Captains In Cricket World Cup- Part 2

Continuing from the first part, let me tell you about other 3 captains and I will through some light on current world cup captains.

Imran Khan:

Imran Khan stands out as a more of a LEADER than Cricketing Captain. He had won the world cup for Pakistan only on his emotion and ability to inspire & bind the team together. Imran had taken retirement from cricket after the world cup of 1987. After that he wanted to make a biggest cancer hospital in Pakistan in the name of his mother, for that he was in need of money. He had no other option to come out of retirement in 1988 to lead the side and gather the money for hospital. He had set a goal of winning world cup of 1992. For 1992 world cup he had handpicked every team member, ignoring the selection committee and told every team member what he expects from an individual. 

He was very disciplined and autocratic as captain. Pakistan won only one match out of their first 5 matches in 1992 world cup. They were almost out of the world cup, but Imran Khan kept telling his team-mates that “We will win this world cup; I need money to build hospital”.  Ramiz Raja, who was part of 1992 world cup team told in an interview that only because of Imran’s influence and inspiration team had possessed such a high spirit and went on to win the world cup. In after match presentation he actually admitted that his obsession with cancer hospital kept him going.

Arjuna Ranatunga:

Arjuna was a person who will stand behind his team members when they need him the most. The way he supported Murali on the tour of Australia in1995 was quite phenomenal. No one before done that in a cricketing history, he had protested against an unfair umpiring decision which was more racial than for cricketing reason. He, along with his team walked out of the ground to support Muralidharan. His firm belief in his players kept the foundation of winning the world cup. 

Arjuna & Coach Dave Whatmore came up with the idea of bringing Jayasuriya up in the order. Jayasuriya was not sure of himself, because he was mainly a bowler who can bat a bit, in fact  in his initial years of cricket he had batted at number 8 or 9. But Arjuna told him that even if he fails at top order, his place in team wouldn’t be harmed. Arjuna’s word had given confidence to Sanath and the rest is history.

Steve Waugh:

The captain, who used to speak very less with his team members, only let his ability and performance set the example for his players. His ability to remain calm in high pressure situation was extra-ordinary. 

In super six league match against South Africa in 1999, the match was must win match to qualify for the semi-final. When Steve came to bat Aussies were struggling while chasing 272 for victory, they had lost 3 wickets for 48 runs. In this demanding situation, this Iceman had produced very determinant knock of 120*. This innings won the game for Australia and also helped them to qualify for the world cup final after the famous tied match in Semi final.

Ricky Pointing:

Ricky is still playing, the only Captain to win 2 consecutive world cup without losing a match. He had the best players in his side to win the world cup for Australia during this era; in 2003 world cup final, he scored very hard hitting hundred which helped Australia to win the world cup against India. He was man of the match in that final. 

Many cricketing greats don’t term him as a great leader like Steve Waugh to which I also agree. But he is very ambitious as a captain; his only obsession is to win matches. He is known for losing temper on a field, and being arrogant sometimes. He has not grown as a leader during his tenure as captain.  After retirement of Hayden, Gilchrist, McGrath and Warne, the down fall had started. He is a good captain but not a great captain.

Who is next?

This time we will have new Cricket Captain who will lift the world cup trophy. Will it be Daniel Vettori or Afridi or M. S. Dhoni or Sangakkara? Among these men, one man will have the glory of his lifetime and he will make his country very proud. So who will be that leader? In my view Vettori don’t have the ability to inspire his team. Shahid Afridi carries tremendous amount of energy around him, and he has led the team successfully in difficult times. Sangakkara looks very compose and man in command when he is leading the team.  Sanga works in a manner and he has his plans ready for a big occasion. The only weakness I see in him is that he doesn’t have a plan B ready in crunch situation.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, known as MSD. He prefers the name Mahi. Neither he has performed with bat in this world cup nor he is best player in Indian Side. But Mahi has the special ability of getting out best from his players. According to him “Captain is just a channel which utilizes his resources to the fullest”. His brain works like super computer on cricketing field, he reads the situation well in advance. He has been termed as Captain Cool by none other than Imran Khan himself. 

Mahi shows no sign of frustration in critical situation. His body language is impeccable for Captain during the tense moment. Mahi always has come up with Plan A  before the match, and he has the Plan B ready if the Plan A fails. Dhoni also has Plan C in mind if plan B don’t work out and this Plan C is having NO PLAN, just keep the patience, and taking the bold decision. The most admirable quality of Mahi according to me is “Even if situation do not favors him, he will NEVER GIVE UP”.  At this moment he looks to me the most deserving LEADER to lift the GLORY.

(Your views are important, please do leave your comments.)

Captains in Cricket World Cup- Part 1

I am writing this blog on the CAPTAINS in CRICKET WORLD CUP, I will release the blog in  two parts. I will try to bring some interesting example during this.

In cricket there are eleven players, who were actually playing on the cricket field during the match. One player among the 11 players takes on field decisions. His job becomes more similar to the captain of the ship. In cricket the on field captain should be the best player of the team.

It is not necessary that he should be the best batsman or best bowler of the side, but as an individual he must possess sound knowledge of all the aspects covering on field as well as off field matters. Captain should have good cricketing brain that can take right decision in most critical situation. The history also shows that in cricket like in all other areas of life, the great captains had the quality of leading by example.

When we analyze the world cup winning teams from 1975 to 2007, the conclusion comes that all these teams had great leader. The teams able to win the world cup only because the kind of individual influence they had on their team, not only as captain but also as a leader.

“Every leader can become captain, but every captain may not have the leadership quality. The captain, who will be able to inspire his team up in a situation which doesn’t favor them, by setting an example, has the ability to achieve the greatness”.

World Cup Captains:

Clive Lloyd:

Clive Lloyd was the captain of two world cup winning teams 1975 & 1979. At that time West Indies had an exceptional aura around them, they were able win the matches even before actually playing it. In 1975, in first ever world cup final, when Clive Lloyd came in to bat West Indies was struggling for 50/ 3, he stood out for his team and played masterful innings of 102 runs and won the world cup of 1975. His innings triggered and inspired his whole team to do better.

Kapil Dev:

If we can divide the Indian cricket in two different eras, it must be time before 1983 and time after 1983. The team which was not expected to win a single game in a world cup emerged as winner of the world cup in 1983. In a game against Zimbabwe in 83 world cup, Indian scorecard was showing five wickets and only 17 runs were on the board, at this crunch time the Captain Kapil Dev walks in, and he straight away counter attacked on Zimbabwe, it was raining fours and sixes on the ground. Kapil Dev scored 175* with 16 boundaries & 6 sixes. 

When he walked out for batting, the situation was very difficult and it could have gone either ways. But he knew, attack was the best defense at that time and he played blistering innings to see that India wins the match. The video of this inning is not available, but as the other Indian players speak out about his innings, Ravi Shastri in one of his interview said that after the match against Zimbabwe, team was actually started believing that they could win it from here. The Haryana Hurricane Kapil Dev blew away Zimbabwe and inspired India to World Cup glory. 

Another incident the team member still remember was in the final against West Indies. In final match India had very small total of 183 runs to defend and Sir Vivian Richards was hammering Indian bowler. Everyone knows that he was the key wicket for India. Again Kapil inspired his team by taking unbelievable catch, he ran almost 15 steps backwards to take very important catch of Sir Vivian Richards, and it was the turning point of that match. Richards told in an interview that "no else could have taken that catch except the Indian Captain Kapil Dev".

Allan Border:

Border was leading Australia in very difficult times in 1987 World Cup; however they had made their way to the final by surprising Pakistan in semis. The final was against England. The British team was chasing a moderate target of 254 runs. Mike Getting was the captain of England team and was the batsman of whom Aussies wants to see the back as early as possible. Getting was playing on 41 runs from 45 balls, and England team was in good position to win the world cup. At this point Allan Border was taken decision to bowl himself, this decision involved high amount of risk and could have boom ranged on him as he was not regular bowler.  To the first ball of Border’s Getting tried to reverse sweep and gave away his wicket, the Australian’s joy was unconcealed. Mike Getting’s wicket was the turning point of the match and Australian team won the Reliance World Cup 1987 under the leadership of Allan Border. 

(To be continued ......)