ICC Cricket World Cup Winners Captains List
Cricket World Cup Winners Captains List : If you are a captain and your team has won a World Cup you will be remembered forever and ever. That’s the magic of the World Cup. It is a next big thing after the Olympics in the world of sports. World Cup is the biggest tournament in cricket. They say Cricket is a Gentleman’s game. And fairly, so are the World Cup winning captains. Each and every World Cup winning captain was the gentleman of cricket and still they are in their lives.
ICC Cricket World Cup Winners Captains List & Winner Teams
Let’s take a look at all the Cricket World Cup Winners Captains list and their hard work which made their nation proud.
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Clive Lloyd (1975 & 1979)
The man from Guyana led the West Indies to two back to back World Cups in the first two editions of the tournament. He had a team which every captain dreams of as they were the fiercest team back in 70s and 80s. But every ship needs a captain and to this Caribbean ship, Clive Hubert Lloyd was the captain. He had a major contribution in the 1975 World Cup final against Australia as Caribbeans were down to 50-3, then came the skipper and smashed an 85 ball 105 which took them to a huge score of 291-8. In reply, Aussies started decently, but Lloyd controlled well with the ball with the figures of 1-38 in 12 overs which helped West Indies win the match by 17 runs.
The 1979 World Cup was played with the West Indies as favorites and they carried their supremacy all over the tournament. The combined contribution of all the players led to the second consecutive World Cup for Lloyd and his team.
Kapil Dev (1983)
Team India were the underdogs when they started their World Cup campaign in 1983. Kapil Dev was the captain in the tournament. Little did everyone know the man from Chandigarh is destined to lift the trophy at Lord’s. The heroics of Kapil Dev as a batsman is witnessed in the match against Zimbabwe when India was in deep trouble with the score of 17-5. Then the captain arrived and scored a blistering 175 not out which controlled the innings and gave India the best chance to seal victory. But West Indies were again tagged as the favorites. They have reached to the finals for the third consecutive time and India for the first time.
India was batting first and got all out for a mere 183. Everybody thought it’s a cakewalk for the Windies and Viv Richards absolutely makes it so. But one catch has changed the course of the match where Kapil Dev ran towards boundary from the circle almost covering 40 yards to take a fantastic catch that got rid of Viv Richards. The team collapsed after his dismissal and India won the 1983 World Cup by defeating the mighty West Indies by 43 runs.
Alan Border (1987)
Before coming to India in the world cup along with his team Border has been facing lots of upsets and downs as some senior players were retired and had a young world cup squad which is not predictable. India and Pakistan were the hot favorites, but destiny has its own plans. The arch rivals Australia and England were facing each other in the finals. Though he hadn’t had a great world cup, but a brilliant master stroke in the finals made Aussies World Champions for the first time. England seemed to chase the target of 254 very easily, but Alan Border brought himself into the attack which was very unusual as he was a part time spinner. But Border’s decision turned out as gold and he got the inform batsman Mike Gatting out which resulted in the eventual fall of England’s innings. As a result, Australia won by 7 runs and became the third team to win the world cup.
Imran Khan (1992)
The name Imran Khan every Pakistani remembers. He is the best captain and all-rounder Pakistan has ever produced. The only time Pakistan tasted the World cup triumph is in 1992 in down under led by Imran Khan. He was known for his motivational skills and speeches provided to his teammates. He called his team ‘cornered tigers’ but they performed like roaring tigers. Experts believed that Pakistan wouldn’t have won the World Cup if Imran wouldn’t be the captain or wouldn’t be a part of the team. He was playing more as a proper batsman rather than a bowler. He scored a fascinating 37 ball 60 to help Pakistan win over New Zealand in semi-finals. Again in finals, against England he top scored with 72 runs, which took Pakistan to 249 and their bowlers did a tremendous job to all out England for 227.
Arjuna Ranatunga (1996)
Rightly said, Big players perform in big matches. Arjuna Ranatunga, the man who was a centurion in the night of the finals against Australia in Lahore 1996 is always remembered as one of the aggressive captains cricket has ever produced. He made a team which was unbeatable and can defeat any opponent any day. The team had aggressive batsman, smart fielders and excellent bowlers which collectively helped them in the course of their world cup triumph. Arjuna Ranatunga was an inspirational and strategic captain where he gave full license to the openers to smash the bowlers and he made excellent partnerships with middle order batsman to give justice to the platform provided by the openers. The Sri Lanka made a fest of a run chase against Australia and won the finals comprehensively.
Steve Waugh (1999)
Steve Waugh was the then new captain of the Australian team, which went to England looking to win for the second time. Though Australia didn’t start well in the tournament initially as they lost first three matches. But there was no looking back as the tournament progressed. Steve Waugh was the Australia’s best batsman in that World Cup. He played the innings of the tournament against South Africa in a Super six stage match as he scored 120 off 110 to engineer the chase of 272 which was remarkable in every way. Then again, they faced South Africa in the semi-finals where he scored 56 to reach Australia a respectable total of 213. The match was tie, but Australia was through to the finals as they have beaten them in the super six stage. In the finals, they demolished Pakistan for 132 and won comprehensively.
Ricky Ponting (2003 & 2007)
The golden era of Australia has started with the ’99 world cup win. Years later when Steve Waugh quit the limited overs cricket, Ricky Ponting was appointed as the captain of the dominant Australian team. He has two consecutive World Cups in his name where his side never lost a single match in any of the two world cups. The decade was theirs. They were simply unbeatable in that era, so is the Ponting’s captaincy.
In 2003, Australia was playing the final against India, which was a promising side too, but the Aussies were too much better of the Indians and there was never a moment where India had hopes of winning. The skipper made a meal of Indian bowling attack and scored fascinating 140 runs in 121 balls which helped Australia to post a mammoth total of 359 in 50 overs. Australia has won the match by 125 runs and lifted the trophy second consecutive time and overall third time.
The history repeated in 2007 as well. They have made a habit of winning and didn’t lose a single match and won all the matches comprehensively. They made a hat trick of World Cups and a 4th time winner.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2011)
Little did they know the man from Ranchi will one day lead India to lift the World Cup and give Indians the beautiful moments to cherish. And little did they know that a small town boy is going to become India’s most successful captain. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the man behind the team India’s success is one of the finest cricketer the world has ever produced. India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were hosting the World Cup in 2011 which gave a belief to all Indian fans to win the title for the second time after 28 years. Dhoni structured the team for the World Cup from past 4 years and made a brilliant team. Though India lost to South Africa and the match was tied with England, but the belief was always there of winning the title. The team has done justice to the belief of their fans by winning each and every match. Yuvraj Singh was playing like never before. He was contributing with bat, ball and also in the field. The concern was Dhoni’s bad form as he was not in a great touch.
India defeated Pakistan in the historic semi-finals to reach finals playing against another neighbors Sri Lanka. Latter had won the toss and elected to bat where they scored a blistering 274. In reply, India lost their superior openers early which opened the match fully for the Lankans. But Dhoni had other plans. He decided to bat on No.5 which is a cemented position of the inform batsman Yuvraj Singh. This was a gamble to take on the spinners. With the company of Gautam Gambhir, who made a fabulous 97 runs and also with Yuvraj Singh later, Dhoni scored match winning 91 off 78 balls. Dhoni’s winning six over long on remained as one of the greatest moment in Indian cricket history.
Michael Clarke (2015)
Michael Clarke announced his retirement by stating the latest world cup match will be his last match of his career. It was a dream coming true for Michael Clarke as he signed off with winning the title for his country at his own backyard. Until before the World Cup, Australian cricket was facing the transition stage where all senior players left and the captain was finding difficulty to win matches with the new team. But they looked different in the World cup as they dominated almost all the matches they played. The collective performances of all the 15 members made possible of lifting the world cup for record 5th time and bid the greatest farewell to their skipper.
Cricket World Cup Winners Captains List
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