Captains courageous
Mohandas Menon
 |
Clive Lloyd
|
What does Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Allan Border, Imran Khan and Arjuna
Ranatunga have in common? They are all World Cup-winning captains for their repective countries.
Let's look at how the men who have led their countries in the World Cup have performed, with both bat and ball.
 |
Imran Khan
|
To Pakistan's Imran Khan goes the distinction of captaining his side in the most number of matches
in World Cup competition. However, Clive Lloyd of the West Indies has won the maximum number of matches -- 15. Lloyd also, to date,
remains the only captain to have won the World Cup on two occasions (in
1975 and 1979).
Table A provides the list of captains with most matches and their respective results. From this list, it will be noticed that India's
Mohammad Azharuddin has captained his team in maximum matches without winning the Cup. He is followed by West Indian Richie Richardson (14
matches) and Sri Lankan Duleep Mendis (12).
 |
Arjuna Ranatunga
|
Sri Lanka's World Cup-winning
captain Arjuna Ranatunga has led his side in only six matches. Ranatunga
has the unique distinction of winning all the six World Cup matches he led in, thus being the only captain to date with a 100% win record.
Imran Khan has the unique distinction of topping both the run and wicket
aggregates as captain in the World Cup. Imran has scored 615 runs (avg
38.44) and has captured 24 wickets (avg 19.71) in 22 matches. Tables B and
C provides the details.
The 158 World Cup matches have produced 47 captains. As batsmen, they have
scored 8590 runs at an average of 36.71 with seven hundreds and sixty-two
fifties. The highest individual score as captain has been made by West
Indian Viv Richards, who scored 181 against Sri Lanka at Karachi in 1987.
Twenty-three captains have had a bowl in the World Cup. They have in all
captured 114 wickets at an average of 31.11, and a strike-rate of 47.32 and
economy-rate of 65.75 (or 3.95 runs per over).
Kapil Dev's 5-43 against Australia at Nottingham in 1983 remains the only
five-wkt haul by a captain in the World Cup.
TABLE A: WORLD CUP CAPTAINS IN MOST MATCHES
| R E S U L T |
T O S S |
| Captain |
For |
M |
W |
L |
D |
T |
%W/P |
W |
L |
%W/P |
| Imran Khan |
Pak |
22 |
14 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
63.64 |
11 |
11 |
50.00 |
| CH Lloyd |
WI |
17 |
15 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
88.24 |
9 |
8 |
52.94 |
| AR Border |
Aus |
16 |
11 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
68.75 |
9 |
7 |
56.25 |
| M Azharuddin |
Ind |
15 |
6 |
8 |
1 |
0 |
40.00 |
7 |
8 |
46.67 |
| Kapil Dev |
Ind |
15 |
11 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
73.33 |
6 |
9 |
40.00 |
| RB Richardson |
WI |
14 |
7 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
50.00 |
5 |
9 |
35.71 |
| LRD Mendis |
SL |
12 |
1 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
8.33 |
6 |
6 |
50.00 |
|
Best for other countries : |
| MD Crowe |
NZ |
9 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
77.78 |
5 |
4 |
55.56 |
| KC Wessels |
SA |
9 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
55.56 |
4 |
5 |
44.44 |
| MW Gatting |
Eng |
8 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
62.50 |
3 |
5 |
37.50 |
| GA Gooch |
Eng |
8 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
62.50 |
5 |
3 |
62.50 |
| DL Houghton |
Zim |
8 |
1 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
12.50 |
4 |
4 |
50.00 |
TABLE B : HIGHEST RUN AGGREGATES BY CAPTAINS IN THE WORLD CUP
| Captain |
For |
M |
I |
NO |
Runs |
HS |
Ave |
100 |
50 |
0 |
| Imran Khan |
Pak |
22 |
19 |
3 |
615 |
102* |
38.44 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
| M Azharuddin |
Ind |
15 |
13 |
1 |
475 |
93 |
39.58 |
- |
5 |
2 |
| MD Crowe |
NZ |
9 |
9 |
5 |
456 |
100* |
114.00 |
1 |
4 |
- |
| Kapil Dev |
Ind |
15 |
13 |
5 |
455 |
175* |
56.88 |
1 |
1 |
- |
| CH Lloyd |
WI |
17 |
11 |
2 |
393 |
102 |
43.67 |
1 |
2 |
- |
| IVA Richards |
WI |
6 |
6 |
0 |
391 |
181 |
65.17 |
1 |
3 |
- |
| RB Richardson |
WI |
14 |
14 |
3 |
368 |
93* |
33.45 |
- |
2 |
- |
| MW Gatting |
Eng |
8 |
8 |
1 |
354 |
60 |
50.57 |
- |
3 |
- |
| GM Turner |
NZ |
4 |
4 |
2 |
333 |
171* |
166.50 |
2 |
- |
- |
| KC Wessels |
SA |
9 |
9 |
2 |
313 |
85 |
44.71 |
- |
3 |
- |
TABLE C : HIGHEST WICKET AGGREGATES BY CAPTAINS IN THE WORLD CUP
| Captain |
For |
M |
B |
Md |
R |
W |
Ave |
Best |
5 |
4 |
SR |
ER |
| Imran Khan |
Pak |
22 |
661 |
8 |
473 |
24 |
19.71 |
4/37 |
- |
2 |
27.54 |
71.56 |
| Kapil Dev |
Ind |
15 |
876 |
19 |
504 |
17 |
29.65 |
5/43 |
1 |
- |
51.53 |
57.53 |
| RGD Willis |
Eng |
7 |
442 |
19 |
206 |
11 |
18.73 |
4/42 |
- |
1 |
40.18 |
46.61 |
| Asif Iqbal |
Pak |
5 |
354 |
5 |
215 |
10 |
21.50 |
4/56 |
- |
1 |
35.40 |
60.73 |
| AR Border |
Aus |
16 |
276 |
0 |
219 |
7 |
31.29 |
2/27 |
- |
- |
39.43 |
79.35 |
| DAG Fletcher |
Zim |
6 |
301 |
5 |
221 |
7 |
31.57 |
4/42 |
- |
1 |
43.00 |
73.42 |
| M Odumbe |
Ken |
6 |
257 |
6 |
187 |
6 |
31.17 |
3/15 |
- |
- |
42.83 |
72.76 |
| AJ Traicos |
Zim |
6 |
348 |
2 |
218 |
6 |
36.33 |
2/27 |
- |
- |
58.00 |
62.64 |
| SW Lubbers |
Holl |
4 |
216 |
0 |
187 |
5 |
37.40 |
3/48 |
- |
- |
43.20 |
86.57 |
|
