Steve Smith beats MS Dhoni as the most successful captain in IPL

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is trending currently all over the world as the dates for the mega auctions were announced on Tuesday. As the franchises are deliberating over the retentions of the players which they have to submit by January 4, the statisticians are churning out some interesting numbers from last 10 editions of the cash-rich T20 league. However, in an interesting revelation, the Australian captain Steve Smith has trumped MS Dhoni in the list of most successful captains in the history of the tournament.

Smith and Dhoni were part of the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) in the last two seasons when CSK and Rajasthan Royals were suspended for a period of two years. The former was made the skipper of the side surprisingly last season despite MS Dhoni’s presence in the team.

RPS made it to the finals of the tournament only to lose it tantalisingly to the Mumbai Indians. But they were close to the title unlike 2016 when they were crashed out of the tournament well before due to the string of losses under the leadership of MS Dhoni.

What do the numbers suggest?

Steve Smith has led the teams in IPL in 24 matches so far during the span of 5 years from 2012 to 2017 and has won as many as 16 matches. He has the highest win percentage of 66.67% amongst all in the history of the league. Surprisingly, MS Dhoni is fifth on the all-time list with 83 wins and 59 losses from a whopping 143 matches with a win rate of 58.04%. Chennai Super Kings have won the title twice under the captaincy of Mahi and it could be argued that Smith has led the teams in fewer matches compared to the Indian stalwart.

But as of now, according to numbers, Dhoni isn’t the most successful captain. Rohit Sharma is next on the charts with a win percentage of 60 as he has won 45 games out of 75 in which he has led his franchise. Interestingly, the former Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar enters into the frame at the third position with 30 victories in 51 matches and he boasts a win percentage of 58.82.

Cameron White is the next Australian in the list but he captained his team only in 12 matches managing to win seven of them.