5 Test Captains With Most Matches With A Different Playing XI

It was an intense and hysterical moment for cricket fans when two captains went to ground for the toss. Being a pivotal series for both the giants, the arduous attitude gets doubled. When the Indian captain Virat Kohli and Joe Root went for the toss, all eyes were on playing XI of India.
England had already announced the playing a day before the match started. However, Virat Kohli revealed his secrets at the time of toss.

Indians fans were diligently waiting for the toss which went in favour of England. While speaking about the toss, Virat Kohli said that he would have chosen to bowl first. “Pujara has been left out, KL will play at No.3”, said Virat at the toss and it was enough to jolt everyone.

Once again, Virat Kohli missed keeping his playing XI same in two consecutive Test matches.

Interestingly, Virat Kohli is not the only skipper to do so. Many other skippers continuously changed their playing XI as part of their secrets.

Therefore, in this article, we will look at five players with most Tests as captain without playing the same XI in consecutive matches.

Graeme Smith

There is no second opinion to call him the best Test captain ever. He has led the team of South Africa between 2003-2007.

Graeme Smith opted for the same playing XI after captaining 43 matches. Right now, he occupies the top spot of our unique list.

Virat Kohli

The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli may be new to this format however when it comes to enrolling his name in different charts, he exists everywhere.

In Test Cricket, Virat Kohli made some bizarre decisions and changing playing XI after every match is one of them. Till this Test, he has captained 38 Tests. However, in the penultimate Test of five matches, Virat Kohli decides to go with an unchanged team.

Mushfiqur Rahim

The former Bangladeshi skipper, Mushfiqur Rahim is a surprise pick in this unique list. He has captained Bangladesh (in Tests) from 2011-2017.

Rahim is the most successful captain of Bangladesh. He has captained Bangladesh in 34 matches and never proceeded with same playing XI.

Ray Illingworth

He is the former skipper of England who captained between 1969-1973. He is considered as one of the successful captain and statistics support his cause.

With a mere losing percentage of 16.12, Illingworth captained England in 31 Tests without introducing the same playing XI

Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly is another strange pick in this list. Probably it is one of the less known facts about this man. He is known for carving out new substance to Indian cricket.

Considered as one of the most successful captains of India, Sourav Ganguly captained in 28 Test matches without altering his playing XI.