Virat Kohli's 1st game as India's T20 skipper, MS Dhoni's 2nd as non-captain

Kanpur: While Virat Kohli will lead the Indian team in T20Is as a full-time captain for the first time, the first India versus England T20 at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur will only be the second time when Mahendra Singh Dhoni won’t play in Indian colours (in T20Is) as Indian skipper.

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The Jharkhand maverick, who powered India to three ICC trophy triumphs – ICC World Twenty20 2007, ICC World Cup 2011, ICC Champions Trophy 2013, last played a T20 for India just as a player when India played their first T20 match back in December 2006. Virender Sehwag had captained the Men in Blue as India defeated South Africa in a last-over thriller at the New Wanders Stadium in Johannesburg.

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While India have thus far played 78 T20s, Dhoni was part of the team in 73 of them and led the team in 72 matches. In the 5 games, when MS Dhoni did not feature, Suresh Raina had led the side.

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Although the sample size is really short, Sehwag and Raina enjoy higher winning percentage as India’s T20 skipper. While Sehwag has 100 per cent winning record (captained 1, won 1, lost 0), Raina enjoys 80 per cent success record (captained 5, won 4, lost 1) in comparison to Dhoni’s 58.33 per cent winning record as India’s T20 captain. India, under Dhoni won 42 T20s, lost 28 while two games did not fetch any result.

Dhoni, who took over the reigns as India’s skipper in the shortest format of the game in 2007 before stepping down as India’s limited-overs captain earlier this month after leading the side over nine years, however is at the top of the chart of captain who have led their teams for most number of times. Dhoni is followed by Ireland’s William Porterfield who has led his team in 53 games.

While Kohli will lead the side in Kanpur for the first time, he has done incredible job leading the side in the Test cricket and recently won his first ODI series as a full-time captain as India defeated England 2-1 in the three-ODI series.