No one can argue that these two names MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, are living legends of cricket. They are loved and worshiped all around the world, not just in India. Talking about MS Dhoni, who started his career as a wicket-keeping batsman – a batting dynamo later known as one of India’s best captains who won all the 3 ICC trophies. He is known as Captain Cool around the globe.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli, who emerged and evolved under the leadership of MS Dhoni, is currently taking his legacy forward. Kohli was a shining star of Indian cricket way before he made his international appearance as He had led the U-19 team and won the U-19 world cup. While representing India, he broke all the cricketing records with each year passing in all sorts of cricket. He is part of Fab four and is known as a Modern master.
Kohli has not shown his skills and talent with the bat. Still, when Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket during the series against Australia in Australia, Kohli showed the character as a captain.
This Virat Kohli vs. MS Dhoni article does not represent any rivalry among two players or their fan base; it is written to tell a story that How both the players from a different era and different game style has made it possible to raise the name of Indian cricket.
MS Dhoni vs. Virat Kohli as batsman
Undoubtedly Virat Kohli is currently the best batsman across all the formats. He is likely to break all the batting records of all time. This batting dynamo has already scored 70 Hundred under all the game formats, excluding IPL, List A, and Under-19 level. People of the cricket fraternity call him a modern-day master for a reason.
Note – Just on the current Australian tour, he has completed 12,000 ODI runs.
But, now if we talk about Mr. Captain cool, MS Dhoni; He also started his career as a wicket-keeper batsman, and He announced himself when Saurav gangly promoted him at No. 3. He became the No. 1 ODI batsman just after 47 innings. While MS Dhoni was ruling the No. 1 spot in 2010, Kohli had smashed nearly 1000 runs in that same calendar year.
With the responsibility of building a team, MS stepped down his batting position and groomed Virat Kohli under his captaincy. Let’s look at the ODI Stats comparison.
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MS Dhoni vs. Virat Kohli – ODI Stats comparison
Well, Virat Kohli – surpasses MS Dhoni in every aspect of this ODI format, but here, both the player’s role is different. MS Dhoni bats down the order and plays a finisher while Virat Kohli comes down and builds the team’s innings.
| Stat | Kohli | Dhoni |
| Match | 248 | 350 |
| Innings | 239 | 297 |
| Runs | 11867 | 10773 |
| Avg | 59.33 | 50.57 |
| SR | 93.25 | 87.56 |
| Hundred | 43 | 10 |
| Best | 183 | 183* |
Virat Kohli vs. MS Dhoni – TEST Stats comparison
On the tour of West Indies in 2011, Virat Kohli made his test debut. He was already the talk of the town then. His maiden Test hundred came in 2012 against Australia in Australia. He proved to the world that he is the player of the big league.
While Dhoni made his test appearance in 2005 against Sri Lanka, when Dhoni made his ODI debut and scored a fearless hundred against Pakistan during his initial days, many thought it would be difficult for him to survive legends were playing at that time. Dhoni always batted below the number 5 position in TEST cricket.
There are many remarkable performances by him, such as his 224 runs innings at Chennai.
| Stat | Kohli | Dhoni |
| Math | 86 | 90 |
| Innings | 145 | 144 |
| Runs | 7240 | 4876 |
| Avg | 53.62 | 38.09 |
| Hundred | 27 | 6 |
| Best | 254* | 224 |
Virat Kohli vs. MS Dhoni – T20 Internationals Stats comparison
If just numbers are biasing you, then you will say Virat Kohli is the greatest T20 batsman. But you have to agree that MS Dhoni had a fruitful T20 career. He has played a crucial role as batman and captain in winning the 2007 world cup.
| Stat | Kohli | Dhoni |
| Match | 82 | 98 |
| Innings | 76 | 85 |
| Runs | 2794 | 1617 |
| Avg | 50.80 | 37.60 |
| SR | 138.24 | 126.13 |
| Hundred | No | No |
| Fifty | 24 | 2 |
| Best | 94* | 56 |
MS Dhoni vs. Virat Kohli –Stats comparison for IPL
Indian premier league one of the most elegant and loved leagues around the globe. IPL started in 2008, and both MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli started and played under one franchise only. MS Dhoni was signed by Chennai Super Kings as their skipper, while Royal Challengers Bangalore picked Virat Kohli. However, the captaincy was handed over to him in 2012.
| Stat | Kohli | Dhoni |
| Match | 192 | 204 |
| Innings | 184 | 182 |
| Runs | 5878 | 4632 |
| Avg | 40.99 | 37.17 |
| SR | 130.74 | 136.76 |
| Hundred | 5 | 0 |
| Fifty | 39 | 23 |
| Best | 113 | 84* |
| Trophies | 0 | 3 |
Virat Kohli vs. MS Dhoni – Comparison of players and Stats as Captain
There could never be a debate on who is the most excellent captain of India as Virat Kohli himself believe that MS Dhoni is the best captain he played under. Still, there some of the achievements which rank Virat Kohli high in comparison to Dhoni. But, overall, Dhoni has gathered the TEST team during his era.
Captaincy in Tests
| Stat | Kohli | Dhoni |
| Match | 55 | 60 |
| Wins | 33 | 27 |
| Loss | 12 | 18 |
| Draw | 10 | 15 |
| Win% | 60 | 45 |
Captaincy in ODIs
| Stat | Kohli | Dhoni |
| Match | 89 | 200 |
| Wins | 62 | 110 |
| Losses | 24 | 74 |
| Tied | 1 | 5 |
| No Results | 2 | 11 |
| Win% | 71.8 | 59.5 |
Don’t get bluffed by the number game. Virat has captained India only 89 times, and his win % is 72, while Dhoni has captained 200 games and his win % 59.5. So, we can’t conclude based on these % stats. Virat has
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