Cricket is a team game where every player has almost equal responsibilities. However, when you are the captain or the skipper of your side, your job is not just to perform the duties as a player but also to lead the team in a way that every individual produces the best results.
The captain should motivate his players, back them in tough times, and should also by example without playing the blame game. Well, you must have understood by now. Today, Cricwizz presents to you the Numbers of skippers a side has used in ODIs.
India (25)
Yes, 25. India has had 25 different players to have led the team in at least one ODI match. The first-ever skipper of India was Ajit Wadekar, who led India in two matches and unfortunately, lost both.
The likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, etc have all led India at some stage.
The standout skippers
The first standout skipper has been Kapil Dev under whom India won their first-ever Cricket World Cup, beating the two-time champions West Indies. Kapil Dev led India in 74 ODI matches from 1982 to 1987.
Mohammad Azharuddin led India from 1990 to 1999 in 174 matches. Then came Sourav Ganguly who revolutionized Indian cricket and opened the doors for several youngsters. Ganguly led India from 1999 to 2005, leading India in 146 ODI matches.
M.S Dhoni has been India's most successful captain in terms of ICC trophies collection and is the second-best when we go into statistics. Dhoni-led India in 200 ODIs, and possessed a win% of 59.52.
Virat Kohli hasn't had any luck in claiming a single ICC tournament but when we see numbers, Kohli has the most ODI wins as captain. He has led and continues to lead India in ODIS and possesses a win% of 70.43 after 95 ODIS.
Kohli's numbers
| Matches | Wins | Loss | Win% |
| 95 | 65 | 27 | 70.43 |
Australia (26)
Australia have a rich cricket history and they have had some of the best captains on their side as well. Their first skipper was Bill Lawry/ William Morris Lawry. He led Australia in 1971 in just one match, winning it.
Standout skippers
Allan Border was one of Australia's biggest captains and captained Australia in 178 ODIs over the course of nine years. He won 107 matches and led Australia from 1985 until 1994.
Steve Waugh was another great captain who led Australia in 106 ODIs between 1997-2002. With 65.23% of wins, Waugh's name in the history of great skippers was embedded.
Finally, we come to the greatest Australian ODI skipper, Ricky Ponting. Ponting was Australia's face for 10 years and captained in 229 ODIs, winning 164 of them. A skipper with an aggressive approach, in Ponting's reign, Australia reached new heights and dominated World Cricket for a long time.
| Matches | Wins | Tie | Loss | Win% |
| 229 | 164 | 2 | 51 | 76.03 |
England (34)
Well, this list keeps getting bigger and better. England have seen 34 captains leasing them until 2021. The first of which was Ray Illingworth. He led England between 1971 to 1973, in three matches, losing and winning one, while the third had no result.
Standout skippers
Surprisingly, until 1988, no English skipper captained even 40 matches. However, Graham Gooch's appointment started to change things. Gooch was at the helm for five years and managed 50 games as captain, winning 24 of them.
Then in 1997 came Nasser Hussain and stayed as captain until 2003. He also managed over 50 games (56) and won 28 with a win% of 50.90 (1 NR).
Michael Vaughan was another skipper who helped England in a lot of ways. He was appointed in 2003 and went on as the English skipper till 2007. He captained in 60 ODIs, winning 32 of them with a win% of 58.92.
In 2006 came Andrew Strauss and stayed as the England skipper until 2011, featuring in 62 games as England captain and winning 27 of them. His win% was 45.08%.
In 2010, the great batsman Alastair Cook became England's captain and stayed as the skipper until 2014. In that time, he featured in 69 games as captain, winning 36 of them.
However, the most successful ODI skipper for England is Eoin Morgan who has featured in 124 games but he also possesses the best record as the skipper. In 124 games, he has managed to win 74 with a great England squad with so much potential, and not to forget, England also won the 2019 Cricket World Cup, their first under Morgan. Undoubtedly, their best.
| Matches | Wins | Tie | Loss | Win% |
| 124 | 70 | 2 | 40 | 64.65 |
West Indies (29)
The first skipper of the West Indies in ODIs was Rohan Kanhai. He led the Caribbean side in 1973 and featured as the skipper in two matches, winning one and losing one.
Standout skippers
Clive Lloyd was and still is West Indies' most influential skipper who led the side for ten years between 1975-1985. During this period, he featured in 84 games, winning 64, and losing just 18. Not just that, the tenure included two successive World Cups as well. Lloyd had a win% of 77.71.
Sir Viv Richards was another exceptional skipper West Indies had and one of the greatest legends of the game led West Indies by example for 11 years. He featured in 105 games as the skipper winning 67 of them and losing 36, with a win% of 65.04.
In 1991 came Richie Richardson and stayed as the West Indies skipper for five years. In the 87 games he led, West Indies won 46 and lost 36, and possessed a win% of 55.88. Courtney Walsh was also in charge of the West Indies side in between and featured as the skipper in 43 games. Brian Lara succeeded them and despite some frequent changes between 1994-1996, it was Lara who went on to lead West Indies in 125 ODI games, winning 59 and losing 59 of them.
After Lara left in 2007, Chris gayle emerged as stayed as the skipper for three years until 2010, leading West Indies in 53 games, winning 17 and losing 30, while six were NR. In 2010, we saw Darren Sammy, who stayed as the skipper until 2014 and ended West Indies' long wait for an ICC trophy.
However, in ODIS, Sammy featured in 51 games, losing 30 and winning just 19, with one game tied and 1 with no result. Then in 2015 came Jason Holder, another player who led West Indies in over 50 games (86) from 2015 to 2019, winning 24 of them and losing 54, possessing a win% of 31.25
This is the evidence as to how the West Indies cricket standards dropped from where they were once under the likes of Clive Lloyd to now.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this topic where we discuss the likes of New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Pakistan.
