In every sport, it is not about winning all the times but when a team wins a major trophy, it brings some sense of accomplishment to the players. Talking about the game of cricket, playing as a captain in the World Cup Final is considered a huge deal. It is a dream of any player is to win the trophy for self and country. But nothing comes close to lifting the World Cup Trophy for your country.
Talking about captains who have won the trophy for their countries we have Ricky Ponting, MS Dhoni, Imran Khan, Clive Lloyd. This time we shall be talking about six of the excellent captains in the game of cricket who failed to lift the world cup.
Players who have never lifted the World Cup Trophy for their Countries-
1. Sourav Ganguly (India)
Sourav played a total of 147 games as India’s Captain. He won on 76 occasions and lost 66 times. On the field of play, he was hated, adored but cannot be ignored by the opposition. During his playing days, he was like a cult hero in India. He was captain during the match-fixing crisis in India. Great players such as Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, and Ashish Nehra owed what they become in the game to what they learned under him.
He captained India to the 2003 cricket world cup finals which India did not win. He was a great leader on the field of play. MS Dhoni and Rahul Dravid who rose to become greats in the game of cricket grew under the influence of Ganguly.
2. Hansie Cronje (South Africa)
Available records from the world of cricket indicate that Hansie played a total of 138 matches for his country South Africa out of which he won on 99 occasions and lost the battle for glory on the pitch 35 times. He was the 4th most successful captain in terms of the number of matches won and the 3rd most successful in terms of the percentage of wins. He was made stand-in captain in 1993 but became a full captain in the 1994/95 cricket season. He played the highest number of consecutive ODIs as a captain and formed an excellent partnership with coach Bob Woolmer. Hansie is the most successful captain of all times that never had the singular honor of lifting the World Cup trophy. He lost the captaincy in 2000 because of his involvement in a match-fixing scandal. He never won the World Cup trophy captain of SA
3. Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka)
Mahela Jayawardene wore the captain’s armband for Sri Lanka 129 times and won on 71 occasions and lost 49 times. He had the opportunity to lead his country in the absence of Marvan Atapattu in their cricket tour of England and he performed excellently well as a captain and a role model on the field of play. He was captain for almost a decade 2004-2013 in what is referred to as the golden era of cricket I Sri Lanka. He was captain in 2007 and 2011 World Cup finals but failed to lift the trophy on both occasions. His nemesis in 2011 was India who beat him to the World Cup trophy
4. Stephen Fleming (New Zealand)
Fleming is another example of a great captain who never had the honor of adding the World Cup trophy to his cupboard. He won 98 times as captain and lost on 106 occasions-playing a total 218 times with the captain’s armband. He was captain of the Kiwis from 1997 to 2007 and was described as the best captain of his era by Shane Warne. Ricky Ponting was the only player that captained more World Cup matches than him. He was rated the best and most successful New Zealand captain. Although he was a good captain but failed to prove himself with a bat, as he was considered as an underperformer with a bat. In 1999 and 2007, he led the Black Cats to the semi-final of the world cup but never tasted the ultimate glory. He is now a successful manager with Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
5. Wasim Akram (Pakistan)
The records show that Wasim Akram was captain of Pakistan for 109 times. He tasted the bitter pill of defeat on 41 occasions but was the winner on 66 occasions. He was feared for his outstanding swing bowling which brought fear to the spines of his opponents on the field of play. His undoing was his aggressiveness on the pitch and his confrontational attitudes on the field of play. It is on record that he had a feud with fellow senior player Waqar Younus and coach Javed Miandad. The zenith of his captaincy came when Pakistan defeated England away in 1996 as well as when Pakistan reached the finals of the 1999 World Cup which they lost to Australia. He won a lot of matches as captain but he never had the honor of winning the World Cup as captain. His critics detest the way he rains abuses on his fellow teammates during the course of matches.
6. Graeme Smith (South Africa)
Another great player of his time that never tasted the honor of lifting the World Cup trophy is Graeme Smith. The available records show that he was captain of the South African cricket team 150 times. He lost 51 matches as captain and won 92 of the 105 games he played as captain. When you look at this list, Graeme is the second SA captain to appear on this list of great captains that failed to lift the ultimate trophy in cricket. It is hard luck that SA has never won the cricket world cup over the last 2 and a half decades. Graeme was a great captain; under his captainship, the team was transformed into a very dominant side. He was the leader on the field of play in the 2007 world cup but lost after hostilities.
One would have thought 2011 was the year for G. Smith to win the World Cup after they topped the table during the group stages, but it was never to be fro Graeme because they were defeated in the quarterfinals by New Zealand. Records in the formats series indicated that he was the most successful captain with a total of 53 wins in all. He holds the record as the only captain to have registered 50+ wins in whites. He holds the singular honor of being the only player to date to have captained his team in 100 tests and he was also a captain in 150 World Cup matches as well.
World Cup Trophy FAQ
1. What is the cost of Cricket World Cup Trophy?
ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy is awarded to the winner of the Cricket World Cup Tournament. The Current World Cup trophy was created for the 1999 World cup Championship. It is entire trophy is made out of Gold and Silver, it 60cm high and it weighs around 11kg. It was made in London by Garrand & Co ( the Crown Jewellers). In 2019 the Winning team received $4 millions prize money & the runner-up team was awarded with $2 Million Prize money.
2. Is the ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy made every four years?
No, the ICC World Cup Trophy is not made every 4 years. ICC keeps the Orignal Trophy, and the Winning team receives a replica with Inscriptions for life.
3. Who was the Winner of the first ICC Cricket World Cup?
West Indies won the first ICC Cricket World Cup. They lifted the trophy in 1975 by defeating Australia.
4. Who won the 2019 World Cup?
England lifted the 2019 World Cup Trophy by defeating New Zealand.
