MS Dhoni vs Virat Kohli - Comparing their captaincy stats after 143 matches in the IPL

MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are two of the biggest leadership figures in Indian cricket in the modern era. Apart from steering the national team to new heights, they were prominent leaders for their respective franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Although not captains anymore, they have a captaincy legacy in the IPL, albeit on the extreme ends of the spectrum. MS Dhoni holds the record for most matches led in the competition — 226 — which ended with a title win in 2023.

Kohli is third on the list with 143 matches, having led RCB from 2013 to 2021, and on sporadic occasions outside the aforementioned time frame. He guided the team to the final in 2016 and stepped down from the role after the 2021 season. The ace batter was linked with the captaincy role after RCB's revamp in the 2025 mega auction. However, the three-time finalists named Rajat Patidar as the new skipper ahead of the 2025 season.

On that note, let us look at the stats of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli after 143 matches as captain in the IPL.

MS Dhoni vs Virat Kohli - Comparing their captaincy stats after 143 matches in the IPL

#1 Overall Captaincy Numbers

MS Dhoni began his IPL career as a captain, taking charge of CSK from the word go. His first 143 matches as IPL captain came between 2008 and 2016, a phase where guided CSK to two titles and three finals. In the 2016 season, he was the captain of the Rising Pune Supergiants (RPSG). It was the first time that the wicketkeeper-batter failed to guide his team into the playoffs.

Virat Kohli, on the other hand, captained RCB in select matches in the 2011 and 2012 editions before being handed the role full-time in 2013. He endured a difficult start to his captaincy career, as RCB failed to qualify for the playoffs in each of his first two seasons as captain. However, the following couple of years saw Kohli propel RCB into the playoffs, and then into the final as well.

The pattern continued as RCB arguably endured their worst three-year period from 2017 to 2019. In the last phase of his captaincy career, Virat Kohli led RCB into the playoffs in the 2020 and 2021 seasons before stepping down.

Player Name	Matches	Won	Lost	NR	Win Percentage
MS Dhoni	143	83	59	1	58.04
Virat Kohli	143	66	70	4	46.1

#2 Captaincy Record in Playoffs

MS Dhoni has a rich legacy when it comes to knockout cricket in the IPL. In his entire captaincy career, he has failed to qualify for the playoffs only twice (2016 and 2020), as far as complete seasons are concerned. Across his first 143 matches as captain, Dhoni was heavily involved in playoffs as he propelled CSK into the top four for eight consecutive seasons.

Out of the seven losses that MS Dhoni suffered as captain in the playoffs, four were in the finals (2008, 2012, 2013, and 2015).

Virat Kohli, despite his success as India captain, could not replicate the same in the IPL. In his captaincy though, RCB qualified for the playoffs on four occasions (2015, 2016, 2020, and 2021), but only two wins in total were recorded.

RCB won the Qualifier 1 against the Gujarat Lions (GL) in the 2016 season at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and the Eliminator against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 2015 in Pune. The rest of the knockout matches resulted in losses, including the 2016 final against the SunRisers Hyderabad.

Player Name	Matches	Won	Lost	Win Percentage
MS Dhoni	17	10	7	58.82
Virat Kohli	6	2	4	33.33

#3 Batting numbers as captain

MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli play a very different role from each other in the batting order for their respective sides. However, with MS Dhoni's initial IPL years being in question here, he batted higher up the order regularly and was not a certified finisher as he is now.

Kohli, the ever-talisman in the top order, has been able to replicate his efforts with the bat despite the added responsibility of captaincy. His iconic 973-run season in 2016 came when he was the skipper, along with several memorable knocks.

MS Dhoni, despite predictably being well short of Kohli's run-tally, does hold a solid average that is close to his former national teammate, and the same goes for their strike rates. As a result, not much separates the pair when it comes to run scoring with the armband on.

Player Name	Matches	Runs	Average	Strike Rate
MS Dhoni	143	3271	39.41	138.95
Virat Kohli	143	4881	42.07	133.32