The captaincy, initially handed to MS Dhoni when no senior players were interested in playing the T20 World Cup, has now become one of the most prestigious and significant achievements in a cricketer’s career. Starting from Virender Sehwag to Suryakumar Yadav, India has seen 14 T20 format skippers. While cricket experts believe that captaincy in the shortest format of the game does not add extra pressure, it is considered a stepping stone to leading India in all formats. Let us look at the complete list of captains for India in T20Is.
Indian cricket team captain list with year
Virender Sehwag was the first cricketer to captain India in the shortest format of the game. T20Is started in 2006 when he led India against South Africa, winning the game.
However, it was Dhoni who was designated to lead India in the first T20 World Cup. After India won the World Cup in their first attempt, Dhoni went on to lead the side for another 10 years.
| Name | Year | Played | Won | Lost |
| Virender Sehwag | 2006 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 2007–2016 | 72 | 41 | 28 |
| Suresh Raina | 2010–2011 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Ajinkya Rahane | 2015 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Virat Kohli | 2017–2021 | 50 | 30 | 16 |
| Rohit Sharma | 2017–2024 | 63 | 50 | 12 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 2021 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Rishabh Pant | 2022 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| Hardik Pandya | 2022-2023 | 16 | 10 | 5 |
| KL Rahul | 2022 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 2023 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad | 2023 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | 2023-present | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| Shubman Gill | 2024 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
Latest News
Three T20I captain for India in 2024
This year, India has changed captains three times in T20Is. Rohit Sharma led the Indian team to their second T20 World Cup win in June and then retired. In the next series against Zimbabwe, Shubman Gill was appointed captain as the senior players were resting. Now, for the IND vs SL series, Suryakumar Yadav will be leading the team. The management is considering SKY as a regular T20I skipper.
