In the first part of this 2 series article, i had mentioned
the contribution of 2 of the most influential captains whose win records might
not match with the most successful captains of their era, but the impact and
influence which they left on world cricket was next to none. Ian Chappell was
captain from the 70’s and Imran khan captained in the 80’s. In this second
part, i have chosen 2 captains who were excellent as leaders of men , one from
the 90’s decade and another from first decade of the 21st century.
Just like the previous captains, these captains had a great influence on world
cricket and were true leaders in every sense.
Arjuna Ranatunga ( Sri
Lanka ) – easily one of the finest captains Sri Lanka has produced not in terms
of success rate but in terms of sheer impact and authority over Sri lankan
cricket. Arjuna Ranatunga was a man of strong character and very much his own
man. The island nation got test status in 1982 and Ranatunga became captain in 1988 and went on
to lead the country for next 10 years. Arjuna Ranatunga was never a prolific batsman
but what he brought to Sri Lankan cricket was a certain aggressive and feisty
approach. In the early 90’s, the Sri Lankan
cricketers were always known to be the nice guys on and off the cricket field
but, Ranatunga owing to his head on approach, transformed the nice guys into a
team were not to be intimidated from the
opposition sledging and mind games. The Sri Lankan cricketers also started
responding to the opposition tactics and
were not shy to fight fire with fire.
Arjuna Ranatunga was an interesting character, overweight and not the fittest bloke on the field and
between wickets ( he used to walk for the runs and rarely ran between wickets ). Once during
an ODI match against England in Australlia, umpire Darrell Hair no
balled ace spinner Muralitharan for 5-6 times over suspect bowling action, Ranatunga
threatened to take off his entire team off the field and was almost about to
forfeit the match. Such a behaviour on a foreign tour was unheard of specially by a subcontinental captain. Ranatunga was
always known to be fierce supporter of his team and stood by them in adverse
circumstances and in a way his
tremendous support of Murali helped the offie revive his career and Murali
went on to become one of the greatest spinners of world cricket. The best example of his innovative captaincy
was his decision to send Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana as openers and let them
take complete advantage of the first 15 overs
with just 2 men outside the inner
circle. This inspired move paid off and Sri Lanka reached the finals of the
world cup against Australlia. Even prior to the finals,
Ranatunga dismissed off Shane Warne as an “overrated bowler” which put Warne
off his mark and Ranatunga scored heavily of the leggie in the finals chasing
down 243 runs on the back of a splendid ton from Aravinda De Silva. Winning the world cup
in 1996 was a huge boost for cricket in
Sri lanka. The rise of Sri Lanka from
being minnows in 1982 and winning a
world cup just 14 years later was indeed a giant step in the country’s
sporting history. Ranatunga and his aggressive captaincy had a great
deal to do with this transformation. Today the Sri Lankan team is one of the
top sides, plays aggressive cricket and much of the credit goes to Arjuna Ranatunga
who played a key role in shaping the team in its present form.
Captaincy record
Tests Won
Lost Drawn ODI’S
Won Lost Tie
N/R
56 12
19 25 193 89
95 1 8
Sourav Ganguly (India
) – the year was 2000 and Indian cricket was going through its darkest phase as several top players had been found guilty of being involved in match fixing and other illegal
activities. Amidst all this cauldron, Tendulkar had refused to assume captaincy and Sourav Ganguly was
appointed captain for tests as well as ODI’s. Ganguly had been a consistent run
getter and had forged a successful opening partnership with Tendulkar
in ODI’s. Ganguly was a captain who
always wore his heart on his sleeve and showed his emotions on the field. A lot
of captains before Ganguly had been very defensive in their mindset and always
buckled under the selectors and seldom got the team which they wanted. Ganguly on the other hand was a hands on
character who knew which players he wanted and made sure he got his way most of
the times with the selectors.
The Indian team before
Ganguly era was virtually unbeaten at home but were absolute poor when it came
to playing abroad. Ganguly along with senior players like Tendulkar, Laxman,
Dravid and Kumble were all keen to resurrect this reputation of being poor
travellers. Under Ganguly won the test
series against Pakistan on their home soil for the
first time in 2004. On tours in England in
2002, his team managed to draw the test series against Nasser Hussain’s men. With Ganguly at the helm one thing was clear
that there was no scope for parochial selections and on tour of Australlia in
2003-04, Indian team played some wonderful cricket managing to draw the test
series 1-1 and were unlucky to not have won the final test and the series in Sydney. Earlier in 2001, the Indian team had managed
to win an incredible series at home against Australlia beating the kangaroos by
2-1 thereby bringing Steve Waugh’s record of 16 consecutive tests. This test
series was one of the greatest series in cricket history for the sheer quality
and intensity of cricket between the 2 sides.
What made Ganguly different than other Indian captains was his ability to back the players
who were talented and with solid temperament. Players like Sehwag, Zaheer Khan,
Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni had all started their careers under ganguly’s reign and
have all become match winners in their
own right. Ganguly also had the knack of going under the opposition skin and
distracting them from their plan like he had made Steve Waugh wait for the toss
deliberately and his wawing of the t shirt from the balcony after winning the Natwest
trophy in England in 2002 is a part of Indian folklore. His partnership with coach john Wright was a
very fruitful one with India shedding off the tag of being poor abroad . even the Indian team had begun to sledge and
play mind games with the opposition and refused to take a backward step when
they were confronted by the opposition.
Tests Won
Lost Drawn ODI’S won
lost Tie N/R
49 21
13 15 146
76 65 0 5
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