'Master vs Apprentice': A stat comparison between Pandya vs Dhoni ahead of IPL 2023 final

Legendary Indian captain MS Dhoni is all set to face his former apprentice Hardik Pandya in the Indian Premier League 2023 final on Sunday, May 28. While Pandya looks to complete a successful title defense for Gujarat Titans, Dhoni will be looking to become the second IPL captain after Rohit Sharma to win the prestigious title on five occasions. Heading into the much-anticipated summit clash, here’s an interesting stats comparison between Dhoni and Pandya as captains in IPL.

MS Dhoni’s records as a captain in IPL

The IPL 2023 final between CSK and GT will be the 226th match for MS Dhoni as a captain in the marquee T20 league. After leading CSK from 2008 to 2015, Dhoni led Rising Pune Supergiants for a year in 2016 as CSK suffered a ban. He was removed from captaincy for the 2017 season but returned to CSK as their captain for the 2018 season.

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He once again proved all naysayers wrong by lifting the third IPL trophy for CSK in 2018, with a team called the “Daddy’s Army”. He lifted the fourth title for Chennai Super Kings in 2021 and is now set to make his 10th IPL final appearance. He was the first Indian captain to win the IPL in 2010 and to successfully defend it the next year.

• Total matches as captain in IPL- 225
• Games won - 132
• Games lost - 91

Hardik Pandya’s records as a captain in IPL

Hardik Pandya was drafted into the new Gujarat Titans franchise for the 2022 season and was later named their captain. This move by the team became a talking point for the cricketing world as Pandya never led a team until this moment. However, he smashed all expectations in his debut season as an IPL captain and went on to lead GT to a title triumph in their first-ever season in the IPL. 

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Pandya not only proved his mettle as a skipper, he displayed masterclass on the field both with the bat and the ball. Courtesy of his show, he received a recall to the Indian team for the white-ball series against South Africa at home. He served as the deputy to Rishabh Pant for the series.

In his next international assignment, Pandya led the Indian T20I side for the first time in his career and returned with two wins against Ireland. Following India’s humiliating exit from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, Pandya led the Men In Blue against New Zealand and has been serving as the T20I captain ever since. He is being piped to be India’s next white-ball captain and is highly expected to lead the team in the T20 World Cup 2024.

• Total matches as captain in IPL - 29
• Games won - 21
• Games lost - 8