There are many legendary players around the world who have registered their names in the history books. Some players got recognition due to their batting, while some were successful in making their name with the ball, but in this cricket world, there have been some players who are remembered for their captaincy. Perhaps he was the smartest player of his team, due to which he also got the captaincy and then he also created history. Some such names which even today his fans do not get tired of remembering. It would be very difficult to declare any one of these as the best cricket captain in the world.
West Indies’s Clive Lloyd became the first captain in the cricket world to win 2 consecutive World Cups. After him, Kapil Dev became the captain to win the World Cup. All these three World Cups were played for 60 overs. In cricket, we actually judge any captain on the basis of his winning performance in ICC tournaments. After all, how many World Cups or ICC tournaments did his team win under his captaincy? In today's era, the World Cup is played in T20I and ODI formats. Even the ICC started the World Test Championship to popularize Test cricket. NZ and AUS won the first 2 ICC Test Championships by defeating India in the finals, while in the third cycle the Indian team could not qualify for the finals. Some captains who won many bilateral series, but they failed in ICC tournaments. But this will be the concept of every ICC tournament. While 1 team creates a new history by winning the World Cup trophy, on the other hand other teams hope to perform better in the upcoming World Cup.
For India, MS Dhoni is considered the best captain of the Indian team, because under his captaincy India won 3 ICC tournaments. Rohit Sharma is also the World Cup winning captain for the Indian team, even under his captaincy India played the finals of World Cup 2023 and World Test Championship. Team India will play another ICC event (champions trophy 2025) under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy in a few days where Rohit will be eyeing to win another ICC trophy. Team India will take on Bangladesh, Pakistan & New Zealand in upcoming cricket matches.
Sourav Ganguly who taught the Indian team to win in overseas conditions. Under his captaincy the Indian team also played the World Cup final in 2003. Under the leadership of Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin, the Indian team performed very well in bilateral matches, but in big events like the World Cup, the team could not perform as per the reputation, but this does not mean that all these captains were not good.
Now, we are talking about other national captains. The Australian team has an aura as this team has won the most 50-over World Cups. The Australian team won the World Cup 2 times under the leadership of Ricky Ponting, 1-1 times under the leadership of Steve Waugh, Allan Border, Michael Clarke and Pat Cummins. Under the captaincy of Ricky Ponting, Australia also won 2 consecutive Champions Trophy in the year 2006 and 2009. He is the only captain under whose captaincy Australia has won 4 ICC tournaments. Australia has also won the Ashes and Border Gavaskar Trophy. Under his captaincy, Australia remained number 1 in ODI and Test cricket rankings for a long time. Eoin Morgan is the World Cup winning captain for England, while under the leadership of Jos Buttler and Paul Collingwood, England won the T20I World Cup in 2022 and 2010 respectively. South Africa and New Zealand have always been very dangerous teams, but they have never won the World Cup. Pakistan, which won the ODI World Cup under the leadership of the great "Imran Khan", while under the leadership of Younis Khan they won the T20I World Cup in 2009. All of them were considered the best captains of their respective countries because they made their team champion by emerging from the most difficult times. You can also add the name of former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed to this, who won the Champions Trophy for Pakistan in the year 2017. For Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka won the 1996 World Cup by defeating Australia in the final under the captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga, while in 2014 the Lankan team won the T20 World Cup under the captaincy of Lasith Malinga. West Indies have not won any fifty-over World Cup since 1979. But under the captaincy of Darren Sammy, this team made its name in the shortest format by winning the T20 World Cup in 2012 and 2016. You can say that all these players are the names of world cricket who have made their mark in cricket books
But overall, we can say that Ricky Ponting has been the luckiest and the best captain among all of them. His win percentage as a captain is 67%. Under his captaincy, Australia played 324 international matches, out of which they won 220 and lost only 77 matches. It is true that his team was also great but without a great captain, a team is in the same condition as an army without a commander. He maintained the status and dominance of the Australian team which was handed over to them by Allan Border and Steve Waugh. He not only maintained the momentum of that Australian team winning the World Cup and ICC trophy but also created an Australian team which was considered undefeated in the whole world. Any team in the world would be in a bad shape in front of Australia. If a team defeated Australia by mistake someday, then in the next match Australia would teach them such a lesson of cricket that they would never forget.