Indian cricket has seen fabulous captains over the years. Right from the days of Tiger Pataudi to Rohit Sharma currently, there has been no dearth of quality captains. But there have been few greats of the game who couldn’t captain the side. Call it destiny or ill luck, these players often found themselves in an era where there were great leaders. It was primarily owing to this reason that certain Indian legends couldn’t lead the national team.
We look at 5 Indian players who missed out on captaincy:
#5 Ravindra Jadeja
He is arguably one of the greatest cricketers India has ever produced. Ravindra Jadeja doesn’t necessarily get the credit he deserves. He came up the ranks through the U-19 World Cup in 2008. Jadeja soon got selected for the national team. He was a work in progress but Jadeja improved rapidly.
Jadeja was instrumental in India’s Champions Trophy win in 2013. His batting has improved leaps and bounds. But Jadeja strangely has never really been looked at as a leader. He might never get a chance to lead the country.
#4 Zaheer Khan
He was the country’s finest left-arm seamer. Zaheer Khan created a stir when he made his debut in the Champions Trophy in 2000. Khan then was an integral part of the Indian team till the 2011 World Cup. He was the joint highest wicket-taker in India’s World Cup-winning campaign in 2011. Khan was called the bowling captain. But for all his cricketing smarts, Zaheer was never really considered a captaincy candidate.
#3 Ravichandran Ashwin
Widely regarded as India’s finest Test bowler, Ravichandran Ashwin is a shrewd customer. He is always two steps ahead of the batsmen. Ashwin is someone who puts in a lot of effort not just on the field, but also beyond it. None of the batsmen in contemporary cricket can claim to have an upper hand over Ashwin. He led the Punjab team in the IPL for two seasons. But Ashwin might just be too intelligent a candidate who could lead the country.
#2 Yuvraj Singh
He was the man for the big occasions. Yuvraj Singh is the only cricketer to win the player of the series award both in U-19 and senior men’s cricket. Singh had a golden arm too. He rolled it effectively to pick up 15 wickets in the 2011 ODI World Cup. Yuvraj played a key role in India’s memorable World Cup win. There were many who had tipped Yuvraj to captain India. But MS Dhoni leapfrogged Yuvraj and the captaincy door was permanently shut on him.
#1 VVS Laxman
He was popularly called Very Very Special Laxman. Laxman was a man for the crisis. His best knocks often came in precarious situations. The epic 281 in Kolkata was one such. It was just the start of what the great batsman had to offer. Laxman remained important to India’s leadership group under Sourav Ganguly. But the leadership baton passed him quickly without him getting even a single chance to lead the side.
