On Friday, in Dublin, Jasprit Bumrah will become India’s first-ever fast bowler to lead the country in a T20I match when India take on Ireland for a 3-T20I series.
Jasprit Bumrah will be India’s 11th overall T20I skipper. Last year, he became first-ever proper fast bowler to lead India in Test cricket (Kapil Dev is in the all-rounder category),
India have had some of the finest ever captains seen in the shortest format, most notably MS Dhoni who led India to the inaugural T20 World Cup trophy back in 2007 in South Africa. But MS Dhoni was not the first-ever Indian T20I skipper!
List of all 11 Indian captains in T20I cricket:
Virender Sehwag: 1 match, 1 win, 0 loss
Swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag led India in the country’s first-ever T20I match – on December 01, 2006, in a one-off T20I against South Africa in Johannesburg. Sehwag got this opportunity as Rahul Dravid was injured for the match.
India won its first-ever T20I by 6 wickets, defeating the Protea. Sehwag, however, never got to captain India again in T20Is as the selectors picked MS Dhoni the skipper for the 2007 T20 World Cup.
MS Dhoni: 72 matches, 41 wins, 28 losses
MS Dhoniremains the only skipper to lead India to a T20 world title. With the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Zaheer and Nehra opting out of the 2007 T20 World Cup, Dhoni led a group comprising mostly of youngsters and inexperienced players to the trophy, changing the history of Indian T20 cricket forever as it boosted the IPL next year.
Under Dhoni, India had a brilliant win percentage of 56.94%. Dhoni captained India in most T20Is and to most wins.
Suresh Raina: 3 matches, 3 wins, 0 loss
Suresh Raina got out lead India in a 3 T20Is in 2010 and 2011 – vs Zimbabwe and West Indies – when MS Dhoni was rested or injured. India won all their 3 games under Raina’s captaincy. With Dhoni’s career coinciding with Raina’s, the latter didn’t lead India again.
Ajinkya Rahane: 2 matches, 1 win, 1 loss
Ajinkya Rahane captained India in 2 T20Is matches on the 2015 tour of Zimbabwe when Dhoni was rested from the T20Is. India won 1 game and lost one under Rahane. He never led India again.
Virat Kohli: 50 matches, 30 wins, 16 losses, 2 tied
Virat Kohli was given the T20I captaincy duties, along with ODIs, in 2017 after MS Dhoni stepped down as the white-ball captain. Kohli led India in 50 matches, winning 30 of them in regular time, while the 2 tied games, both against New Zealand, were won in Super Overs.
Kohli finished with a terrific win percentage of 60%. However, under Virat Kohli, India suffered a group-stage exit in the 2021 T20 World Cup.
Rohit Sharma: 51 matches, 39 wins, 12 losses
Rohit Sharma first captained India in T20Is in 2017 when Kohli was rested and did so during Kohli’s tenure whenever he was rested. Rohit became the full-time T20I skipper in 2021. Under Rohit Sharma, India won 39 games and lost 12 T20Is, including the knockout loss in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final vs England. Rohit has not played a single T20I since that loss as he’s focus has turned toward ODIs this year.
Shikhar Dhawan: 3 matches, 1 win, 2 losses
Shikhar Dhawan captained India in a 3-T20I series in July 2021 in Rohit’s absence, who was in England for the Test matches. India won the first T20I against Sri Lanka under Dhawan, but lost the next two after losing a few players to covid-19.
Rishabh Pant: 5 matches, 2 wins, 2 losses, 1 no result
Rishabh Pant got the opportunity to lead India in 5 T20Is against South Africa in 2022 when both Rohit and KL Rahul were unavailable. The series ended in 2-2 with one match getting washed out.
KL Rahul: 1 match, 1 win
KL Rahul made his T20I captaincy debut last year in the Asia Cup 2022 against Afghanistan when Rohit Sharma was rested. India won the match courtesy of Kohli’s century.
Hardik Pandya: 16 matches, 10 wins, 5 losses, 1 tie
Hardik Pandya has been leading India in T20Is in the past year whenever Rohit is rested or injured. He has a good record as captain with 10 wins in 16 matches. 1 match against New Zealand ended in a tie, and Super over couldn’t happen because of rain.