Comparing Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni's stats after 21 Tests as captain

Rohit Sharma has had mixed time of it as leader in 2024. He was sacked as Mumbai Indians (MI) captain ahead of IPL 2024 and was replaced by all-rounder Hardik Pandya. The Hitman, however, lifted the Men in Blue to a famous win in the 2024 T20 World Cup. Recently, though, Rohit became the first Indian captain to suffer a 3-0 whitewash in a home Test series.

Looking at the 37-year-old's captaincy stats after 21 Test matches in charge, he has won 12 and lost seven, while two games have ended in a draw. Currently, Rohit has a win percentage of 57.14 as captain in Test matches.

Of his seven Test losses as leader, as many as five have come at home - one each against Australia and England and three against New Zealand. Rohit has lost one Test away from home against South Africa in Centurion in December 2023. Earlier in the same year, India went down to Australia by 209 runs in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval.

Rohit's leadership style is often compared to Indian cricket legend MS Dhoni. If we look at the latter's performance as captain after 21 Tests, he won 13 and lost only two, while the six other games ended in a draw. The keeper-batter had a win percentage of 61.90 at this stage.

Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni after 21 Tests as captain

Captain	Won	Lost	Draw	Win %	Runs	Average	100s
Rohit	12	7	2	57.14	1,223	33.97	4
Dhoni	13	2	6	61.90	1,324	52.96	3

Of his two losses from his first 21 Tests as captain, one came in Nagpur in February 2010 when South Africa hammered the hosts by an innings and six runs. The second defeat came in the same year in Galle in July when Sri Lanka thumped India by 10 wickets.

Looking at Dhoni's victories as captain in his first 21 Test matches, 10 of them came at home. Of the three away triumphs, the most famous one came in Hamilton in March 2009. Under Dhoni, India also won a Test in Mirpur against Bangladesh in January 2010 and against Sri Lanka in Colombo in August 2010.

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Rohit Sharma vs MS Dhoni: Performance as batter during first 21 Tests as captain

In 21 Tests as captain so far, Rohit has scored 1,223 runs at an average of 33.97, with the aid of four hundreds. In winning causes, he has scored 810 runs at an average of 42.63. All his four centuries have come in Tests that India have won.

After 21 Tests in charge as India's captain, Dhoni had 1,324 runs to his name at an average of 52.96, with three centuries. In winning causes as captain, he had scored 887 runs at an average of 68.23, with two hundreds to his name.