Virat Kohli Hasn’t Won Any ICC Trophy But He’s One Of Our Greatest Captains. These Stats Prove Why

What makes for a good captain? The victories. That isn’t necessarily a personal belief but certainly a parameter of judgment for a lot of people.

Which is probably good for them. It’s easier for them to present arguments because they have numbers to back opinions up with.

Opinions like: MS Dhoni is a better captain than Virat Kohli. Or the opposite. 

It is something very tough to tell, for a person like me, who has her heart with one and mind with another. 

So, we will stick to the stats. And stats say – it’s Kohli. 

Yes, he hasn’t won an ICC trophy, but you’d want to look at the numbers that speak in his favour.

Virat Kohli has the highest winning percentage in the ODIs, among all Indian captains. In fact, he is the second and only one from the country, to feature on the all-time international list of 16 players.

That’s not it. His winning percentage as a captain in Tests is also the highest for anyone who has lead India in more than 2 games.

Now while we are at it, let’s look at his records from last year, across various formats.

Tests.

ODIs.

T20Is.

India has performed more than decent in both Tests and ODIs. In T20Is, it is not all that great, but hey we have started this year on a great note with 4 back-to-back victories against New Zealand in January 2020.

Yes, Virat wasn’t the captain for all of the matches in the series mentioned above, but that hardly affects his record. 

Months after becoming India’s Test captain in 2014, Virat led the country to an unbeaten run of 19 Tests – the highest in our history. 

As for ODIs, he captained India in its first bilateral series win against Australia, on their soil in January 2019.

And it probably sounds repetitive at this point, but he also led India to its first-ever series whitewash against South Africa – also in 2019. 

Which meant that he secured the second-most number of wins against the Proteas, among all the captains of the world.

The team, under Virat, has performed well in all formats, every where around the world.

And this is when he has been breaking one batting record after another.

There is criticism that comes for Kohli – he doesn’t perform in big matches, he is going through a rough patch. There is truth in these statements. However, he is our best captain, if the numbers are anything to go by, and that is probably an achievement bigger than any other.