Five Successful Captains Who Could Not Win An ICC Trophy
Published - 02 Jan 2021, 05:58 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:39 AM
Five Successful Captains Who Could Not Win An ICC Trophy. Cricket is a sport where captains behold great importance. A captain can play a very influential role in deciding the fortunes of a team. The responsibility includes on and off-field duties while dealing with the players. A captain is supposed to inspire his teammates by leading from the front and ensure the team is making constant progress.
Ultimately, however, most captains are judged by the results the team produces under their tenure. Especially the marquee tournaments such as the ODI and T20I World Cups. The game’s history has had many brilliant captains who led their team successfully in bilateral cricket. But couldn’t fulfil their dream of lifting the trophy at an ICC event.
Five Successful Captains Who Could Not Win An ICC Trophy:
Fans rate Jayawardene among the finest batsmen to have played for Sri Lanka. The classy right-hand batsman featured in 149 Tests, 448 ODIs and 55 T20Is. In his illustrious career, Jayawardene scored over 30,000 international runs.
As captain, Jayawardene led Sri Lanka in 38 Tests and 126 ODIs and 19 T20Is. The Island nation won 18 Tests, 68 ODIs and 12 T20Is when he was at the helm. A pretty good record. However, the Lankans could never win a major title under Jayawardena’s otherwise successful tenure.
4. Graeme Smith
Smith, the former South Africa skipper, is widely acknowledged for his leadership acumen. Smith took South African cricket out of the dark shadows of the match-fixing saga and towards great heights on the field.
Under Smith, the Proteas played 108 Tests, 149 ODIs and 27 T20Is. They won 53 Tests, 92 ODIs and 18 ODIs of those. An excellent record which includes victories against different oppositions in various conditions. But even Smith’s inspiring captaincy couldn’t break South Africa’s ICC trophy jinx.
3. Inzamam-ul-Haq
Inzamam, one of Pakistan’s batting legends, also had a long tenure captaining his country. The elegant right-hand batsman went through the rigours of captaincy during the last seven years of his career from 2001 to 2007.
Inzamam led Pakistan to victories in 11 of the 31 Tests he captained, besides overseeing wins in 51 of the 87 ODIs and a T20I before calling time on his career. It’s a record that puts him among the most successful Pakistani captains in the game’s history.
But even Inzamam’s tenure didn’t feature an ICC trophy win. Pakistan had their worst 50-over World Cup campaign under him when they got eliminated in the first round of the 2007 edition in the Caribbean.
2. AB de Villiers
De Villiers also captained his nation in all formats at the international level. He led the team in 3 Tests, 103 ODIs and 18 T20Is. The Proteas lost won 2 of those Tests and enjoyed victories 59 ODIs and 8 T20I matches with De Villiers at the helm.
The extra responsibility of leading the side didn’t bog down De Villiers. But even he couldn’t take South Africa to an elusive ICC trophy.
De Villiers shared the captaincy for 2014 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh with Faf du Plessis and was the lone man standing at the 2015 ODI World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Both occasions, the team failed to cross the semi-final hurdle.
1. Virat Kohli
Since taking over from MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli has proven to be a very successful captain for India. The mighty batsman has led his country with consistent results across formats. India have won 33 of the 56 Tests played under Kohli, besides clinching victories in 63 of the 92 ODIs and 24 of the 40 T20Is.
Kohli’s tenure has seen the Indian team only improve as a force in all conditions in Test matches. The side finished runners-up at the 2017 Champions Trophy and semi-finalists at the 2019 World Cup in the UK under Kohli’s captaincy.
Yet, Kohli has faced criticism for his style of building the side as he has shown an inclination towards regular chopping and changing. This is considered one major reason for the team’s inability to break the longstanding ICC trophy drought. Kohli will have the chance to shut-up his naysayers with multiple ICC events coming in the following three years.
