Better captain - MS Dhoni or Virat Kohli? Michael Vaughan's answer is... complicated

MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are among the most celebrated stars Indian cricket has produced over recent years. While MS Dhoni led Team India to its second World Cup win, Virat Kohli is all set to captain Team India in the first-ever World Test Championship Final against New Zealand. Now, Michael Vaughan in an interview with crictracker has picked who is the better captain across all formats. 

England's former skipper Michael Vaughan was recently in the spotlight over his remarks on New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and his counterpart Virat Kohli. Michael Vaughan had said that Virat Kohli is not the best batsman in the world. In an interview with Spark Sports, Vaughan said that if Williamson was Indian he would be the greatest player in the world, not Virat Kohli. "If Kane Williamson was Indian, he would be the greatest player in the world. But he’s not because you’re not allowed to say that Virat Kohli is not the greatest, because you’d get an absolute pelting on social media. So, you all say Virat is the best purely to get a few more clicks and likes, few more numbers following here."

MS Dhoni or Virat Kohli? Vaughan names the better captain

During the interview, Michael Vaughan was asked to choose the better among MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. Vaughan without any hesitation named MS Dhoni as the best captain in terms of white-ball cricket, however, the former English skipper also said that Virat Kohli is better than MS Dhoni in terms of captainship in the longer format of the game. "MS Dhoni. He’s the trailblazer in the white-ball game. He’s the best ever T20 captain by a good distance. What he brought to the Indian team was fantastic. Virat is the better Test captain, but across formats, it’s Dhoni," said Vaughan. 

Notably, it is not the first time Michael Vaughan has praised Team India's former skipper MS Dhoni. During the IPL 2021 in a match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, Vaughan had called the CSK skipper 'the best tactician' of T20 he has ever seen. Vaughan said that MS Dhoni might have lost his old touch with the bat but in terms of captainship, he is still the best.

MS Dhoni vs Virat Kohli's Captainship Stats

MS Dhoni is known for his calm demeanor and also for being one of the most successful captains in cricketing history. Both Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni have been very successful as captains of the Indian team though Kohli has the edge over his predecessor in the Test format. Kohli has won 23 matches out of the 39 that he played as a captain. MS Dhoni led the Indian team in 60 tests with 27 wins. He led the side during a transition phase where the big four – Tendulkar, Laxman, Dravid, and Ganguly had retired. 

In the ODI format, MS Dhoni has the edge over Kohli because of his superior record. Team India won the World Cup trophy in 2011 under Dhoni’s captaincy. The team also performed well in the 2015 World Cup under Dhoni but was knocked out in the semi-finals. Dhoni has won 110 matches out of the 199 ODIs that he played as a captain, while 4 ended in a draw.

Similarly, in the T20s, Dhoni led the team in 72 matches with 41 wins and a T20 World Cup. Kohli has won 62 out of the 89 matches that he has played as a captain in the ODI format. However, he hasn’t won an ICC trophy. 

(Image Credits: AP/Instagram-Michael Vaughan)