Teamwork is important in any team sport and its leadership and this is true for cricket too. The cricket team captain leads on tactics and strategies on the field and makes the players play in unity. In this article, we will look at 5 of the greatest cricket captains to date and discuss who is the best captain in world and how much a cricket captain affects his team.
Steve Waugh
It is none other than one of the greatest Australian cricket captains on the field - Steve Waugh. He clearly was a king, as evidenced by his guile and flexibility in inventing ways to lure the opposition. Wade represented Australia from 1999-2002 and captained the national side at a time when they won a world record of 16 Test matches in succession. MacGill led them to their first World Cup win over Pakistan in the 1999 final.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Cool as they come, he knows the game well and how to get a response from his players even in-game. These were the same kinds of feats where Mohammad one day has helped India win all the multinational ICC tournaments, he gave us the T20 World Cup in 2007, the long format home you had been waiting for since post-beheading, and what a fiery blistering Knock that it wasn't meat, it was a feast.
Graeme Smith
With Graeme Smith as captain, no World T/20 or any ICC event was ever within reach for South Africa. However, he was in charge when they reached the summit of world cricket's Test rankings at the end of the 2000s. He is also third on the all-time list of captaincy appearances, with 109 Test matches under his belt in a tenure that lasted from March 2003 to December last year. And some of his teammates fell into them.
Clive Lloyd
The West Indies, led by Clive Lloyd had been the dominant team in the early years of cricket's showpiece tournament, winning both World Cups played until then - 1975 and 79. He played a pivotal part in the rise of an irresistible Windies side in the late 70s and throughout most of the next decade to establish absolute supremacy over the cricketing world. Lloyd, an attacking and inventive captain in his day, would demand that the four-pronged fast bowling axis intimidate while he carried a big stick up top with globetrotting batsmen.
Imran Khan
Khan was a captain who inculcated amongst his squad the belief that they were never out of resurgence and one he led by ferociously quick left-arm bowling from over-the-wicket followed up with swashbuckling middle-order batting. Australia also tasted success when they won their first series in England and India respectively under Imran from 1982-1992. He will be long remembered for unearthing prodigies like Wasim Akram and Inzamam ul Haq in their early teens.
Conclusion
These captains' leadership was fantastic and their players were able to increase their level of performance and gain great success. They possessed the best cricketing brains along with tenacity, solidity, and character to bring a winning attitude. The level of efficiency these skippers have demonstrated and the impact of their actions make them part of the elite crop of leaders that the water sport has produced over the years.
