5 Cricketers who can be future international captains

Unlike a lot of other sports, captaincy plays a big part in cricket. There is a lot on the captain’s plate than just his primary role which is either with the bat or ball. The skipper in charge is always in the hot seat, making all kinds of decisions and facing all the heat. He is responsible for his team’s performance and is more often than not answerable to the outside world. He needs to take a lot of responsibility and there is always going to be that burden on his shoulders.

A lot of young cricketers in the world have shown that they are capable of shouldering that responsibility and taking charge of the team. They have shown some good leadership signs and are not only touted as future stars but also future captains.

Here we take a look at five such cricketers who are immensely talented and can take up the mantle of the side in the future:

1. Quinton de Kock

Ever since he’s made his debut, Quinton de Kock has been touted as the next big thing in South African cricket. The left-handed wicket-keeper batsman has been very consistent in all formats of the game and has been a mainstay for the Proteas across formats for a while now.

The 26-year-old made his international debut back in December 2012 and has played 175 games for South Africa across all formats. He has amassed over 7000 international runs. His glovework behind the stumps is fabulous as well as he’s taken some real blinders and there’s hardly anything that goes past him. He’s also pretty alert behind the stumps and observes and reads the game pretty well.

Thus, with Faf du Plessis not going to hang around for a long time along with some other seniors, Quinton de Kock may well be entrusted with the captaincy sometime in the future. He has led the Proteas in a couple of ODIs last year in Sri Lanka in Faf’s absence. Hence, de Kock may well turn out to be the one to watch out for in the future.

2. Pat Cummins

If there is one cricketer who has come a long way in the last couple of years, it has to be Pat Cummins. The Aussie pacer has become the spearhead of the Test team and has performed exceedingly well. In fact, his excellent results led to the selectors naming him the co-vice-captain of the Australian Test side recently.

Cummins made his debut back in 2011 in South Africa as an 18-year-old. He impressed everyone with his speed, accuracy and his ability to trouble some quality batsmen. However, injuries played a big part in his career as he could never really kick off.

In March 2017, he made a comeback to the longest format after five and a half years and has never looked back. He is currently the No. 1 ranked Test bowler and is Australia’s go-to man. The New South Wales lad has had a terrific summer both with bat and ball.

Thus, Cummins is just 25 years old and has a lot of cricket left in him. He could well be Australia’s captain one day in the future.

3. Babar Azam

Babar Azam is another exciting talent that has come through the ranks and has been very impressive. Despite making his debut just four years back, he is already Pakistan’s best batsmen in the side, particularly, in limited-overs cricket. He averages in excess of 50 in both ODIs and T20Is and is currently No. 1 ranked batsman in the shortest format.

Even in Test cricket, he was slow to get off the blocks but he’s finding his zone and it seems like Babar Azam, the Test player is slowly arriving. Also, there is absolutely no doubt that Azam will go on to lead Pakistan one day. He has shown that he can handle the pressure and take up responsibility. Thus, Babar Azam is indeed one of the future captains to look out for.

4. Prithvi Shaw

Prithvi Shaw is another one of those young prodigious talents who has come through the Under-19 ranks. Very few players have created an impact like Shaw has in such a short span. In fact, such is the 19-year-old’s talent that the Indian skipper Virat Kohli couldn’t stop lauding his ability.

Shaw has had a fabulous start to his domestic and international career. He averages 60.93 and has already struck eight hundreds in first-class cricket. The young Mumbaikar had a fabulous start to his Test career as well. He scored 237 runs (in three innings) in his debut series against the Windies. Shaw did miss the Australia tour which could’ve been a career-defining for him due to injury but he seems to have cemented his place in the Test team already as an opener.

Last year, he captained India to the Under-19 World Cup title. Shaw has shown he can manage the captaincy workload well and hence, he is another player who could well lead India in the future.

5. Shai Hope

Shai Hope is one of the most promising Windies batsmen at the moment. The 25-year-old Barbados batsman has been quite consistent over the last couple of years and he is the pillar of the Windies batting line-up in all three formats of the game. He was fast-tracked into the Test side as he made his Test debut after playing just 14 first-class games.

In August 2017, he struck twin tons at Headingley to lead West Indies to a memorable Test win. He helped the Caribbeans chase down 322 on the final day and literally announced himself on the big stage. Since then all eyes have been on him and he looks like another candidate who will most likely lead his country in the future. He has shown he can deal with pressure and deliver in crunch situations.

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