Cricket is a team game, but this is a sport where playing well is not everything that makes the team win. A skipper has a huge role in winning a match. Because there are a lot of decisions that a skipper needs to make while playing on the field. Even if you are playing a good team, there needs to be a good skipper who has to have a strategic mind and can deal with any situation.
There is a saying that when the team wins, everyone in the team gets praise, but when the team lose, the captain should take responsibility. There are captains who are famous for their aggressiveness, and there are captains who are popular for their coolest mindset. But do you know who is the best captain in the world?
Best Captains In The World
But how do we decide who is the best captain? We can take the statistics for deciding, or we can take the total number of wins as well. In this article, we will talk about the 10 best captains of all time.
Let’s start.
10. Arjuna Ranatunga
When it comes to the Sri Lankan captain, Arjuna Ranatunga is the best leader that no other Sri Lankan player can be. From the beginning of Sri Lanka cricket, there was no sign of anything that Sri Lanka had achieved, but Ranatunga came and took his nation to a different level. Other than the statistics, Ranatunga’s best achievement was winning the 1996 World Cup.
9. Brendon McCullum
Here comes the dasher and one of the most fearless batters of all time who can sit and play a shot behind the wicket against 150kmph speed. Brendon McCullum had 61.86% of winning, and during his time, the Kiwis were at another level. Other than his leadership, McCullum was a great wicketkeeper and fielder, and he was popular for his aggressive batting. He also scored 158 runs in the debut match of the IPL.
8. Eoin Morgan
Here comes one of the captains, who is known for hitting sixes and smiling all the time. Before playing for England, Morgan used to play for Ireland. After Morgan came to lead the team, England reached their highest success in so many different formats. England won their first World Cup in 2019, and he was the captain. Though Morgan hasn’t captained a lot of matches, his percentage of winning was the most.
7. Graeme Smith
Graeme Smith holds the record for captaining the most number of matches in the test matches. He was the captain of the South African team. Before him, the team was unable to leave a mark at the international level. Smith was the pioneer of the modern cricket in South Africa. He won 92 matches out of 150 tests, which is huge. Other than this, Graeme Smith used to be a great opener.
6. Sourav Ganguly
After winning the 1983 world cup, there was no significant mark that the Indian cricket team could make, but when this man came as the captain, the whole calculation changed. Sourav Ganguly had a significant number of wins, and his most notable captaincy was in the 2003 world cup when the team managed to reach the finals. Unfortunately, they lost the match, but everyone appreciated his performance.
5. Imran Khan
Right now, Imran Khan is the Prime Minister of Pakistan. In his prime time, he was a furious fast bowler and a batter who was able to finish matches better than others. He won the World Cup with the Pakistan team in 1992, and that was his great achievement. Other than his captaincy, Imran was one of the best all-rounders of all time, and he later backed other cricketers, and this showed his gentlemanship.
4. Clive Lloyd
When there was not a single person who could possibly know what to do, Clive Lyod had already won two world cups with the West Indies cricket team. He led the Caribbean team for more than 10 years, and at that time, the team was successful in winning two back-to-back world cups in 1975 and 1979. During that time, West Indies was the dominator in the sports, and they had a record of not losing a single match in 27 matches. He also holds a 77.71% winning percentage in the ODIs.
3. Steve Waugh
If you are a cricket fan, then you already know about the dominance of Australian cricket. And the person who started this journey was Steve Waugh. Steve Waugh was not only a great leader, but he was brilliant in both bat and ball. He was the captain of the Australian cricket team when it won the 1999 World Cup. His performance in the semifinals showed his mental ability. He won 41 test matches out of 57, which was a significant number.
2. Ricky Ponting
The person who possibly took over the captaincy and kept the dominance later was Ricky Ponting. Ponting started his career under Steve Waugh’s captaincy, and he showed brilliant performance throughout his career. He was the person who gave Australia another two world cups in 2003 and 2007. Many people say that he was a running machine. In test, his winning percentage was 62.33, and in ODI, the percentage was 76.14.
1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
When it comes to the best captain in the history of cricket, I don’t think there is any debate about that. It is Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the coolest captain ever. He used to have a nickname of Captain Cool. Under his captaincy, India won their second World Cup, and in 2013, he led the team to win the ICC Champions trophy. He won 178 ODI matches out of 331.
Final Words
You may have other thoughts regarding this list, why that captain is not here, and why this captain is not here. But we have researched thoroughly, and if you see the statistics, then you will not find a better captain who can adjust a place within these 10. Maybe there are other captains who can pace at 11, 12 or 13…but there is no doubt that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the best captain in the world.
If you have any other thoughts regarding the best captain, please let us know in the comment section below.
Thank You.
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