Performance in First 50 Tests as Captain

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in the Epic Draw vs South Africa at Johannesburg, was captaining for the 50th time in Tests for India. He became the first Indian to captain in 50 Tests overcoming Sourav Ganguly's 49 Tests as captain. He became only the 2nd Asian after Arjuna Ranatunga (56 Tests) to achieve this feat and 14th captain overall.

MS Dhoni in his first 50 Tests as captain lead India to 26 Victories, 12 Draws and 12 Defeats. Out of his 26 wins, 8 came against Australia, 5 against West Indies and 4 against New Zealand. He has captained against all nations except Pakistan and Zimbabwe as India haven't played them since he became Captain in 2008.

MSD became the first Indian and second Asian to captain in 50 Test Matches

Below is the break up of India's performance under MS Dhoni's Captaincy. 

Opposition	Matches	Wins	Lost	Drawn	Win %
Australia	11	8	3	0	72.72
Bangladesh	1	1	0	0	100.00
England	10	2	6	2	20.00
New Zealand	7	4	0	3	57.14
South Africa	7	3	2	2	42.85
Sri Lanka	6	3	1	2	50.00
West Indies	8	5	0	3	62.50
Total	50	26	12	12	52.00

Home vs Away 

Venue	Matches	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %
Home	30	21	3	6	70.00
Away	20	5	9	6	25.00
Total	50	26	12	12	52.00

Performance of Captains in their first 50 Tests as Captain

The first player to captain in 50 Tests was Clive Lloyd when he captained led West Indies against India at Sabina Park in on 23rd February 1983. Allan Border and Vivian Richards were the next two to follow.After which 11 other players captained in 50 or more Tests while Graeme Smith became the first to captain in 100 Test Matches in 2013. In all, MS Dhoni is the latest and 14th to reach the landmark. 

The Legendary Australian Captains and Batsmen, Waugh and Ponting, lead others by a fair distance by winning 37 and 35 tests respectively in their first 50 Tests as Captain. Richards (27), Taylor (26),Vaughan (26), Dhoni (26) and Cronje (25) are the other captains to win 25 or more tests in their first 50 Tests as Captain.

Ponting and Waugh had the best success rate in their first 50 Tests as Captain

Arajuna Ranatunga had won the least number of matches (9) in his first 50 Tests as Captain. He is followed by Allan Border (13) and Mike Atherton (13). Allan Border and Arajuna Ranatunga had most number of Draws in their first 50 Tests as Captain - 24 each. 

Australia had drawn only 5 Tests under Steve Waugh in his first 50 Tests as Captain while under Ricky Ponting they drew 9 Tests. Ponting lost least number of Matches in his first 50 Tests as captain (6) followed by Richards and Waugh - 8 each. 

Below is the table containing the Win/Loss/Draw analysis of all those 14 captains. 

Captain	Team	Span	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %
Steve Waugh	Aus	1999-2003	37	8	5	74
Ricky Ponting	Aus	2004-2008	35	6	9	70
Viv Richards	WI	1984-1991	27	8	15	54
Mark Taylor	Aus	1994-1999	26	13	11	52
Michael Vaughan	Eng	2003-2008	26	10	14	52
MS Dhoni	Ind	2008-2013	26	12	12	52
Hansie Cronje	SA	1994-2000	25	10	15	50
Andrew Strauss	Eng	2006-2012	24	11	15	48
Graeme Smith	SA	2003-2007	22	13	15	44
Clive Lloyd	WI	1974-1983	21	11	18	42
Stephen Fleming	NZ	1997-2003	19	15	16	38
Allan Border	Aus	1978-1990	13	13	24	26
Mike Atherton	Eng	1989-1998	13	18	19	26
Arjuna Ranatunga	SL	1989-1998	9	17	24	18

Other Captains who won 20 or more Tests despite captaining in less than 50 Tests in their career. 

Greg Chappell - 21 in 48 Tests

Sourav Ganguly - 21 in 49 Tests

Peter May - 20 in 41 Tests

Performance at Home in their first 50 Tests as Captain 

Among all the 14 Captains Andrew Strauss (31) and MS Dhoni (30) played 30 or more of their first 50 Tests as Captain at Home and won 19 and 21 respectively. Leaving off the number of matches played the highest win % was Ponting's 84.61% as he won 22 of his 26 Tests at Home. He is followed by his previous captain Steve Waugh who won 81.81% of the home matches. Both Aussie Captains lost one and drew three while winning 22 and 18 respectively. 

Strauss captained 31 of his 50 Tests as Captain at Home - Most by any captain

MS Dhoni won 70% of the Tests i.e 21 out of 30 at Home. Mark Taylor (62.96) and Richards (62.50) follow him.

Most wins at Home were Ponting's 22, Dhoni's 21, Strauss 19 and goes on. Arajuna Ranatunga won only 6 of the 23 Tests at Home losing 5 and drawing 12. 

Most Draws were Border's 13 followed by Ranatunga (12). 

Ranatunga (26.08), Border (27.58) and Atherton (30.76) are the only captains to win less than 50% of their home matches as captain in first 50 Tests as captain. 

Clive Lloyd captained only 16 Tests at home in his first 50 Tests. Still his win % is 56.25 as he won 9, losing 2 and drawing 5.

Below is the table containing the Win/Loss/Draw analysis of all those 14 captains at Home.

Player	Team	Span	Mat	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %
Ricky Ponting	Aus	2004-2008	26	22	1	3	84.61
Steve Waugh	Aus	1999-2003	22	18	1	3	81.81
MS Dhoni	Ind	2008-2013	30	21	3	6	70.00
Mark Taylor	Aus	1994-1999	27	17	5	5	62.96
Viv Richards	WI	1984-1991	24	15	2	7	62.50
Hansie Cronje	SA	1994-2000	29	18	4	7	62.06
Andrew Strauss	Eng	2006-2012	31	19	4	8	61.29
Michael Vaughan	Eng	2003-2008	28	17	5	6	60.71
Graeme Smith	SA	2003-2007	24	14	4	6	58.33
Stephen Fleming	NZ	1997-2003	23	13	6	4	56.52
Clive Lloyd	WI	1974-1983	16	9	2	5	56.25
Mike Atherton	Eng	1989-1998	26	8	9	9	30.76
Allan Border	Aus	1978-1990	29	8	8	13	27.58
Arjuna Ranatunga	SL	1989-1998	23	6	5	12	26.08

Performance Away from Home in their first 50 Tests as Captain 

Only two captains could manage to win more than 50% of their away matches in their first 50 Tests as captain - S Waugh (67.85) and Ponting (54.16). Clive Lloyd captained most number of away tests (34) out of his first 50 Tests as captain. 

Arajuna Ranatunga could win only 11.11 % of away matches as he won only 3 out of his 21 tests with 12 lost and equally drawn. Mike Atherton (20.83), Fleming (22.22) and Border (23.80) had less than 25% of wins away. 

Clive Lloyd captained 34 of his first 50 Tests as Captain outside West Indies 

Most wins - 19 S Waugh, 13 Ponting, 12 Richards and Lloyd. 

Most loses - 12 Ranatunga, 9 Fleming, Atherton, Dhoni and Lloyd. 

Most Draws - 13 Lloyd, 12 Ranatunga and Fleming. 

Player	Team	Span	Mat	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %
Steve Waugh	Aus	1999-2003	28	19	7	2	67.85
Ricky Ponting	Aus	2004-2008	24	13	5	6	54.16
Viv Richards	WI	1984-1991	26	12	6	8	46.15
Michael Vaughan	Eng	2003-2008	22	9	5	8	40.90
Mark Taylor	Aus	1994-1999	23	9	8	6	39.13
Clive Lloyd	WI	1974-1983	34	12	9	13	35.29
Hansie Cronje	SA	1994-2000	21	7	6	8	33.33
Graeme Smith	SA	2003-2007	26	8	9	9	30.76
Andrew Strauss	Eng	2006-2012	19	5	7	7	26.31
MS Dhoni	Ind	2008-2013	20	5	9	6	25.00
Allan Border	Aus	1978-1990	21	5	5	11	23.80
Stephen Fleming	NZ	1997-2003	27	6	9	12	22.22
Mike Atherton	Eng	1989-1998	24	5	9	10	20.83
Arjuna Ranatunga	SL	1989-1998	27	3	12	12	11.11

Mike Atherton is the only captain to lose both his first test and 50th test as captain. Ponting, Waugh, Lloyd and Smith won both their first and 50th tests as captain.