Ranking the top 5 captains of the 21st century
Captains take all the important decisions in all team sports. In cricket, the role of a captain is even more important as, he has to decide on everything- right from selecting the playing XI, to changing the fields and bowlers according to the situation, to changing the batting order if required.
A captain does everything for the team, but only a few have the ability to create a legacy purely because of the way they lead their troops. No matter how good a team is, a bad captain can harm the chances of his team's victory because of his tactical decisions.
For example, Pakistan came into Champions Trophy 2017 as underdogs and nobody gave them a chance to do well. Teams like South Africa, England and India were well ahead of Pakistan on paper, but a few of the decisions taken by Pakistan skipper, Sarfaraz Khan changed the tournament for them.
Sarfaraz went into the tournament with three uncapped players (uncapped in ODIs) in his squad and he came back home with not just a trophy, but with three newly capped performing players.
It takes a lot of courage and confidence to hand three players their international debuts in a tournament of such a big magnitude. One of the debutants, Rumman Raees was handed his maiden ODI cap in the Champions Trophy semi-final. He picked up 2 wickets, including Alex Hales' wicket, and played a key role in Pakistan's victory in the match.
This just reiterates the importance of having a good captain and in this article, we shall have a look at the top five captains in the 21st century.
#5 Brendon McCullum
The former Kiwi skipper changed the way New Zealand thought about its cricket and brought in a unique brand of cricket. Under his leadership, the team built a never-say-die attitude and even 3 years after his retirement, they continue to follow it under Kane Williamson.
He always led from the front and played some stunning innings as captain including a triple century against India and the fastest Test match century against Australia. He played some earth-shattering innings at the top of the order and most notably, led them to the World Cup Final.
His team even managed to beat eventual winners, Australia in the group stage and he imbibed a winning culture into the team.
Although there are quite a few captains who have better records than Baz as captain, one must take a lot of factors into account and when one considers the fact that it was him who changed New Zealand cricket, there is no doubting that he makes the list.