe in 2015. While he executed a whitewash in ODIs, the team won one T20I match and lost one against the African opponents.
In Tests, until recently, Rahane was the vice-captain of the squad. He also led the nation to memorable wins, especially in the Australia Tour in 2020/21.
5) Virender Sehwag
Test: 4 || ODI: 12 || T20I: 1
Virender Sehwag never had a full-stint as a captain of Team India. He got opportunities here and there before MS Dhoni became captain. After Dhoni took over as a full-time skipper, Sehwag got chances to lead the country when the wicket-keeper was not available.
Sehwag happens to be the first T20I skipper of India. In 2006, when India played South Africa in its first T20I game, Sehwag was given charge of the unit.
