Captain's Corner: Allan Border vs Sunil Gavaskar
Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar are two of the greatest cricketers to have ever set foot on the pitch. Both of them have been excellent practitioners of the art of batting and were the highest run-scorers in Test match cricket at one point of time.
Both players have been the captain of their respective national teams and have led their teams to some wonderful wins.
While Gavaskar has led India to two series wins over the mighty West Indies side consisting of the likes of Lloyd, Richards, Holding, and Roberts, Border led Australia to their maiden Cricket World Cup win in 1987.
Here’s a little statistical comparison between Sunil Gavaskar and Allan Border in order to find out who was the better captain between the two.
#1. Overall Record
Allan Border has led Australia in more Tests than any other captain at 93 Tests with only Graeme Smith having led in more Test matches. In ODIs, Captain Grumpy has led Australia in 178 ODIs with only Ricky Ponting having led in more matches. He’s 5th in the most number of ODIs led behind Ponting, Stephen Fleming, MS Dhoni, and Arjuna Ranatunga.
Sunil Gavaskar has led India in 47 Tests and is joint-third amongst captains who have led India in more Tests along with Mohammad Azharuddin and behind MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly. Sunny led India in only 37 ODIs from 1980-1985.
Gavaskar’s conservative approach to captaincy helped him draw out a number of Test matches but could only win 9 matches. Border did not have a very good start to his captaincy stint either but he later deployed a rather aggressive approach to his captaincy which eventually made him one of Australia’s finest skippers.
Border is the clear winner here with a much superior win percentage compared to Gavaskar’s in both Tests and ODIs.