Five lesser-known captains in the history 20-20 World Cup

The 20-20 World Cup has emerged as one of one the coveted titles in cricket during the last 15 years since its inception in 2007. In the journey of eight editions including the ongoing one, this tournament has witnessed the participation of the teams throughout the diameter of the globe.

Advertisment

The then 24-year-old MS Dhoni-led Indian side was the inaugural Champion of the tournament after defeating their arch-rivals Pakistan in the final of the first edition of this prestigious tournament.

Notably, captaining the national team in a World Cup is the dream of every cricketer to be fulfilled in life. There have been only a few captains who have enjoyed the dream moment of lifting the title while leading their nation’s team in international cricket. On the other side, there are also the players who have captained their team in the 20-20 World Cups but they couldn’t get that much into the frame.

So, here we’ll have a look at four cricketers who led their teams in the 20-20 World Cup but remained less known to everyone.

Advertisment

5. Adam Gilchrist – 2 Matches – 20-20 World Cup 2007

Former Aussie veteran Adam Gilchrist is undoubtedly one of the finest wicketkeepers ever to play the game for Australia. Gilly is known is in the league of wicketkeepers who started the trend of being a dependable batter alongside a role behind the wickets.

Advertisment

Speaking of Gilchrist’s career in T20 international cricket, he played only 13 matches for Australia in this format. Surprisingly, he also led the Australian team in the group-match 20-20 World Cup 2007 against Sri Lanka due to the unavailability of regular captain Ricky Ponting for that game. Eventually, the Aussies won that match by a massive margin of 10 wickets under Churchy’s captaincy.

4. Dwayne Bravo – 1 Match – 20-20 World Cup 2010

Former blistering opener and veteran batter Chris Gayle was appointed as the captain of the Caribbean team in the third edition of the 20-20 World Cup played 12 years back in the year 2010. Due to some reasons, Gayle couldn’t make himself available for the first assignment of West Indies against Ireland.

In Gayle’s absence, the veteran all-rounder Dwayne Bravo led the Caribbeans in that group-stage encounter. West Indies comfortably outplayed the Irish team by a margin of 70 runs to win the match.

3. Denesh Ramdin – 2 Matches – 20-20 World Cup 2009

Former veteran Caribbean wicketkeeper-batter Denesh Ramdin appeared in 71 matches during his T20I career for his team. In these matches, Ramdin scored 636 runs with a strike rate of 115.42. Alongside, he also had 43 catches and 20 stumpings behind the wicket while donning the Maroon for his national team.

Apart from the celebrated T20I career, Ramdin also led his team in the 20-20 World Cup. The moment arrived for him during the second edition of the tournament played in England in the year 2009. The Trinidad-born lad captained his team in two matches of that edition.

2. Stuart Broad – 9 Matches – 20-20 World Cup 2012 and 2014

One of the modern-day greats who is still dominating the chart of pace bowlers in the longest format of the game, Stuart Broad has also appeared in 56 T20Is during his international career. Bowling in these matches, Broady has scalped 65 wickets having a four-wicket haul to his name.

Apart from guiding his team to a couple of wins in the shortest format of the game, Broad has also led the three lions in the 20-20 World Cup. He was the leader of the team in 2012 and then he also rolled his sleeves to lead the team in the 20-20 World Cup 2014.

1. Lasith Malinga – 3 Matches – 20-20 World Cup 2014

Firstly, the Sri Lankan management appointed the wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Chandimal as the skipper of the team in the fifth edition of the 20-20 World Cup. But due to his poor run of form in the tournament, senior pacer Lasith Malinga was named as the captain of the team.

The legendary pacer guided his team to three straight wins including the one in the title clash against India at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Mirpur. It was also the first time when Sri Lanka became the champions of the 20-20 World Cup.