Is Dhoni India's best-ever captain?

After winning the fourth ODI against England at Edgbaston, MS Dhoni surpassed Mohammad Azharuddin to become the Indian captain to have achieved the most ODI victories. Dhoni is also India's most successful captain in Tests and T20Is, making it a good time to look back at Dhoni's captaincy career and analyse whether he can be considered India's best captain.

Dhoni in ODIs

While Azhar, the earlier record holder, had 90 wins from 174 matches, Dhoni has 91 wins from from 12 fewer ODIs - 162. In all, there have been seven Indian captains who have won 10 or more ODIs. The table below offers a quick look at their records.

Dhoni's win percentage of 61.5 is clearly head and shoulders above the rest, with Rahul Dravid being the next best. Dhoni has therefore not only won the most matches, but has also done it more frequently than any of his predecessors. During Dhoni's stint, India have won almost every ODI tournament of note, including the Asia Cup in 2010, the World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013. However, if there is one criticism against Dhoni, it is that his ODI campaigns outside Asia have been less successful than those in familiar conditions.

While MS Dhoni does have some creditable wins outside Asia, such as the Champions Trophy in England and the Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia, his win percentage drops in ODIs outside Asia. Dhoni's win percentage in the subcontinent is 65%, which drops to 53% outside Asia. Sourav Ganguly, on the other hand, has a win percentage of 49% in Asia, but a significantly better 59% outside the subcontinent. However, Ganguly only has a solitary trophy outside Asia, the NatWest Series in 2002, despite taking the team to eight finals. Dhoni, on the other hand, has a 100% record in finals outside Asia winning all four that he has captained in - the Champions Trophy, the West Indies Tri-Nation series and the Commonwealth Bank series (two finals). This table lists Indian captains who have won the most finals, at home and away.

Azhar took the team to 19 finals, while Ganguly took the team to 14. However, Azhar managed 11 victories, while Ganguly could squeeze out only one. The high number of finals in which Azhar and Ganguly captained is partly down to the fact that they played at a time when triangulars and quadrangulars were at the peak of their popularity. Azhar captained in four finals against Sri Lanka, winning all four, while Ganguly led in five against them but won none. Dhoni has captained the team to only 11 finals in comparison, but has won seven of those, giving him a win percentage of 64, the highest among Indian captains who have led in more than one ODI final. The table below compares Dhoni with other captains who have led their country in at least 100 ODIs.

While Dhoni's win percentage is not comparable with that of Ricky Ponting or Hansie Cronje, the numbers indicate that he is certainly in the league of Steve Waugh, Graeme Smith and Allan Border, statistically. What must also be factored in is that Dhoni probably captained teams that did not have a bowling attack of the quality that some of the above mentioned captains were fortunate to have. In addition to captaining the side, he performs the arduous task of keeping wickets as well, and is the only captain-keeper, apart from Kumar Sangakkara, to have scored more than 500 runs and effected more than 50 dismissals in ODI cricket.

Dhoni in Tests and T20Is

In the fifth Test against England at The Oval, Dhoni equalled Ganguly's record for most away Tests as India captain, 28. Dhoni's Test captaincy has come under far more scrutiny than his ODI captaincy, especially as the away losses have piled up. A quick look at how his overall record in comparison with other captains who have led India in at least 25 Tests.

Dhoni is the only captain to lead India in more than 50 Tests. India have won 27 Tests under him, which is six more than the next best, Ganguly. However Ganguly has the better win-loss ratio. Dhoni still wins a greater percentage of his Tests though, which only means that Ganguly had a greater percentage of draws. Dhoni has been heavily criticised for his Test captaincy record outside the subcontinent. A look at the records of India captains who have led the team in at least ten Tests outside the subcontinent, except Zimbabwe.

Despite winning four Tests, more than any other Indian captain, Dhoni's win-loss ratio is a dismal 0.3 and worse than many of the captains in the above table. While Ganguly has only won three Tests, his win-loss ratio is 0.42 as he lost only seven Tests, compared to Dhoni's 13. Dhoni has seemed to be unable to eke out draws in Tests that are unwinnable. Even Azhar, who didn't have a single victory in these conditions, managed to draw 57% of his Tests, while the corresponding percentage for Dhoni is 29. The Indian captain with the most impressive record may well be Dravid, who is the only captain to have won more Tests than he has lost in these circumstances, including Test victories in England, South Africa and West Indies.

A comparison of Dhoni with other subcontinent captains who have led their countries in at least ten Tests outside the subcontinent, shows that nobody has won more Tests than Dhoni, but that Dhoni has also lost more Tests than other captains. The five subcontinent captains with the best win-loss ratios under the said circumstances are all from Pakistan. Only Arjuna Ranatunga and Intikhab Alam have a win-loss ratio worse than Dhoni's.

While Dhoni's captaincy may be criticised for the losses outside the subcontinent, he has usually fought valiantly with the bat before India have slid to defeat. Some innings that come to mind are his 90 in Centurion in 2010 and his 74* at Edgbaston in 2011. Even during the recent losses at Old Trafford and The Oval, Dhoni showed some resistance with scores of 71 and 82 respectively.

Depending on how you look at it, you could either say that Dhoni sticks it out when the chips are down, or that he only scores easy and meaningless runs when the writing is already on the wall.

Dhoni's legacy will always be tested through comparisons with other captains from across the world. The table below looks at the win percentages of individuals who have captained in at least 50 Tests.

The numbers show that Steve Waugh was the best captain, at least statistically. He won 72% of his matches and had a win-loss ratio of 4.55, far better than the others. Dhoni has a win percentage of 46.6, which is comparable, statistically, to the likes of Clive Llyod and Graeme Smith. Allan Border's win-loss ratio is, in fact, poorer than Dhoni's. The win-loss ratio of India, as a country, over the years has been 0.79, with a win percentage of 25. India's numbers under Dhoni, in both respects, are significantly superior. For context, Australia's win-loss ratio over the years is 1.77, while their win percentage is 46.9. Australian captains will therefore need to do more than their India counterparts to remain on par with their country's performance through history. Dhoni's win percentage of 46.6 is far greater than India's 25% over the years, and even comparable to Australia's 46.9%.

In T20Is, India have mostly been led by Dhoni, thereby not allowing for much comparison.

In fact, even across countries, Dhoni has played and won most matches as captain in T20Is. Dhoni had even taken India to victory in the inaugural edition of the World T20 and to the final of the latest edition, though India fared disappointingly in the intervening World T20s.

If Dhoni can improve his overseas Test record, assuming he will have the opportunity to do so, he will make an almost irrefutably strong claim to being India's best captain. If not, Ganguly definitely makes a case to be considered India's best captain in overseas conditions, while Dravid's Test captaincy record outside Asia has been impressive as well, though with a much smaller sample set for comparison.