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After the 20-20 World Cup last year, multiple players have led India across all forms of the game due to various reasons. These reasons include injuries, bio-bubble fatigues, packed schedules, etc. In this phase, only one thing that is constant with the team is the head coach, Rahul Dravid. Since he has become the head coach of the team, he has worked with multiple skippers which he wouldn't have thought.
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However, this isn't the first time a national side has seen multiple skippers. In the past, there were a few national sides that have seen leadership changes due to many reasons. These were clashes with the administration, not being willing to travel to a certain nation, and many others. In this listicle, we will discuss five instances when a team has been led by different in the same calendar year.
Five instances when teams have been led by different players
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Zimbabwe Cricket Team (Image Credit : Twitter)
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Zimbabwe - Six captains in 2001
Initially, everything was going well under Heath Streak as he led the team to a historic ODI series win against New Zealand and a Test win against India. However, he had disagreements with the cricket board over payments and racial quotas.
Grant Flower became the captain for the first game of the tri-series against India and the West Indies. However, Streak returned as the skipper in the next game but was replaced by Guy Whittall. Till the end of the year, the likes of Brian Murphy, Alistair Campbell and Stuart Carlisle had also tasted the fruit of captaincy.
England Cricket Team (Image Credit : Twitter)2. England - Six captains in 2011
In the beginning of the year, Andrew Strauss led the Test and ODI sides for the Three Lions. On the other hand, Paul Collingwood led the T20I side as he was the victorious skipper in the previous year's 20-20 World Cup. Strauss gave up the ODI job after the ODI World Cup.
This led to the ECB introducing the split-captaincy formula with Alastair Cook (ODI) and Stuart Broad (T20I) being appointed as skippers. Strauss remained as the Test skipper. Notably, Eoin Morgan tasted the fruit of captaincy this year for an ODI series against Ireland. On the other hand, Graeme Swann was appointed as captain with Broad getting injured before the T20I series.
Sri Lanka Cricket Team (Image Credit : Twitter)3. Sri Lanka - Seven captains in 2017
The year started with Angelo Matthews being the skipper of the Lankan Lions across formats. He led the team in two Tests and as many T20Is on the tour of South Africa. However, a hamstring injury ruled him out for the next five months. Dinesh Chandimal led in the one T20I while Upul Tharanga led in the ODI series.
Tharanga led the white-ball series later on while Rangana Herath led the Test side. When the former was suspended for slow-over rate during the Champions Trophy, Matthews returned to lead the team but stepped after the ODI series loss to Zimbabwe after a while. Chandimal became the new Test skipper while Chamara Kapugedara and Lasith Malinga became the skippers for one of the ODI games that year. Later that year, Thisara Perera became the skipper for a T20I game against Pakistan.
Australia Cricket Team (Image Credit : Twitter)4. Australia - Six captains in 2021
In Test matches, Tim Paine was the captain of the side and the team lost to a second-string India. Later in the year, he resigned from the job after his sexually explicit message, which he said to a Cricket Tasmania employee in 2017, resurfaced. During the Ashes, Pat Cummins and Steve Smith led the team.
On the other hand, Alex Carey led the team in the ODI series against the West Indies as Aaron Finch got injured. During the Bangladesh tour, Matthew Wade led the side as a lot of first-choice players were rested. Finch returned to lead the team to its maiden 20-20 World Cup title.
India Cricket Team (Image Credit : Twitter)5. India - Seven captains in 2022
The team asked KL Rahul to lead the Test against South Africa early this year as Virat Kohli was missing the game due to back spasms. The former also led the team in the ODI series later on. Rohit Sharma, the regular skipper across formats, returned to lead the team against the West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Against the home series against the Proteas last month, Rishabh Pant led the side. In the very next series against Ireland, the Men In Blue had a new skipper in the form of Hardik Pandya. In the upcoming ODI series against the Maroon Brigade, Shikhar Dhawan will lead the team.