Rohit Sharma is the captain of the Indian cricket team for all formats. He will lead the Indian squad for Australia, South Africa, and the T20 world cup series. Before Rohit Sharma, 5 captains had led the Indian cricket team – Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, and Hardik Pandey. Regarding the Indian women’s cricket team, Harmanpreet Kaur is the current captain of the One-Day International cricket and T20 world cup series.
Read on to learn more about the stats of the Indian Cricket Team captain (Men & Women). We also list the stats of all the Indian cricket team captains, starting with the first captain of the Indian cricket team.
Indian Cricket Team Captain
Rohit Sharma is the current captain of India’s men’s test, One-Day International, and Twenty20 International cricket teams. Harmanpreet Kaur is the present captain of the One-Day International, and Smriti Mandhana is the captain of the T20I teams.
| Indian Cricket Team Captain | Men Cricket Team | Women cricket Team |
| Test Match | Rohit Sharma | Harmanpreet Kaur |
| ODI | Rohit Sharma | Harmanpreet Kaur |
| T20I | Rohit Sharma | Harmanpreet Kaur |
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Let’s look into the stats for the Indian cricket team captains in Test, ODI, and T20I formats.
Indian Test Captain
Rohit Sharma was named full-time captain of India in the red-ball format after Virat Kohli, India’s most successful Test captain, resigned in a surprise move following India’s test series loss to South Africa in January 2022.
Rohit is India’s first-choice test opener, and his outstanding performance deserves a spot on the ICC’s Test Team of the Year 2021. His latest win as test match captain came against Sri Lanka during the 2nd test in Bengaluru on March 14. According to his Test match records, Rohit has 3137 runs in 45 Tests, averaging 46.13.
The current Indian women’s test cricket team captain is Harmanpreet Kaur. She also leads India for the third consecutive time in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023. Smriti Mandhana is acting as her deputy in the T20 world cup.
List of the Indian cricket team captain – Test series
Here is the list of the first 10 Indian cricket team captains (Men and Women), based on the starting year of their captaincy:
| Indian Cricket Captain – ODI | Year of Captaincy | Won | Lost | Win% |
| C.K. Nayudu | 1932 – 1034 | 0 | 3 | 0% |
| Maharajkumar of Vizianagram | 1936 | 0 | 2 | 0% |
| Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi | 1946 | 0 | 1 | 0% |
| Lala Amarnath | 1947-1949, 1952-1953 | 2 | 6 | 13.33% |
| Vijay Hazare | 1951-1953 | 1 | 5 | 7.14% |
| Vinoo Mankad | 1954- 1955, 1958-1959 | 0 | 1 | 0% |
| Ghulam Ahmed | 1955-1956, 1958-1959 | 0 | 2 | 0% |
| Polly Umrigar | 1955-1959 | 2 | 2 | 25% |
| Hemu Adhikari | 1958-1959 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Datta Gaekwad | 1959 | 0 | 4 | 0% |
India’s ODI Captain
In January 2022, the All-India Senior Selection Committee named Rohit Sharma India’s full-time ODI captain. Rohit Sharma has led India in 13 ODIs since taking over as captain for the first time on December 10, 2017, against Sri Lanka in Dharamsala.
In 13 ODIs as captain, Rohit Sharma has scored 714 runs at an average of 59.5. Rohit scored those runs with a double century, a century, and four half-centuries, demonstrating that captaincy is not a burden on him.
Harmanpreet Kaur is the current captain of India’s women’s One-Day International cricket team. Kaur led India to a 2-1 series victory over Sri Lanka after taking over as ODI captain in June 2022. Kaur has an exceptional ODI record and has only lost one ODI match as captain.
Harmanpreet, who surpassed former captain Mithali Raj to become India’s leading run-scorer in the shortest format in June, is India’s middle-order mainstay. In 11 ODI matches as captain, Kaur has scored 585 runs at an average of 97.50, including 2 centuries and 3 half-centuries. As ODI captain, she has also taken 4 wickets.
List of Indian’s ODI Captain
Here is the list of the first 10 Indian cricket team captains (Men and Women), based on the starting year of their captaincy:
| Indian Cricket Captain – ODI | Year of Captaincy | Won | Lost | Win% |
| Ajit Wadekar | 1974 | 0 | 2 | 0% |
| Srinivasaraghavan | 1975 – 1979 | 1 | 6 | 14.28% |
| Bishen Singh Bedi | 1975-1078 | 1 | 3 | 25% |
| Diana Edulji | 1978 – 1993 | 7 | 11 | 38.88% |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 1980-1985 | 14 | 21 | 40% |
| Gungappa Viswanath | 1980 | 0 | 1 | 0% |
| Kapil Dev | 1982-1992 | 39 | 33 | 54.16% |
| Shantha Rangaswamy | 1982-1984 | 4 | 12 | 25% |
| Syed Kirmani | 1983 | 0 | 1 | 0% |
| Mohinder Amarnath | 1984 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
India T20 Captain
Rohit also led India in a T20I as captain for the first time against Sri Lanka in 2017, clinching the series 3-0. After taking over as India’s full-time captain in limited-overs cricket in November 2021, Rohit led India to a 3-0 victory over New Zealand.
As T20I captain, Rohit has scored 11 fifties and 2 centuries in 45 T20Is. Rohit has made 1489 runs as captain at an average of 36.31.
Harmanpreet Kaur is the current captain of India’s women’s Twenty20 International cricket team. In 80 T20I matches as captain, Kaur has scored 1717 runs at an average of 30.12, including one century and six half-centuries. As T20I captain, she has also taken 19 wickets.
List of the Indian cricket team captain – T20 series
Here is the list of the first 10 Indian cricket team captains (Men and Women), based on the starting year of their captaincy:
| Indian Cricket Captain – T20 International | Year of Captaincy | Won | Lost | Win% |
| Virender Sehwag | 2006 | 1 | 0 | 100% |
| Mithali Raj | 2006-2016 | 17 | 15 | 53.12% |
| Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 2007-2016 | 41 | 28 | 58.33% |
| Jhulan Goswami | 2008 – 2015 | 8 | 10 | 44.44% |
| Suresh Raina | 2010–2011 | 3 | 0 | 100% |
| Anjum Chopra | 2012 | 3 | 7 | 30% |
| Harmanpreet Kaur | 2012 – Present | 45 | 29 | 58.44% |
| Ajinkya Rahane | 2015 | 1 | 1 | 50% |
| Virat Kohli | 2017 – 2021 | 30 | 16 | 60% |
| Rohit Sharma | 2017 – Present | 35 | 10 | 77% |
Who was the first captain of the Indian cricket Team?
For the test series, C. K. Nayudu was the first captain of the Indian cricket team, whereas Shantha Rangaswamy led the Indian women’s cricket team for the first time in 1976. For the ODI format, Ajit Wadekar (Men’s cricket) and Diana Edulji (Women’s cricket) were the first captains of the Indian cricket team. Virender Sehwag (Men’s cricket) and Mithali Raj (Women’s cricket) were the first captains of the Indian cricket team for the T20I format.
Let’s look at their stats as captains of the Indian cricket team.
First Indian Cricket Team Captain – Test
C. K. Nayudu is the first captain of the Indian cricket team (Test cricket). He was a legendary all-rounder and is regarded as one of India’s earliest cricketing greats. In 1932, he led India in their first-ever Test at Lord’s.
Nayudu was also one of India’s better performers on the day, and despite suffering a hand injury, he scored 40 runs, making him the team’s highest run-scorer. Nayudu remained their best player despite never leading India to a Test victory.
Shantha Rangaswamy led the Indian women’s cricket team for the first time in 1976. She was India’s first international centurion and the first captain to win a Test match. Rangaswamy always took the initiative and is remembered for her aggressive batting nature. She was also a fantastic inswing bowler.
In February 2017, Rangaswamy was the first Indian woman cricketer to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for Women from the BCCI. Rangaswamy scored 710 runs in 12 Test matches as captain, including one century and six half-centuries.
First Indian Cricket Team Captain – ODI
Ajit Wadekar was the Indian men’s cricket team’s first ODI captain. On July 13 1974, he led team India as captain in their maiden ODI against England at Leeds. He played only two matches captaining the side, scoring 67 runs. India, sadly, lost both of them.
In 1971, India made history by winning its first-ever Test series against England and the West Indies under his leadership. Wadekar is also one of three Indians to have served as a test player, captain, coach/manager, and Chairman of Selectors. He received the Arjuna Award in 1967 and the Padma Shri in 1972.
Diana Edulji is the first captain of the Indian cricket team in women’s cricket and is easily one of the biggest names in women’s cricket in India. She was also the former Indian women’s test cricket team captain. She led the Indian team in two World Cups (1978 and 1993). Edulji is one of the best ‘lady’ spinners of all time. She received many prestigious awards like Arjun Award and Padma Shree.
First Indian Cricket Team Captain – T20
Virender Sehwag holds the distinction of being the first T20I captain of the Indian men’s cricket team. In the absence of senior players and leaders from the Indian team, such as Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, who were unwilling to play T20I cricket late in their careers and preferred to focus on longer formats, the team management was forced to select a new captain for an entirely new format.
Ultimately, they decided to make Virender Sehwag the first Indian captain in T20 international cricket when he was asked to lead against South Africa. That particular outing turned out to be Sehwag’s only game as T20I captain of the national team, scoring 34 runs and leading to victory.
Mithali Raj was the first Indian women’s cricket captain. She holds the distinction of captaining India in the most WODI and WT20I matches. Mithali Raj has emerged as one of the country’s best batting exports in terms of technique and consistency. She has several achievements and is widely regarded as the record-holder in Indian women’s cricket.
She has also received the Arjuna Award and the Padma Shri. As WT20I captain, she has scored 841 runs at an average of 35.04 in 32 matches, including five half-centuries.
India has had a prestigious journey to becoming one of the best cricketing teams in the world, thanks to the captains and players who contributed to this success. We hope this guide has provided enough information for anyone interested in learning who was and who is in charge of leading the Indian cricket team across all international formats.
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Captain of the Indian cricket team – FAQs
Rohit Sharma is the current captain of the Indian men’s cricket team for the Test series, ODI, and T20I. For the women’s cricket team Harmanpreet Kaur is the captain for ODI and T20 formats.
Suresh Raina (23 years and 197 days old) is the youngest captain of the Indian cricket team in T20Is.
Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, and Virat Kohli are some of India’s most successful captains.
Lala Amarnath was independent India’s first test cricket captain.
There is no such limitation rule associated with the change in leadership of the Indian cricket team captain across all formats, both men’s and women’s international cricket.
During the 1932 to 1990 cricketing era, there were times when two, three, or four captains were appointed in a five-match series. However, from 1990 to the present, there has been some consistency, and every captain of the Indian team has had long runs, with some even being retained after defeats.
The captain of the Indian cricket team is chosen by two groups of selectors, the All India Senior Selection Committee and the BCCI (The Board of Control for Cricket in India) Selection Committee. Both committees decide which personality will lead the Indian cricket team.
Usually, the best player in terms of cricketing ability is chosen as captain of the Indian team. But now, selectors have begun to appoint smart players with sharp cricketing brains as captains, who have the ability to motivate their players and lead them for long periods. As of now, this policy has paid rich dividends over the last two decades.