The art of captaincy holds more importance in cricket than in any other sport. While the manager/coach is in charge in most sports, cricket is a different game altogether as no other team sport goes on for as long as cricket. In this article we will discuss five such players who were surprise skipper picks but went on to prove themselves extensively well.
The first name in the list is of Misbah Ul Haq. Pakistan’s cricket team looked to have reached an all time low after the 2010 spot-fixing controversy where their captain Salman Butt was implicated along with Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. Pakistan looked at the veteran Misbah, who was 36 then, to take charge of the Test team. Misbah has been Pakistan’s most successful captain, leading them to 17 wins in 38 Tests. By contrast, Imran Khan, who is widely considered to be their best captain, led them to 14 wins in 48 Test matches after taking leadership at a tough time for Pakistan Cricket.
The second name in the list is of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. Another gamble was taken when Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi popularly known as “Tiger Pataudi” was given the charge of Team India at the age of 21 years. Pataudi brought in the idea of playing three or sometimes four regular leg-spinners. The quartet of Bedi, Prasanna, Venkatraghavan and Chandrasekhar gained recognition in Tiger’s leadership. He was indeed one of the revolutionary captains in the history of Indian cricket.
The third name in the list is of Graeme Smith. Graeme Smith is one of those skippers who was given this huge responsibility of captaining the sides when the “off-field” problems were nurturing in the South African board. Hansie Cronje was out of the team due to the ban for the allegation of match-fixing. Smith led the team in more than 100 Tests. By the time Smith retired, he had taken South Africa to number one on the ICC Test rankings table and had led the team in 109 Tests, more than anyone else in world cricket. Under Smith, South Africa finally started to realise their potential and win consistently away from home.
The fourth name in the list is of Indian ex skipper MS Dhoni. The Indian team were in a spot of bother after they made a miserable exit from the 2007 ICC World cup under the leadership of Rahul Dravid. After the conclusion of this event, the inaugural T20 WC had to take place where MS Dhoni was named the skipper of the team and the rest is history. He went on to win all the three major tournaments of ICC which included 2007 inaugural T20 WC, 2011 WC and Champions Trophy in 2013. India also reached at no.1 position in Test cricket under his leadership.
The fifth name in the list is of Mike Brearly. England lost only 4 of the 31 Tests in which Brearley was captain. His most significant achievement was leading England to an Ashes victory on home soil in 1981, a series popularly known as ‘Botham’s Ashes’. Brearley had a major impact on Botham and England’s ace all-rounder often reserved his best performances for Brearley’s captaincy.
He was made captain at the ripe old age of 35 after Tony Greig shocked the administration by signing up for World Series Cricket.
