How many players have captained India in ODI cricket before Shubman Gill?

By Vikas Singh Derek

Vikas Singh Derek has a Master's in Journalism and has written more than 50,000 articles. He currently works as a cricket content writer at Khel Now.

Published at :October 5, 2025 at 12:38 PM

Modified at :October 5, 2025 at 12:38 PM

BCCI, Shubman Gill, India, Indian Cricket Team

(Courtesy : BCCI)

Shubman Gill replaced Rohit Sharma as India’s ODI captain.

On Saturday, 4th October, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s white-ball squads for the Australia tour, which was Shubman Gill being appointed as full-time ODI captain, replacing Rohit Sharma of the Indian Cricket Team. The test captain of the side will take charge of the ODI side when they battle Australia in a three-match ODI series, scheduled to be played from October 19 to 25.

India’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar, while citing reason behind Rohit Sharma’s removal as captain, said that it was not possible to keep different captains for each format. Hence, Gill was appointed as captain of the ODI team. Agarkar also mentioned that appointing him as ODI captain now will give him enough time to settle ahead of ICC Cricket World Cup 2027. Earlier in May, Gill was also appointed as test captain following Rohit’s retirement from the format.

Notably, Gill will become 28th player to lead the Indian Cricket Team in ODI cricket when he steps on the field in Perth on October 19. Ahead of Gill, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were the ODI captains of India. In 1974, Ajit Wadekar captained India in their first ever ODI.

MS Dhoni, MS Dhoni in ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 — MS Dhoni of India (Photo by Christopher Lee-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

MS Dhoni holds the record for leading India in the most ODI games. During his career, he captained India in 200 games. The next player on the list is Mohammad Azharuddin with 174 games. Sourav Ganguly, who captained India in 146 ODI matches, follows him at the third spot.

Dhoni is also the most successful captain of India in ODI cricket, leading the team to 110 wins. Azharuddin and Ganguly, with 90 and 76 victories respectively, are next on the list. Below is the complete list of all players who have led the Indian Cricket Team before Shubman Gill in ODI cricket.

List of India captains in ODI cricket ahead of Shubman Gill

Name	Matches Played	Matches Won	Matches Lost	Tied	No Result
MS Dhoni	200	110	74	5	11
Mohammed Azharuddin	174	90	76	2	6
Sourav Ganguly	146	76	65	0	5
Virat Kohli	95	65	27	1	2
Rahul Dravid	79	42	33	0	4
Rohit Sharma	56	42	12	1	1
Kapil Dev	74	39	33	0	2
Sachin Tendulkar	73	23	43	1	6
Sunil Gavaskar	37	14	21	0	2
Ajay Jadeja	13	8	5	0	0
KL Rahul	12	8	4	0	0
Dilip Vengsarkar	18	8	10	0	0
Shikhar Dhawan	12	7	3	0	2
Virender Sehwag	12	7	5	0	0
Gautam Gambhir	6	6	0	0	0
Suresh Raina	12	6	5	0	1
Ravi Shastri	11	4	7	0	0
Kris Srikkanth	13	4	8	0	1
Ajinkya Rahane	3	3	0	0	0
Hardik Pandya	3	2	1	0	0
Bishen Singh Bedi	4	1	3	0	0
Anil Kumble	1	1	0	0	0
S Venkataraghavan	7	1	6	0	0
Mohinder Amarnath	1	0	0	0	1
Syed Kirmani	1	0	1	0	0
Gundappa Viswanath	1	0	1	0	0
Ajit Wadekar	2	0	2	0	0

How many players have captained India in ODI cricket ahead of Shubman Gill?

27 players have captained India in ODI cricket ahead of Shubman Gill.

Who has led India in the most number of ODI games?

MS Dhoni (200) has captained India in the most number of ODI games.

Who was India’s first ever ODI captain?

Ajit Wadekar was India’s first ever ODI captain.

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Vikas Singh Derek

Vikas Singh Derek is a core cricket-lover since childhood and has always followed the sport both in his personal and professional life. He started his school life by watching cricket at home with family. Later, he played cricket on the field at local clubs during college. After his Master's in Journalism from Mumbai, he followed his passion by covering cricket news across various digital media. Since 2015, he has been an aspiring sports journalist and cricket content writer with over 50K+ articles.