IPL 2021: 3 captains who have won the most matches against MI
Mumbai Indians (MI) are the only team to have won the IPL championship in India and even outside India. The Mumbai-based franchise holds the record for the most title wins by any IPL team, having won the trophy five times and the Champions League T20 twice as well.
MI have dominated their opponents in the IPL of late. In 2019, they topped the standings and then became the champions. They repeated the feat in 2020 and successfully defended their championship in the United Arab Emirates.
Only a few captains have been able to achieve success against MI in IPL
Looking at the above records, one can understand how well the Mumbai Indians have played in the IPL. It is a challenging task for any opposition to beat the Mumbai-based franchise, but the following three players have registered the highest number of wins while leading their teams against MI in the IPL.
#3 Steve Smith - 8 matches, 6 wins
Steve Smith has the best win percentage among all IPL captains who have led their team against the Mumbai Indians more than three times in the IPL. The Australian batsman has played eight games against MI as captain of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) or Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS).
In IPL 2017, RPS registered a hat-trick of wins against MI under Smith's leadership. In 2019, RR played one game against MI under Smith and won that fixture, while in 2020, the Jaipur-based franchise recorded a win and a defeat in their two matches versus Mumbai.
Former Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir has also won six matches against MI, but it took him 19 matches to register six victories. Smith has won 75% of his matches as captain against Mumbai. However, in IPL 2021, he is playing under Rishabh Pant's captaincy at Delhi Capitals.
See the full list of the updated IPL 2021 squads here.
#2 Virat Kohli - 19 matches, 7 wins
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli achieved second position on the list when his team beat the Mumbai Indians in the curtain-raiser of IPL 2021 earlier this year. The Bangalore-based franchise edged MI in a close encounter.
RCB and MI had a thrilling match last year as well, where the Virat Kohli-led outfit prevailed in a Super Over. Overall, Kohli has won seven of his 19 matches as captain against the Mumbai-based franchise.
#1 MS Dhoni - 32 matches, 13 wins
MS Dhoni holds the record for playing the most matches as captain against the Mumbai Indians in IPL history. He led the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to a win in the first-ever MI vs CSK match that took place in 2008.
In the last 13 years, Dhoni has played a total of 32 matches as captain of Rising Pune Supergiant or Chennai Super Kings against Mumbai Indians. He is the only skipper with more than ten victories against MI.
Dhoni's team lost their last match versus Mumbai in IPL 2021. The Chennai-based franchise will try to avenge that defeat when they battle their arch-rivals on September 19 in Dubai.