5 cricketers who went on to captain a country they were not born in ft. Joe Burns, Ben Stokes
Cricket has become a global sport now. Almost every country on earth has its own team in this sport in 2024. Thanks to the efforts of ICC, more and more nations are growing quickly in this game.
The first-ever 20-team T20 World Cup was held earlier this year in the USA and West Indies, where multiple teams made their respective debuts. While cricket has reached new countries, the sport is not equally developed everywhere.
Some nations are reliant on the players born in other countries with a better cricketing culture. These players often end up leading the team as well because they have the most experience. Here's a list of five players who were born in one country but captained another nation.
(Please Note: This list features only those players who have been named captain of a team after January 1, 2020.)
#1 Joe Burns
Joe Burns was born in Queensland, and he represented Australia at the international level from 2014 to 2020. However, earlier this year, Burns made up his mind to leave Australia for Italy to pay tribute to his late brother, Dominic.
Burns was eligible to play for Italy because of his mother's Italian heritage. Now, he has played five T20Is for Italy, and yesterday, Cricket Italy named him as their new T20I skipper.
#2 Ben Stokes
The most popular name on this list is of Ben Stokes. The current England Test captain was born in New Zealand, but he moved to the UK at a young age and has represented the English team at the international level only.
Stokes became England's Test captain in 2022. He has formed a magnificent alliance with coach Brendon McCullum as the duo has brought about the 'Bazball' revolution in Test matches.
#3 Sikandar Raza
Hailing from Pakistan, Sikandar Raza has made a name for himself by playing for Zimbabwe at the global stage. The off-spin bowling all-rounder has been one of the biggest match-winners for the African nation.
Since Raza has enormous international cricket experience under his belt now, he captains the Zimbabwean team in T20Is. Earlier this year, Zimbabwe beat world champions India in a T20I match on home soil.
#4 Monank Patel
Born in Gujarat, Monank Patel made history by becoming the first player to captain USA in a T20 World Cup game. USA automatically qualified for the T20 World Cup 2024 when ICC selected them as the co-hosts.
Monank Patel received the honor of leading the USA team. Under his captaincy, the team defeated former world champions Pakistan in a group-stage match.
#5 Saurabh Netravalkar
Another India-born player to have captained the American team in recent years is all-rounder Saurabh Netravalkar. He was the captain of USA in ODIs till 2021, and the American team won nine ODI matches under his leadership.
Not many fans would know that Netravalkar hails from Maharashtra. In fact, he played domestic cricket for Mumbai and even represented India in the 2010 U-19 World Cup alongside KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. Apart from playing cricket, Netravalkar also works at Oracle.