5 anti-climactic endings to glittering captaincy tenures

The role of a captain is of greater significance in cricket than in any other sport. This is exactly why it is perhaps the most difficult task for any cricketer to even undertake during his career, let alone excel at it.The history of the game has seen numerous great captains that have emerged from different corners of the cricketing globe and won plenty of admiration for their outstanding leadership skills. But captaincy is a double-edged sword like no other, and even the best of captaincy stints have had finishes which one could not have imagined of during the glory days.One of India’s greatest skippers ever, MS Dhoni, is currently going through a similar predicament. India’s poor form in overseas Tests in the past few years culminated in his abrupt exit from the Test arena towards the end of 2014.Team India’s decline in the ODI format since the 2015 World Cup has been a growing concern and has reached its height in the recently concluded series against Australia, where they lost 4-1. With calls for Dhoni’s axing from limited-overs captaincy getting louder than ever, his glittering captaincy career may be heading towards an anti-climactic ending.Here are 5 iconic captains who suffered this fate:

#5 Andrew Strauss - England

Strauss helped England recover from the Ashes whitewash of 2006-07 and regain the urn in 2009.

One of England’s finest captain ever, Andrew Strauss, carried forward the good work that had been done by Michael Vaughan in his successful captaincy stint. English cricket was not in the best of states when he took over the reins from a struggling Andrew Flintoff post an Ashes whitewash in 2006/07.

Some of the greatest moments of Strauss’ stay at the helm of affairs for England included an Ashes victory in 2009 and 4-0 thrashing of India in 2011. He was, however, not as successful in the ODI format, the proof of it being a 27-33 win-loss record in 62 matches.

Strauss is the 2nd most successful Test captain in the history of England cricket with 24 wins from 50 games. But his tenure came to a heartbreaking end in the year 2012 with a 2-0 loss at the hands of South Africa at home.

#4 Graeme Smith - South Africa

It was under Smith’s captaincy that South Africa attained the No. 1 ranking in Tests.

The longest reigning Test captain of all time, Graeme Smith, has also quite easily been South Africa’s greatest ever. With as many as 108 matches as skipper and 53 victories to boast of, Smith took South African cricket to unimaginable heights.

As an ODI skipper too, Smith had a very long stint which lasted 8 years and 149 games with 92 victories. However, it all did not end as it should have for the great South African as the team suffered losses in his last series as captain in both Tests and ODIs.

While Graeme Smith’s final Test series as captain saw the Proteas losing 2-1 to Australia at home, he last skippered the ODI team in yet another unsuccessful World Cup campaign in 2011.

#3 Michael Vaughan - England

Vaughan captained the English side that won the historic Ashes series of 2005.

Former England skipper and batsman Michael Vaughan is primarily remembered as the man who led England to a rare and memorable Ashes victory in 2005. However, Vaughan did achieve much more as a captain than just that.

He holds the record for being England’s most successful Test captain ever with 26 victories under his belt after 51 matches at the helm. To add to it, Vaughan also recorded 32 ODI victories in 60 games as skipper.

Unfortunately for him though, a poor World Cup in 2007 and a Test series loss to South Africa brought about sour endings to his successful stints as England’s ODI and Test captain respectively.

#2 Ricky Ponting - Australia

Ponting led Australia to two World Cup victories- in 2003 and 2007.

One of Australia’s greatest batsmen ever, Ricky Ponting, is also his country’s most successful captain of all time. Ponting captained Australia in 77 Tests, out of which they won a staggering 48 and lost just 16.

Some of his greatest captaincy feats include Australia’s second 16-Test winning streak, an Ashes whitewash and two World Cup titles in 2003 and 2007 respectively. However, slowly but surely Ponting’s prowess both as batsman and captain began to fade and things started to get out of hand.

The end of Ponting’s largely successful stint as Test captain came as the result to back-to-back series losses against India and England. It served as quite an anti-climax to a captaincy career which propelled Australia to greater heights in international cricket.

His ODI captaincy, however, stayed with him till his retirement from the format and it also ended on a winning note.

#1 Sourav Ganguly - India

Ganguly led India to the final of the 2003 World Cup.

Sourav Ganguly will always be remembered as the man who revolutionized Indian cricket and laid the foundation for a team which could perform well anywhere in the world. Ganguly’s stint as captain helped Team India achieve things which were the stuff of dreams for Indian players and fans alike.

From rare Test victories in England and Australia to reaching finals of major ICC tournaments to effecting epic turnarounds from the middle of nowhere, the glory days of Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy witnessed it all. However, things changed drastically for him ever since Greg Chappell walked in as coach of the Indian team.

The Indian team suffered a major lapse in form in the 50-over format and unfortunately, Ganguly’s poor form with the bat coincided with it. A fallout with the new coach worsened matters further and led to his removal as skipper and subsequent axing from the team.

Although Sourav Ganguly did make a fighting comeback into the team a few years later, he never regained the leader’s mantle for the rest of his career.