The Captains' ODI XI

There is no greater honour for a cricketer than to represent his country at the highest level as captain.We often hear that captaincy invariably affects a cricketer, either for the better or the worse. Though there are instances when a leadership role has adversely affected the game of a good player, more often than not, it has tended to bring about the best.Here, we present our view on the best captains’ One Day International XI of all time based on the following parameters:1. The player should have captained in at least 30 ODI matches.2. If a player is selected best for, say, number 3, a second best No. 3 will not be considered for any other spot. For example, if Ricky Ponting is selected as a one-down batsman, Kumar Sangakkara misses out and will not be eligible to be selected at no. 4, unless the player has played at multiple positions for a reasonable amount of time.3. The performance of the captain as a player is being gauged, and not as a captain. Only his performance during his tenure as a captain is considered. However, the captain of this team is selected on the merit of his captaincy, and is mentioned in the last slide.The parameters returned 76 captains. It was a difficult task to choose the final XI. Nonetheless, we present the list, along with notable absentees and reason for their absenteeism.Note: The term ‘span’ in the statistics are the end points of the player as captain. For example, if X was captain from 1991-1994 and then 1996-1999, the span would read as 1991-1999.  

#1 Sourav Ganguly

Who better to start proceedings than the ‘Prince of Kolkata’? On the back of a match-fixing scandal that rocked the world, Ganguly took over the reins and gave the team what it needed the most: belief. Players like Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni himself were unearthed during his reign at the top. But apart from being influential, he also led by example, providing blistering starts that proved match-winning, by and large.

Particulars	Span	Matches	Runs	Highest Score	Batting Average	100’s	Wickets	BBI	Bowling Average
As Captain	1999-2005	147	5104	144	38.66	11	46	5/34	37.63
Overall	1992-2007	311	11363	183	41.02	22	100	5/16	38.49