In episode of Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected, former cricketers – Gautam Gambhir, Sanjay Bangar, KevinPietersen and Danny Morrison discussed who has been the best captain in IPL history. Clearly there were only 2 frontrunners: MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma.Indian Premier League (IPL) has failed to get off the ground this year due to the coronavirus lockdown in the country, the pandemic hasn’t been able to stop the numerous speculations about its future nor the frequent analysis of the tournament’s past.
While Pietersen and Morrison chose Chennai Super Kings skipper Dhoni as the best captain, Gambhir and Bangar named Rohit as their preference. Statistically, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit has won the most – 4 – IPL titles, which is one more than those won by Dhoni’s CSK.
But it is hard to ignore the coolness of Dhoni the captain on a cricket field. However, Gambhir tipped Rohit to finish with 3-4 more titles under his belt by the time he is done.
“I think it’s Rohit Sharma. He has won it four times. Captaincy is all about winning trophies. He will end up being the most successful IPL captain of all time as well. He has 4 already, he may finish at 6-7 maybe under his belt,” said Gambhir.
Former India batting coach Bangar also backed Rohit due to his ability to win close matches under enormous pressure.
“The number of close matches that Mumbai Indians have won actually also show Rohit’s success as captain. He has won some very close games. The choices that he makes under pressure are good,”said Bangar.
“He is backed by the result, but even from pure captaincy point of view, the smartness and decision making, I would say Rohit Sharma,” added Bangar.
MS Dhoni is the most successful captain when it comes to the number of matches won and the winning percentage. He also holds the IPL record for most matches as captain.
In 174 matches as captain, MS Dhoni has won 104 matches. The Chennai Super Kings captain has a staggering win percentage of 60.11. Notably, no captain who has led an IPL team in more than 30 matches has a win percentage of 60 or above.
Rohit is not far behind when it comes to winning percentage as well. In 104 matches, Rohit has managed to win 60 as captain with a win percentage of 58.65.
