In cricket, a successful captain is one who plans ahead with a sixth sense and wins in the match. Every cricket format requires a unique game plan that depends entirely on the conditions of the match. Whether it’s a test, T20, or ODI, every format occasionally requires a situational game plan that needs to be executed correctly on the field. But the Cricket World Cup requires an entirely different game plan because of tough competition and pressure.
Every cricket World Cup has seen one of the best captains in history. Normally, any captain who wins the World Cup trophy is known as the best captain of the World Cup. Ricky Ponting is the most successful and best captain of ODI World Cup history. He is also the most successful captain in Australian cricket history. Similarly, MS Dhoni is the most successful captain for India in ODI World Cup history. He won the 2011 ODI World Cup trophy for India.
Similarly, Imran Khan is the best captain in World Cup history for Pakistan after winning in 1992 ODI World Cup. Who are other captains that stand successful in World Cup history? We will find out in the following article.
| Captain | World Cup | Matches | Won | Win % | Lost | NR | Draw | W/L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricky Ponting | 2003, 2007, 2011 | 29 | 26 | 90 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 13 |
| Stephen Fleming | 1999, 2003, 2007 | 27 | 16 | 59 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1.6 |
| Clive Lloyd | 1975, 1979, 1983 | 17 | 15 | 88 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7.5 |
| MS Dhoni | 2011, 2015 | 17 | 14 | 82 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Imran Khan | 1983, 1987, 1992 | 22 | 14 | 64 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1.75 |
| Allan Border | 1987, 1992 | 16 | 11 | 69 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2.2 |
| WJ Cronje | 1996, 1999 | 15 | 11 | 73 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3.666 |
| Kapil Dev | 1983, 1987 | 15 | 11 | 73 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2.75 |
| Grame Smith | 2007, 2011 | 17 | 11 | 65 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1.833 |
Ricky Ponting | 26 Wins
Ricky Ponting has won 26 out of 29 matches he led for Australia in the ODI World Cup.
He is the most successful captain in World Cup history because he has the highest win percentage of 89 in World Cup history. Overall, he won two World Cup trophies for Australia in 2003 and 2007.
Moreover, he has also scored 1160 runs as a captain in World Cup history, which shows his batting potential as a leader of the team. Here are the record and stats of Ricky Ponting’s World Cup wins as a captain in history.
| World Cup | Played | Won | Lost |
| 2003 | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| 2007 | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| 2011 | 07 | 04 | 0 |
We can see from the above stats that Australia won consecutive 22 WC matches under the captaincy of Ricky Ponting. He achieved 100 percent win percentage in 2003 and 2007 World Cup. World Cup 2011 was a slight downfall for Ricky Ponting, he won 04 out of 07 matches in WC 2011.
Stephen Fleming | 16 Wins
After Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming is the most successful player with 16 wins out of 27 World Cup matches. He led New Zealand in three World Cups 1999, 2003 and 2007. World Cup 2007 was the most successful for Stephen Fleming’s captaincy career. He won 07 out of total 10 matches played with an outstanding win ratio of 70.
Moreover , Stephen Fleming was also a successful captain as a batter and scored 882 runs in 27 matches with a batting average of 36. Here are the captaincy stats of Stephen Fleming in every World Cup season.
| World Cup | Played | Won | Lost |
| 1999 | 09 | 04 | 04 |
| 2003 | 08 | 05 | 03 |
| 2007 | 10 | 07 | 03 |
Clive Lloyd | 16 Wins
West Indies captain Clive Lloyed ranked number 03 in the list of captains with the most wins in cricket history. He served West Indies as a captain from 1975 to 1983 in 03 cricket World Cups. Out of the 17 World Cups he captained, he only lost two matches. After Ricky Ponting, Clive Lloyd has the best World Cup winning percentage 88.
Team West Indies won 02 World Cup trophies 1975 and 1979 under Clive Lloyd’s leadership.
| World Cup | Played | Won | Lost |
| 1975 | 05 | 05 | 0 |
| 1979 | 04 | 04 | 0 |
| 1984 | 03 | 02 | 01 |
During World Cup captainc, Clive Lloyed won 11 consecutive ODI matches, which was the biggest record at that time.
MS Dhoni | 14 Wins
The most successful Indian World Cup captain in history, MS Dhoni won 14 of his 17 games. He was the winner of 2011 ODI World Cup for India. Overall, he has a win percentage of 82 in World Cup history. Dhoni led India in 2011 and 2015 ODI World Cups.
In the 2011 ODI World Cup, he won 07 out of 09 ODI matches. Similarly, he won 07 out of 08 matches in the 2015 World Cup that was held in Australia. So, both World Cups were very successful for MS Dhoni as he was able to win most matches and even the trophy in 2011.
Although India could not win the 2015 ODI World Cup, overall captaincy and performance was very good. They lost only one game that resulted in their exit at a later stage of the World Cup.
| World Cup | Played | Won | Lost |
| 2011 | 09 | 07 | 02 |
| 2015 | 08 | 07 | 01 |
As a captain, MS Dhoni scored 478 runs in 17 matches with a batting average of 53. His highest individual score in World Cup as a captain is 91*.
Imran Khan | 14 Wins
Imran Khan is known as the King of Cricket in Pakistan. He was the first Pakistani captain to win any ODI World Cup in history. He achieved this feat in 1992 World Cup for Pakistan. As a captain, Imran won 14 out of 22 World Cup matches.
As a batting captain, Imran scored 615 runs in 22 matches with a batting average of 33. All these incredible stats make Imran Khan a legendary batter and captain in Paksitani cricket history.
| World Cup | Played | Won | Lost |
| 1992 | 08 | 06 | 02 |
| 1987 | 07 | 05 | 02 |
| 1983 | 07 | 03 | 04 |
Imran represented Pakistan in 03 World Cups as a captain. His most successful captaincy record came in 1992 ODI WC when he won 06 out of 08 matches for Pakistan.
Allan Border | 11 Wins
Allan Border has 11 Wins in the ODI World Cup for Australia. In terms of most wins for Australia in the ODI World Cup, he ranked at the second position after Ricky Ponting.
He led Australia in 1987 and 1992 ODI World Cups. 1987 World Cup victory was the first ever World Cup win for The sole credit for Australia’s greatest World Cup 1987 vicotory goes to Sir Allan Border.
In the 1987 World Cup, he won 07 out of a total 08 ODI World Cup matches. In the 1992 World Cup, he won 04 out of 08 World Cup matches.
| World Cup | Played | Won | Lost |
| 1992 | 08 | 04 | 04 |
| 1987 | 08 | 07 | 01 |
As a captain, he scored 243 runs in 16 matches with a batting average of 16.
Wj Cronje | 11 Wins
Even though Hansie Cronje’s professional statistics as a captain still placed him among the greatest World Cup captains in history. He is best known for the renowned fixing scanal in 2000.
Cronje became most succesful South African captain by winning 11 games in ODI World Cup. He led South Africa in 15 WC matches and lost only 03. Here is his World Cup stats;
| World Cup | Played | Won | Lost |
| 1999 | 09 | 06 | 02 |
| 1996 | 06 | 05 | 01 |
Kapil Dev | 11 Wins
Kapild Dev led India in 15 World Cup mathes, winning 11 and losing 04. Before MS Dhoni, he was considered as the only best captain in Indian cricket history. India won the first-ever ODI World Cup in 1983 thanks to the heroism of Kapil Dev, who worked alone to achieve the victory. He led the Indian team from the front, both as a batter and bowler, to achieve the greatest success in history.
Here are the stats of his individual World Cup performance.
| World Cup | Played | Won | Lost |
| 1983 | 08 | 06 | 02 |
| 1987 | 07 | 05 | 02 |
Graeme Smith | 11 Wins
Graeme Smith led South Africa in 2007 and 2011 ODI World Cup. Overall, he won 11 out of 17 matches played in cricket World Cup history. Although Graeme Smith had a potenital of being one of the best captains in South African history, he could not win any big trophy. Here are his World Cup stats of his captaincy.
| World Cup | Played | Won | Lost |
| 2007 | 10 | 06 | 04 |
| 2011 | 07 | 05 | 02 |
Which captain has won most World Cup?
Only two captains have won more than one ODI World Cup. Both are game legends who will be remembered for their contributions. Clive Lloyd of the West Indies and Ricky Ponting of Australia have both won two ODI World Cups.
From 1975 through 1983, Clive Lloyd led the West Indies to three world cups. He won his first two seasons by defeating Australia in 1975 and England in 1979. However, Kapil Dev broke this trend in 1983 by winning the World Cup final.
Ricky Ponting led Australia to the world cup in 2003, 2007, and 2011. He led one of the fiercest teams in cricket history, which helped him win the Cup in 2003 against India and again in 2007 against SriLanka.
In 2011, he was defeated in the final by India, who won by six wickets under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.
