IPL 2021: 3 ICC T20 World Cup-winning captains who never captained in IPL
Cricket fans will witness ICC T20 World Cup and IPL matches in the coming weeks. While the T20 World Cup is the biggest international event played in the T20 format, the IPL is the biggest T20 league played across the world.
Quite a few big names from the cricket world will participate in both the IPL and ICC T20 World Cup in 2021. While both tournaments will entertain the fans a lot, the players who are leading their teams will be under pressure.
Generally, the team management of IPL franchises prefer to assign the captaincy of their team to players who have achieved success as a leader at the domestic or international level. However, the following three players never got an opportunity to lead an IPL team, although they won the ICC T20 World Cup as captain.
#1 Younis Khan - Won T20 World Cup 2009 as captain
Pakistan finished as runners-up in the inaugural edition of the ICC T20 World Cup in 2007. Two years later, the Men in Green ended the competition as champions with an eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the summit clash.
Just a year before that tournament, Younis Khan had won the IPL. He played for the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2008 under Shane Warne's captaincy. Khan never played in the IPL after the inaugural edition.
#2 Paul Collingwood - Won T20 World Cup 2010 as captain
England became the third country to win the ICC T20 World Cup in 2010. Paul Collingwood was the English squad's skipper then and led them to victory against arch-rivals Australia in the final.
David Hussey's half-century powered Australia to 147/6 in the first innings. Craig Kieswetter's half ton helped England successfully chase the target in 17 overs.
Just before the ICC T20 World Cup 2010, Paul Collingwood made his IPL debut for Delhi Capitals. He played seven games for the team but never captained. Collingwood did not play in the IPL after 2010.
#3 Lasith Malinga - Won T20 World Cup 2014 as captain
Playing under Lasith Malinga's leadership, Sri Lanka defeated India in the ICC T20 World Cup 2014 Final. Malinga led his team from the front as he bowled brilliantly in the slog overs.
Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara's efforts helped Sri Lanka restrict India to 130/4 in 20 overs. The Islanders then chased down the 131-run target in 17.5 overs.
Speaking of Malinga's IPL career, the right-arm pacer played 122 IPL matches for the Mumbai Indians. Interestingly, the Sri Lankan star never got an opportunity to captain the Mumbai-based franchise.