T20 WC Win And...? 3 Uncanny Similarities In Captaincy Of MS Dhoni And Rohit Sharma

Probuddha Bhattacharjee∙ Updated: Jan 3 2025, 12:45 PM

MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma with T20 World Cup Trophies [Source: @45Quantum, @MohdJamesKumar/x.com]MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma with T20 World Cup Trophies [Source: @45Quantum, @MohdJamesKumar/x.com]

The year 2024 was a mixed bag for the Indian cricket team. One of the best things to have happened for Indian cricket during the year was the T20 World Cup win. It was under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma that India broke a 11 year jinx in ICC Trophies. 

Notably, it was a T20 World Cup win for India after 17 years. The last India acheieve it before was in 2007 during the inaugural edition of the tournament under the leadership of MS Dhoni. While this is one of the major similarities in the captaincy tenure of MSD and Rohit Sharma, there are few others, too. In this article, we will take a look at three uncanny similarities in the captaincy of the World Cup winners.

3. Leaving An Australia Tour Incomplete

Rohit Sharma is not a part of the Indian playing XI in the fifth Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024. He was the captain of the team in the last match at the MCG, but due to lack of form has opted out from the last game. This means that Rohit might have captained the Indian team for the last time in Test cricket at Melbourne, even if he captains the team during the English tour, it will probably stay as his last Test as Indian captain in Australia. 

MS Dhoni went through a similar arc during India's tour of Australia in 2014. The then Indian skipper not only gave up captaincy but also retired from the purest format of the game after the MCG Test, which was the third match of the series. That remains as MS Dhoni last match as the Test captain of India.

Besides MCG being their last Test as Indian captains, at least in Australia for now, both of them started the tour as skippers but left the series incomplete and handed over the responsibilities to their deputies.

2. Poor Record In Away Tests

Rohit Sharma has captained India in seven Test matches. Out of these seven matches India have only two games, which means as a Test captain, Rohit Sharma has win percentage of 28.57% in away Tests. Simultaneously, Rohit has won 10 out of 16 matches at home which means at home his win percentage is around 62.5%. 

MS Dhoni led the Indian team in 30 away Tests out of which India won only 6 games. This means that his win percentage away from home was just 20%. If we see his record in home, then under MS Dhoni, India have played 30 matches at home and have won 21 of those games. This means that his win percentage at home was 70%.

Thus the stats show that both MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma were great Test captains at home, however, away from home they failed to deliver as the leader of the team.

1. Ending ICC Trophy Jinx

MS Dhoni took up the leadership of the Indian team in 2007during the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup. The young MS Dhoni led a relativeley unexperienced side to a title win and ended India's title jinx of 24 years. It was after 1983 ODI World Cup that India became the undisputed champions of a ICC Champions Trophy in 2007. 

Under Rohit Sharma India won the T20 World Cup 2024, which was a ICC trophy win for the nation after 13 years. The last time India won a ICC trophy was the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy under the leadership of MS Dhoni.

So, we can see that both MS and Rohit led India to a major trophy win after a long wait. 

Conclusion

While there are many similarities in what Rohit and MS Dhoni achieved as captains of Indian team there were similarities in their style of captaincy too. Both Rohit and MS Dhoni are more of prompt thinkers and better as defensive strategists. This is probably the prime reason that both of them were better captains in limited overs that in the purest format of the game. Besides, the fact that both Rohit and MS have won five IPL titles each as skippers adds to the list of uncanny similarities between them.