3 fast-bowler captains to have won a men's ODI World Cup ft. Pat Cummins
Australia won their sixth ICC men's World Cup title on Sunday, November 19, after outplaying hosts India by six wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in front of an action-packed crowd that turned silent as the game progressed.
Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to field first on a dry pitch in Ahmedabad. India were bowled out for a moderate score of 240 in 50 overs with wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul (66 off 107 balls) being the top run-getter for his side.
Despite losing three wickets in the powerplay, Travis Head (137 off 120 balls) and Marnus Labuschagne (58* off 110 balls) stitched the second-highest partnership (192) in a men's World Cup final to take the Aussies past the finishing line with 42 balls to spare.
This was the first time after 21 years that a fast bowler led a team to men's World Cup title in the 50-over format. Let us look at three instances of fast bowlers winning the marquee event as captains.
#3 Pat Cummins (2023)
On October 18, 2022, Pat Cummins was named Australia's One-Day International captain as the successor of Aaron Finch, thus becoming the 27th captain of his country in the traditional white-ball format.
Interestingly, Cummins stepped into the World Cup 2023 on the back of leading his side in just four matches. Following Australia's successive defeats against India and South Africa, pundits opined that Cummins isn't the best man to lead in the yellow colors.
But here was a player who lost his mother early in the year and inspired his team to lift the World Test Championship mace. Five months later, Pat Cummins reformed his team and took some major calls to win nine games on the trot, including the final against home favorite India.
Pat Cummins became the fifth Australia captain to win an ODI World Cup. Ricky Ponting is the only skipper from Down Under to have won the prestigious title twice in his career.
#2 Imran Khan (1992)
It was a roller-coaster ride for both Pakistan and Imran Khan en route to their maiden and only World Cup triumph to date. It was the very first time that the quadrennial tournament was staged in a round-robin format.
After Pakistan managed just one win in their first five matches, not many considered them to even qualify for the semis. It was players such as Javed Miandad, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Ramiz Raja, Mushtaq Ahmed, Aqib Javed and Wasim Akram at Imran Khan's disposal that Pakistan turned the table around.
Pakistan defeated Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in their last three league games to secure the last semi-final berth. They defeated New Zealand again in the first knockout game by four wickets in Auckland before getting the better of England in the final at MCG.
Akram finished as the leading wicket-taker (18 at 18.78) of that edition while Miandad scored the most runs for the eventual champions - 437 at 62.43. Imran Khan scored 185 runs in six innings and picked up seven wickets in seven innings.
#1 Kapil Dev (1983)
It was an arduous task for Kapil Dev to stop a juggernaut West Indies from eyeing their third straight title. But there was desire and hunger for Indian players to take the challenge on their shoulders.
Even with a mediocre total of 183 in the first innings, an inspiring bowling unit led by Kapil Dev bundled up Clive Lloyd and his men for 140 as India lifted its maiden World Cup at Lord's to inspire generations to look up to the game for ages. The legend of how Kapil Dev's men won the 1983 World Cup remains a popular folklore in the annals of Indian cricket.
Earlier in that event, India defeated West Indies and Australia once and Zimbabwe twice in the double-round group stage. They outplayed hosts England by six wickets in the semi-final to set up a meeting with the West Indies in the final. During the tournament, Kapil Dev scored 303 runs with the bat and returned with 12 dismissals with the ball.