We’re in World Cup time! The big cricket event, the 13th one, will start in a few months in India. England won the last time. Six different teams have won before. South Africa, Bangladesh, and New Zealand are some teams that haven’t won yet.
This time, only 10 teams will play. Surprisingly, West Indies, who won twice before, didn’t qualify.
Let’s talk about captains. We often talk about how well batters do in the World Cup, but what about captains? Leadership is super important in cricket, especially in the World Cup. We looked at stats to see which captains have been the most successful in the ICC Cricket World Cup. It happens every four years.
There have been over 100 captains in the World Cup who led their teams at least three times.
Here are the top five captains based on how many matches they’ve won in the World Cup:
| PLAYER | MATCHES | WON | LOST | WIN% | NO.OF EDITIONS AS CAPTAIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricky Ponting (AUS) | 29 | 26 | 2 | 89.65 | 3 |
| Stephen Fleming (NZ) | 27 | 16 | 10 | 59.25 | 3 |
| Clive Lloyd (WI) | 17 | 15 | 2 | 88.23 | 3 |
| MS Dhoni (IND) | 17 | 14 | 2 | 82.35 | 2 |
| Imran Khan (PAK) | 22 | 14 | 8 | 63.63 | 3 |
KEY INSIGHT
- The important point from the stats is that out of the 5 captains mentioned, 4 have led their teams to win the World Cup at least once. They are Clive Lloyd from West Indies, who won the first World Cup in 1975, Imran Khan from Pakistan, Ricky Ponting from Australia, and the latest one is MS Dhoni from India.
- Except for MS Dhoni from India, all four other captains in the list have led their teams three times in the World Cup. Dhoni was the leader of the Indian team in 2011 when they won the trophy for the second time ever and in 2015 when India was eliminated in the Semi-finals. Ricky Ponting (from 2003 to 2011) and Clive Llyod (from 1975 to 1983) have led their teams in World Cups three times each and won twice. Ponting’s Australia won the cup in 2003 and 2007, while West Indies, led by Lloyd, won in the 1975 and 1979 editions respectively. Imran Khan is the other captain on the list who successfully led his team Pakistan in a World Cup. He did so in 1992, after leading the team in the 1983 and 1987 editions as well.
- Two times, the West Indies team with Clive Lloyd and the Australian team led by Ricky Ponting didn’t lose any matches in the Cricket World Cup. West Indies did it in 1975 and 1979, and Australia did it in 2003 and 2007.
- Ricky Ponting won almost 90% of the games when he was the captain of the Australian cricket team. This is the best winning percentage for any captain who has led their team in 5 or more World Cup matches. Ponting’s performance as a World Cup captain was amazing, and his team was really strong during that time. Only Clive Lloyd has a similar record, with a winning percentage of 88.23 in World Cups.
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