The Test cricket is the longest format of cricket, which consists of 4 days and 2 innings in which both the teams have to compete with each other till the end, and if not able to make the needed runs then the match gets drawn, unlike the white ball cricket, where in limited overs the given target has to be chased, and if not done then the team with the highest runs claims the victory.
The role of captain is more crucial than any other in the Test match; the captain has to strategize and analyse each session according to the playing style of the opponent. The test match is a game of patience; no matter if the team is bowling or batting, the plan has to be super solid throughout, and each player in the team has to be on the same page to choke the opponent.
The more perseverance and awareness one captain has, the more chances of winning the match increase for his/her team. There are some successful captains who did not let the situation get over in their or the team’s head and handled the situation by alleviating the heat with the opponents at the ground.
3 Active Captains With Most Test Wins
3. Rohit Sharma 10 wins, 16 games
Rohit Sharma got the captaincy due to the hastened removal of Virat Kohli’s captaincy in 2022 from all formats. Rohit stepped in and took over the control from there, as he was the most successful captain of the IPL already, so he got the opportunity to lead the team India as well across all formats.
Rohit started his reign of captaincy with Sri Lanka in 2022. He claimed the victory in the Test series against Sri Lanka by 2-0 at home. Sooner he formed a core team to play with and compete with the greatest rivals in international cricket.
In the following year, 2023, India won the home series against their Border Gavaskar Trophy rivals Australia. Although after a couple of months, Rohit Sharma successfully made team India reach the finals of the World Test Championship. Unfortunately, his team has to face the jolt in the finals of the WTC against Australia.
Later, Rohit Sharma and Co. conquered the West Indies with a 1-0 win and stunned South Africa in an away series with a one-all. Sooner he registered a huge series win against England of 4-1 at home in March this year, 2024. The English athletes got a huge upset in India with this series as they were not able to cope with the conditions of the climate in India.
Adding all of that marks over 10 wins in Rohit Sharma’s captaincy in his tenure of leading 16 matches. This averages a 62.50% win percentage as a captain.
2. Pat Cummins: 17 wins in 28 matches
From the time Pat Cummins got the responsibility of leading Aussies in late 2021, the man silenced the critics with a convincing victory in the great Ashes series at home. Sooner he won the series against Pakistan in an away series and drew a series against Sri Lanka after that. Since then, he has claimed victories against the West Indies and South Africa during the 2022–23 season.
Later in the away series against India in the Border Gavaskar Trophy, he had to face the loss but bounced back hard when they avenged India at the crucial stage of the World Test Championship in 2023 and also took over a huge win against England in the Ashes. Both of the pivotal series happened within a span of two months.
Pat Cummins and Co. went to Pakistan for a Test series and justified their title of World Test Championship by winning the series at their home by 3-0. Further, they converted another victory against the West Indies in New Zealand.
Pat Cummins has been a beast in terms of captaincy, as he has claimed a total of 17 centuries out of 28 matches and just six losses. His winning percentage stood up to 60.71% at the start of 2024.
1. Ben Stokes: 17 wins in 27 matches
Ben Stokes was appointed as the captain of England in the absence of Joe Root for an interim basis in 2020. Later in mid-2022, the extravagant all-rounder got the full control and responsibility of the team to lead when Joe Root stepped down from captaincy.
After taking the role of captaincy, he worked along with the head coach, Brendon McCullum, and went for a wild chase of excellence, where he got 10 victories in England’s next 11 matches against New Zealand, India, South Africa, and Pakistan. The test series against Pakistan at their home got the most attention by seeing the no-hold-barred approach of the new captain, Ben Stokes.
England’s team adopted the ‘Bazball’ mentality in their batting, where they showed an aggressive approach with the bat and started to build their legacy of victories. England levelled the Ashes at home and won the solitary test against Ireland, their continental rivals. Although the team got a huge loss in an away test series against India.
They bounced back in 2024 in their further matches with four successive wins against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, i.e., also going on right now. The dashing all-rounder got England a total of seventeen victories in twenty-seven matches.
ALSO READ : The Lord’s Cricket Ground: 7 Records in Test Cricket
