Ranking the Best Test Captains of 2018
2018 was a glorious year for Test Cricket as two associate nations, Ireland (vs Pakistan) and Afghanistan (vs India) made their Test debut and attained the elite honour of cricket. The game with the red leather has been fascinating to watch with many exciting contests between bat and ball. There were only five drawn matches out of 48 Test matches where were played in 2018.
New Zealand's and England's performance in the sub-continental conditions and India's performances Down Under have been the standout performances in 2018. Having said that, let's take a look at how the Test Captains fared in 2018.
Note: The Captains have been ranked based on the win percentage and individual performances.
Only Captains who have played more than four Tests were considered.
#9 Tim Paine
Win-Loss Ratio: 1:4
Australia had a year to forget especially in red-ball cricket. Post the sandpaper incident, the Team Australia almost made it a habit to lose matches by large margins. Despite efforts from the senior players of the team like Shaun Marsh and skipper Tim Paine and their bowlers, Australia could win only three out of the 10 matches they played this year.
They won a Test match against England early in 2018 but lost 1-3 to South Africa in a controversial series before losing 0-1 to Pakistan in a two-match series and are in a losing position against India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Their captain Tim Paine, though, had a decent year and scored 493 runs in 10 matches averaging 35.21.
#8 Kraigg Brathwaite
Win-Loss Ratio: 3:5
The West Indies cricket team had a sub-par outing in all formats of the game and so did their captain Kraigg Brathwaite. The opener could score just 391 runs in nine matches averaging just 24.43. The Windies managed to win just three out of the nine matches they played. They lost five games in 2018. They beat Bangladesh in a 2-Test series at home but lost to them when playing in Bangladesh. They managed to draw a series against Sri Lanka but lost 2-0 to India.
#7 Shakib Al Hasan
Win Loss Ratio: 2:2
Bangladesh played only eight Test Matches this year and fared averagely. In spite of losing matches, they discovered many young talents and witnessed the comeback of players like Taijul Islam and Mominul Haque. Shakib Al Hasan was made the captain but couldn't play the few Tests they played due to a finger injury and the team was led by Mahamudullah who had an average time with the bat for the series against Sri Lanka in Jan-Feb and against Zimbabwe later in the year. Mahmudullah played all the eight matches scoring 476 runs with an average of close to 40 and picked up 2 wickets.
They shared the series with Zimbabwe and lost 0-1 to Sri Lanka. Under Shakib, the team played 4 Tests against the West Indies - two away and two at home. They lost both the matches away from home and hit back when the Windies toured them. Shakib was on fire and scored 213 runs from 4 matches averaging 31 and was splendid with the ball picking up 17 wickets at a brilliant bowling average of 19.35.