Dubai: There’s that famous quote around the Cricketing world that “A captain is as good as his team” which happens to be quite right. Any successful cricket team even if have the strongest of the squads relies heavily on an influential figure to lead them to the glory and very few of them done it on a consistent basis.
As New Zealand entered the final of the ICC World T20 2021 registering a thrilling victory over England in the semi-final a few days ago, Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson sneaked himself into a unique list of captains who lead their side to three consecutive ICC tournament final. The 31 year-old Tauranga lad had previously lead the Blackcaps to the final ICC World Test Championship earlier this year as well as ICC 50 over World Cup in 2019.
However he is not the only one to do it. So let us check who are the other to claim this feat:
Clive Lloyd(1975,1979,1983): The sheer legacy and tremble revolved around the golden generation of West Indies side back in the 70’s through to early 80’s needs no introduction. A team boasted with the most swashbuckling batters alongside a bowling unit who used to give opposing batting line-up sleepless night had reached the finals of the first three World Cups in 1975,1979 and 1983 winning two of them and behind the success was undoubtedly the guy with big round specs Clive Llyod. The south-paw had the charisma and character to lead a pack of superstars.
He scored a captain’s knock of 102 helping the Carribbeans to beat Australia to become the first ever World Champion of Cricket before leading the side to clinch another one four years later(1979).
Such was his side’s dominance that West Indies reached third final in 1983 however, this Lloyd had to stand in the other side of the scenario as got stunned by India at Lords leaving his side stranded as the runners up.
Sourav Ganguly(2000,2002 & 2003): Termed as “The Prince of Calcutta” , Sourav was the pioneer for resurgence of India cricket in the modern era. Given the captaincy amidst difficult sorrounding, he managed to become the second captain after the Clive Llyod to register his name in this unique book.
He first lead the side to the final of the 2000 ICC Knock-out Trophy in Kenya where Sourav himself brought up superb ton although lost to New Zealand in a thriller.
Two years later in 2002, he came back in the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka adding young-guns like Zaheer Khan,Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Virendar Sehwag to propell India’s chances. The side went one step further this time lifting the trophy although it was awarded as joint winners alongside Sri Lanka after both the match day and the reserve day were washed out.
The very next year, came Sourav’s biggest challenge when he had to take a young Indian brigade to South Africa to compete in the ICC Cricket World Cup. Having suffered an early set back, the team thrived under him picking up victories to enter the final at Johannesburg where they were completely outplayed by Australia who scored a mammoth 359. Despite the defeat, Sourav had made the much capable than the previous generations to compete with the world’s very best.
Meanwhile, as for the journey Kiwi star skipper Williamson, in the final of the World Test Championship Final, the Kiwis defeated the mighty Indians by 8 wickets putting on a dominant display in Southampton, England. Williamson himself played a crucial knocks in the both the innings one of them being an unbeaten 89 ball 52 in second innings to help his side chase down a mere 139 leading the Kiwis to their second ICC Trophy in their history.
A couple of years ago he had also led his nation to the final of the 50 over ICC World Cup after their his influential leadership propelled the Kiwis to put on consistent performance however, in the final they lost to the hosts England at Lords after the match went to the super-overs. Despite being the runners up, Kane won the player of the series award for scoring 578 runs in the tournament.
