5 Worst captaincy decisions in modern-day cricket

Be it the decision at the toss or changing the batting order or setting the field or the bowling changes, the captain is held responsible for all these decisions.

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Sourav Ganguly
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Sourav Ganguly of India celebrates. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly of India celebrates. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Cricket is one sport where captaincy plays a humongous part as compared to many other sports. A good captaincy decision can change the course of the game or the history like it happened with two of the biggest decisions taken in the history of Indian Cricket by MS Dhoni.

The first of them was to give Joginder Sharma the last over of the 2007 T20 World Cup final and the second one being the historic decision to push himself ahead of Yuvraj Singh in the 2011 World Cup Final.

Over the years there have been many such decisions in cricket that looked questionable but turned out to be a masterstroke. Be it the decision at the toss or changing the batting order or setting the field or the bowling changes, the captain is held responsible for all these decisions.

Many times, the captain manages to take a call that might turn out to be a disaster for him and his team and is remembered for a long time. Today let’s look at the 5 worst decisions taken by captains in modern-day cricket which had a huge impact on their teams and criticized by experts across the world

1. Sourav Ganguly – Opting to field in 2003 World Cup final

Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly of India smashes the ball. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

A decision that still haunts every Indian Cricket fan and forever will. Right from the very first ball bowled by Zaheer Khan which was a no-ball, nothing went right for India on that day. They were up against the mighty Aussies and had an opportunity to put them under pressure by batting first on the big day, but Ganguly had other ideas.

Having a batting line-up that consisted of Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid, Yuvraj, Ganguly himself and he decided to expose his relatively inexperienced bowling attack and the Australian batsman made full merry of that. Aussie Skipper Ricky Ponting scored a breathtaking 140 off 121 balls and took their score to 359-2 in 50 overs.

In reply, India were bundled out for 234 in 40 overs and the World Cup dream was shattered. Many justifications were made like damp outfield or being bowled out for 125 against the same opposition early in the tournament. But none of this hides the fact that it was a bad decision which cost India dearly.

2. Michael Clarke – Declaration v India, Hyderabad, 2013

Michael Clarke of Australia
Former Australian captain Michael Clarke. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

It was one of the strangest declarations in the history of Test cricket. Australia were already trailing the 4-match series 1-0 and during the second game with his team reeling at 237-9 on Day 1, Michael Clarke decided to call his batsman back leaving India to face few overs before the end of the day’s play.

The decision was taken being positive to leave India to face a tricky few overs before stumps but Clarke didn’t realize that the conditions were heavily against his bowlers. An in-form Indian batting line-up meant Australia had 2 long days in the field with Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara piling up a 370-run second-wicket partnership.

Not that the No.10 and 11 would have made much of a difference to the eventual result but it surely was a decision to be questioned. As it turned out Australia lost the match by an innings and 135 runs and going forward conceded the series 4-0.

3. Virat Kohli – Opting to field in 2017 Champions Trophy final

Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

If it was Ganguly in 2003, it was Virat Kohli in 2017 who made the same error of opting to field in a major ICC tournament final. This result hurt India even more as it came against the arch-rivals Pakistan and India started the game as overwhelming favourites as opposed to against Australia in 2003 where they were the underdogs.

India had already beaten Pakistan early in the tournament while batting first and had an opportunity to repeat that again in the final but Kohli chose otherwise. Fakhar Zaman scored a brilliant ton and a late assault from Hafeez meant Pakistan finished on 338. India’s all hopes were lost as Mohammad Amir bowled a fiery opening spell removing India’s top three with the figures of 16-3.

India lost the game by a massive 180 runs and lost another golden opportunity to win an ICC tournament. This decision was considered even worse given Pakistan’s woeful record while chasing, which they were struggling to do throughout the year leading up to the Champions Trophy.

4. Gulbadin Naib – Bowling himself against Pakistan in World Cup 2019

Gulbadin Naib
Gulbadin Naib. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images,)

Easily one of the worst decisions, if not the worst decision ever taken in international cricket by any captain. Afghanistan had a golden opportunity to trump and end Pakistan’s run in the 2019 World Cup but one horrendous decision changed it all and turned the game completely in Pakistan’s favour.

Pakistan required 46 runs in 5 overs with Imad Wasim as the only recognized batsman in the middle and the tail to follow. Imad was clearly struggling to hit Afghanistan spinners and Naib had left plenty of spin overs left up his sleeve to bowl the final 5 overs in order to close out the game.

To everyone’s surprise, he chose to bowl himself in the 46th over much to Imad’s relief and the southpaw took a full toll by smacking him for 18 runs to bring the target down to 28 of the final 4 overs. As it turned out, Pakistan managed to chase down the target with 2 balls to spare. Had Naib utilized his spinners better who knows what would have been the result, but it will surely go down as one of the worst decisions ever.

5. MS Dhoni – Sending Yuvraj Singh at No.4 in 2014 World T20 Finals

MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

If not sending Yuvraj Singh at No.5 in the 2011 World Cup final turned out to be a masterstroke, sending Yuvi at No.4 in the World T20 finals in 2014 turned to be an absolute disaster. Given that Yuvraj had struggled throughout the tournament and India had Dhoni and Raina sitting in the dugout made this decision look even worse.

India was unbeaten throughout the tournament and entered the finals as firm favourites against Sri Lanka. Batting first the top order launched a good platform for the death overs but Dhoni decided to send a struggling Yuvraj ahead of himself and in-form Suresh Raina. What followed next was perhaps the most frustrating innings in the history of Indian Cricket as Yuvraj crawled his way to a 21-ball 11 and lost all the momentum.

As it turned out Sri Lanka easily chased down the target in the 18th over handling India another defeat at a major ICC Final. India didn’t just lose the final, they also lost a golden opportunity to be the first team to hold the ICC World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy and ICC World T20 together at the same time.

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