Winning the ICC World Cup is the epitome of success for any cricketer or captain. A captain’s legacy is at times gauged by the number of World Cup titles won for the team. There have been many captains who have been World Cup winners and were showered with immense praise. But there have also been captains who were considered as successful but were unable to score a World Cup title.
Here is a list of 5 captains who unfortunately could not be a World Cup winner but are still counted as among the greats:
Ian Chappel
The legendary captain of Australia was considered to among the best to have led Australia, but he never got his hand on the silver cup, which could have ideally rounded up his career. He was a perceptive cricketer with a mastermind-like brain. He also had the never-say-die attitude. During his illustrious reign between 1971 and 1975, Australia never lost a single Test series – a record very few could dream of holding, considering the star-studded West Indies line-up of those days.
Martin Crowe
Considered to be New Zealand’s renaissance man, he was arguably their best captain ever but he could not win a single World Cup. Imran Khan may have stolen the show in the 1992 World Cup, but New Zealand was pitted as favourites. They blazed all their guns in that World Cup till they faced the eventual winners Pakistan in the semi-finals and lost to Imran Khan’s team. This is another tale of a fine captain who had to bid adieu to the game without the coveted crown to his name.
Hansie Cronje
Arguably the most unfortunate captain in the game’s history, he was a fine leader but early demise meant he could never win the ICC’s flagship event ever. Though his career was marred by match-fixing allegations, he led South Africa to the semi-finals where they drew the match against the eventual champions Australia. The match was so unfortunate for South Africa that it was 1 required off 4 balls and the last man got run out who was Alan Donald.
Sourav Ganguly
The prince of Kolkata is still considered to be one of the best captains to have led India. He took charge of Indian cricket at a time when match-fixing allegations took centre stage in the sport and the fans had lost trust in the game they considered to be their religion. That is when Ganguly selected a barrage of youngsters in the Indian side, the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Mohammed Kaif. In fact, legend has it that it was Ganguly who spotted MS Dhoni who was still not one of the biggest names in the circuit. Ganguly read the game and the pitch better than most. India under the leadership of Ganguly reached the finals of the 2003 cricket World Cup, only to be thrashed by Australia.
Brendon McCullum
With oodles of charisma, Brendon McCullum was dynamic and a very creative captain. He was a forward leader and an aggressive cricketer and did not know any other way of playing cricket. In the 2015 World Cup, New Zealand reached the finals and had a real shot at the ultimate glory but they lost to Australia in the finals at home. In fact, in 2015, the Kiwis were the only unbeaten team leading up to the final showdown, but it was just not their day. That meant Brendon left cricket without a World Cup to his name, something he would certainly regret because he was a champion cricketer.
Other captains that could have featured on this are Stephen Fleming, Inzamam-ul Haq and Alistair Campbell and Nasser Hussain.
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