Top 10 World Cup captains of all time
Many came, some saw and a few conquered. The Cricket World Cup’s chequered history will never be complete without a mention of the great leaders who took the field and led their troops with aplomb. These leaders led from the front, galvanised misfiring individuals into cohesive forces, and mesmerised the world with breathtaking individual performances. But most importantly, some of these, cricket’s finest, left an indelible imprint on the game’s marquee event with tactical nuance that made people go, oh captain, my captain.
#10 MS Dhoni (India)
MS Dhoni had showed signs of arguably being one of India’s greatest captains. He won the World T20, one month into the job, beat Australia in their backyard, took India to the pinnacle of Test cricket and amazed all with his non-conventional approach to captaincy. So when the World Cup came calling, and that too, in the subcontinent, it was almost expected that Captain Cool would spin magic once again. Subcontinental conditions & limited overs equated to Dhoni’s bread and butter.
At Dhoni’s disposal was one of the most lethal line-ups to play in Indian conditions. Sehwag, Tendulkar and Gambhir at the top. Followed by Yuvraj and Raina. The masterful deceit of Zaheer Khan and the clever guile of Harbhajan, all made for terrific showing. The captain fulfilled his role to the T, he made the changes when necessary, snuffed out ties from losses, backed his players and played the role of the best possible support cast.
But cometh the hour, cometh the man.
On the night of 2nd April 2011, with Sri Lanka sensing a small chance to make inroads – Dhoni walked out to bat ahead of the Man of the Series Yuvraj Singh. It was a decision he took unilaterally and got approved by the coach. He wasn’t averaging very well in the tournament, so the move was fodder for the critics.
What we saw next was a counter attack of supreme nature. He never allowed the spinners to settle in, plucked out the odd boundary in between and kept on rotating the strike. At the score of 85, when he lofted one into the stands at long-on, India’s long-awaited dream of lifting the World Cup a second time was complete.
After 28 years, Dhoni’s Daredevils made it to the league of Kapil’s Devils.
| World Cups | M | Win % | Runs | Average | 100s/50s | Wickets | 5WI | Bwl.Average |
| ‘11 (W) | 9 | 77.77 | 241 | 48.20 | 0x100/1x50 | - | - | - |