Is Rohit Sharma the 'most unimpressive' Indian captain ever as Shama Mohamed says? Here's the data!

Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed finds herself in the middle of the storm over her derogatory comments targeting Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma. Shama Mohamed body-shamed the World Cup-winning captain before claiming that the Mumbaikar is the worst skipper to ever lead the country. 

"Rohit Sharma is fat for a sportsman! Need to lose weight! And of course, the most unimpressive captain India has ever had!" her post on X tagging the Indian captain read. 

While her comments have sparked a political controversy with the BJP and cricket fans immediately responding, here is what data says about the win record of India's cricket captains. Is Rohit Shamra the "most unimpressive" as she claims? Check out here.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the captain to have led India the most times in ODIs. 'Captain Cool' led India for a total of 200 games, winning 110 and losing 74. The Jharkhand icon boasts a win percentage of 55. Mohammad Azharuddin led India 174 times in ODIs with a win percentage of 51.72. 

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Rohit Sharma has so far led India 54 times in the format, winning 40 and losing 12. His win percentage is 74.07. However, it is not fair to compare him with his predecessors who captained many more games than him. Here is how Rohit's win rate fares when compared to that of other Indian captains who led the team in 50 games or more.  While Rohit's win/loss ratio is 3.33 in the format, Kohli's is 2.40, Dhoni's is 1.48 and Kapil Dev's is 1.18.

• Sourav Ganguly (146 games, 76 wins, 65 defeats; 52.05%)
• Virat Kohli (95 games, 65 wins, 27 defeats; 68.42%)
• Rahul Dravid (79 games, 42 wins, 33 defeats; 53.16%)
• Kapil Dev (74 games, 39 wins, 33 defeats; 52.70%)
• Sachin Tendulkar (73 games, 23 wins, 43 defeats; 31.50%)

Thus, it is clear that Rohit Sharma has been a captain with a better record than that of some legends including Tendulkar and Kapil Dev.

Test stats

Between 2022 and 2024, Rohit Sharma led India in 24 Tests. His team 2on 12, lost nine and three were drawn. His win/loss ratio is 1.33. (50% win rate) Virat Kohli, meanwhile, led India 68 times in the format (40 wins, 17 defeats, 11 draws) His win/loss ratio is 2.35 with a 58.82% win rate.

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MS Dhoni managed 27 wins from 60 Tests. His team lost 18 games and managed 15 draws. His win/loss ratio is 1.50 with a 45.50% win rate. From 49 outings, Ganguly salvaged 21 wins and 15 draws while his team was beaten 13 times. His win/loss ratio is 1.61 with a win rate of 42.85%.

Rahul Dravid, Azharuddin and Kapil Dev are among Indian captains to have led the team a decent number of times but fall behind Rohit Sharma in the table. 

T20I stats

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Having handed India its second T20 World Cup, Rohit Sharma's legacy in the game's shortest format is already sealed. He led India 62 times, winning 49 and losing 12. At a 4.08 win/loss ratio, the Hitman's success rate is 79.03%. Here is how his record looks when compared to some other Indian T20I captains:

• MS Dhoni (72 games, 41 wins, 28 defeats; 56.94%) 1.46 W/L
• Virat Kohli (50 games, 30 wins, 16 defeats; 52.70%) 1.87 W/L
• Suryakumar Yadav (22 games, 17 wins, 4 defeats; 77.27%) 4.25 W/L
• Hardik Pandya (16 games, 10 wins, 5 defeats; 62.50%) 2.00 W/L

(The win/loss ratio is calculated as the percentage of won opportunities over lost opportunities. For example, if your team had 3 won opportunities and 7 lost opportunities, the Win-Loss Ratio is 42.8% (3 / 7 = 42.8%)

(Data via ESPN CricInfo)