Top 5 Cricket Captains of All Time With Statistics

“An army of sheep led by a lion can defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.” This African proverb is true on the cricket pitch. A great captain makes great cricket teams. A great captain maximizes his resources and brings the best out of players. Change in the batting order. Field placement. Bowling. All of these things can decide the fate of a game. A successful captain makes these changes at the right moment and reaps the rewards. We will know top 5 cricket captains of all time

A captain can alone win a match by his tactical moves, but not all leaders are created equal. These are the best captains in cricket history.

1. Steve Waugh

• Experience: 1997-2004
• Country: Australia
• Career stats in Tests: 57 matches, 41 wins, 9 losses, 7 draws, 71.92 win percentage
• Career stats in ODIs: 106 matches, 67 wins, 35 losses, 3 ties, 65.23 win percentage

Steve Waugh is arguably the greatest captain of the modern era. He won 41 Tests in 57 matches he captained Australia, with a world-record winning percentage of 71.92. He led the Kangaroos to consecutive 16 wins from Oct. 14, 1999, to Feb. 27, 2001.

Waugh’s Aussies lifted the World Cup in 1999, and his 120 against South Africa in the Super Sixes stage is termed as one of the best World Cup knocks of all time.

His win percentage in ODIs, 65.23, is super impressive as teams were really competitive back then, and the margin for error was smaller.

2. Clive Lloyd

• Experience: 1974 -85
• Country: West Indies
• Career stats in Tests: 74 matches, 36 wins, 12 losses, 26 draws, 48.64 win percentage
• Career stats in ODIs:84 matches, 64 wins, 18 losses, 1 tie, 77.71 win percentage

In the late 1970s and 1980s, West Indies ruled cricket around the globe, and Clive Lloyd was the captain of that vintage team.

He led West Indies to World Cup wins in 1975 and 1979. In the final of the 1975 edition, he led from the front and smashed an 85-ball 102. He also led them to the 1983 World Cup final but ended up as the second-best after losing to India.

He had a staggering winning percentage of 77.71, the best in ODIs (with a minimum of 30 ODIs). Although he doesn’t boast the same in Tests, he only lost 16.21 percent of Tests, the third-best behind Steve Waugh (minimum of 30 Tests).

3. Ricky Ponting

• Experience: 2002-12
• Country: Australia
• Career stats in Tests:77 matches, 48 wins, 16 losses, 13 draws, 62.33 win percentage
• Career stats in ODIs: 230 matches, 165 wins, 51 losses, 2 ties, 76.14 win percentage

Ricky Ponting captained Australia a world-record 230 times in ODIs and won 165 of them, with an astonishing winning percentage of 76.14. His highest point in ODIs is his back-to-back World Cup wins in 2003 and 2007.

In Tests, he won 48 matches, the second-most behind Graeme Smith (53), although he led 32 fewer times. Between Dec. 26, 2005, and Jan. 2, 2008, Australia won 16 matches in a row under his leadership.

As captain, he always led from the front with the bat. In ODIs, he scored a world-record 8,497 runs at an average of 42.91. In the longest format, he is third on the list with 6,542 runs at an average of 51.51.

4. Graeme Smith

• Experience: 2003-14
• Country: South Africa
• Career stats in Tests:109 matches, 53 wins, 29 losses, 27 draws, 48.62 win percentage
• Career stats in ODIs: 150 matches, 92 wins, 51 losses, 1 tie, 64.23 win percentage

Graeme Smith started captaining South Africa at the tender age of 22 and only played 8 Tests then. The former Proteas skipper holds the record of most Tests as skipper, 109. He also won more Tests than anyone in the World, 53.

Smith, an opening batsman, led from the front and notched up 8,659 runs, the most runs by a captain in Tests. He averaged an impressive 47.84, including 25 hundred, the most hundred by a captain.

5. MS Dhoni

• Experience: 2007-18
• Country: India
• Career stats in Tests: 60 matches, 27 wins, 18 losses, 15 draws, 45.00 win Percentage
• Career stats in ODIs: 200 matches, 110 wins, 74 losses, 5 ties, 59.52 win percentage

MS Dhoni is the only captain to win an ODI World Cup, World T20, and ICC Champions Trophy. These wins underscore the fact that he is one of the best limited-overs captains of all time.

That he won these trophies with a relatively weaker bowling unit makes the victories all the more impressive. He was a great tactician and a good communicator with his teammates while fielding or batting.

He couldn’t replicate his limited-overs success in Test overseas conditions, though.