Rohit Sharma vs Brendon McCullum: Who was the better captain and batter?
Both players have had different journeys, with Rohit still playing at the twilight of his career and McCullum taking up coaching duties.
3 Min Read
Batting stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Brendon McCullum have played a huge role in revolutionizing their respective teams' approaches to the game through their leadership and batting performances. Both players have had different journeys, with Rohit still playing in the twilight of his career and McCullum having taken up coaching duties.
Rohit Sharma: Captaincy records across formats
Rohit's captaincy numbers are more than just brilliant. He has led India in over 142 matches across all formats and has a win percentage of 72.53%. His captaincy stint began when he took over from Virat Kohli in 2021–2022.
In ODIs, Rohit has led India in 56 matches with a solid 75% win rate, guiding the team to 42 victories. His T20I captaincy record is equally impressive, with 49 wins in 62 matches (74.41% win rate). However, his Test captaincy has seen decent success with a 50% win rate across 24 matches.
ICC tournament achievements
Under Rohit Sharma's leadership, India has achieved significant milestones. He led the team to a T20 World Cup victory in 2024, ending an 11-year ICC trophy drought, and followed it up with a Champions Trophy win in 2025. These victories made him only the second captain after MS Dhoni to win ICC trophies in both ODI and T20I formats.
However, Rohit also faced heartbreak, leading India to the finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup and the World Test Championship in the same year, falling short on both occasions. His Test captaincy tenure ended with a disappointing loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
Rohit Sharma as batter
As a batter, the Nagpur-born cricketer is arguably one of the greatest of his generation, especially in white-ball cricket. He has scored over 11,000 ODI runs at an average of 48.76, including 32 centuries. The right-handed batter has hammered three ODI double centuries and five T20I tons. However, he has announced his retirement from T20Is and Tests, choosing to focus solely on ODIs and franchise cricket going forward. His Test career concluded with 4,301 runs at an average of 40.57, including 12 centuries.
Brendon McCullum's captaincy records
Brendon McCullum led New Zealand with a win/loss ratio of 1.636 in ODIs, the best for any New Zealand captain and the ninth-best among captains who have led in at least 50 ODIs. McCullum's greatest captaincy achievement was leading New Zealand to their first-ever World Cup final in 2015. Under his leadership, New Zealand won 10 consecutive ODIs between January and March 2015, setting a national record for the longest winning streak.
McCullum's batting revolution
The former New Zealand captain changed the way of opening the innings with his explosive approach. He scored the fastest century in Test cricket history, off just 54 balls against Australia in his farewell Test match. His aggressive style wasn't limited to limited-overs cricket; he brought the same intensity to Test cricket, hitting 33 sixes in Test matches during 2014 alone.
In T20Is, McCullum became the only player to score two centuries in the format and recorded 15 fifty-plus scores, the most by any player at the time. His 18-ball fifty against England in the 2015 World Cup remains the fastest in World Cup history.
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