Captains hold an important place in the game of cricket. A team can have the best players in the world. However, if the team does not have an able guy who can lead the team, then even the strongest team on paper may falter in the big tournaments.
Over the years, the cricket world has seen some great captains. There have been such instances in cricket history when a captain was not dropped from the playing XI despite his poor form just because he was the team’s skipper. Ultimately, either the team management dropped him or the player directly retired. Here’s a list of six such names.
1. One of the Australian captains – Tim Paine
Australia had some talented wicket-keepers like Matthew Wade and Alex Carey in the squad, but they played a majority of Test matches with the underperforming Tim Paine as wicket-keeper just because he was the captain after the sandpaper gate.
2. One of the Australian captains – Aaron Finch
Another Aussie to feature on this list is Aaron Finch. The right-handed batter was struggling in ODI cricket for quite some time. Eventually, during the series against New Zealand, he retired from ODI cricket.
3. One of the West Indies captains – Darren Sammy
Former Caribbean skipper Darren Sammy was a world-class captain, who won two World Cups in the T20 format. However, as an all-rounder, he was more of a bits and pieces cricketer.
4. Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke’s back issues had a major impact on his game. His form dipped in 2015, and even Clarke himself acknowledged it by saying: “I think it’s always going to be hard to beat any opposition when they’ve got 11 and we’ve only 10.”
5. Alastair Cook
Former England captain Alastair Cook had a torrid run in Test cricket during 2014/15 when he went 33 innings without scoring a century. At that time, many fans felt that he was in the team only because he is the captain.
6. Eoin Morgan
England’s T20I team had several big-hitters waiting in the line, but for a long period after the T20 World Cup, Eoin Morgan played in the middle-order as he was the captain. Earlier this year, Morgan announced his retirement.
