In the game of cricket, captaincy matters a lot, because the captain is the one who takes important steps during a live game. A captain has to lead the team from the front and also motivate the team during its lows. When we talk about some of the great captains, we remember the likes of Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli of India, while Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Greame Smith are also some notable names.
But there have been some legendary cricketers, who are a successful cricketer, but failed in the role as a captain of their team. Today in this article, we talk about 4 successful and Legendary cricketers who failed as a captain.
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar is one of the few cricketers who needs no introduction. He has done everything possible to elevate Indian cricket. However, he failed to lead India as a successful captain. Under his captaincy, team won just 4 matches in 25 Test matches and 23 in 73 ODIs. It seemed that the captain’s tag was not lucky for him. Although Sachin has scored many centuries for India, he was unsuccessful as a captain.
Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff is one of the few cricketers who can easily fit into any team in all formats. A fine batsman, lethal bowler and a fine fielder, he achieved everything at his level to remain at the top of the game of cricket. Flintoff led the team for short periods and mostly suffered losses. In 11 Tests as captain, he lost 7 matches and won just 2. He was the captain of the ODI team that toured India in 2006 and lost the series 5–1. Michael Vaughan then returned to the rank of captain and Flintoff was relieved of his duties.
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid was popularly known as the Wall of India. But unfortunately he could not do that with his captaincy. The Indian team’s exit from the 2007 World Cup under his captaincy was the most unsuccessful campaign. Dravid captained India in 25 Tests and India won only 8 matches, but out of 79 ODIs, he won 42. Although Dravid enjoyed great success at home, he failed to replicate it overseas.
Andy Flower
Andy Flower is counted among the legendary batsmen. He played many match winning innings. Sadly, he could not replicate this kind of stuff with his captaincy. He led his country in 20 Tests and won only 1 and lost 10 matches and drew 9. However, it was not his fault, as the Zimbabwe team did not know much about cricket and never got the necessary support from the board.