5 brave captaincy decisions that altered the course of the tournament

Cricket has produced a number of great captains who have used their intellect to gain an upper hand for the team. Good captains always have great strategies, and they also implement it effectively on the field.

However, not every time does a captain get to implement his strategies as planned in the dressing room. A great captain is the one who changes his strategy when the situation changes. He adapts himself to different situations and alters his plan according on the field itself. There are a number of incidents in the history of cricket which show that a great captain can turn the game upside down just by using his intellect.

#5. Ganguly asking Laxman to replace Dravid at No 3

The Australian tour of India, 2001 can be considered a turning point in Indian cricket's history. It had an impact on Test cricket similar to what the 1983 World Cup win had in One Day cricket. Australia was the undisputed leader in world cricket at that time.

The Australian team was on a winning spree and had set a world record of 16 consecutive Test victories after winning the first match of the series in Mumbai by 10 wickets within 3 days. The Australian team was in ominous form and in the 2nd test at Kolkata they had scored 445 runs in the 1st Innings and bundled out India for a paltry 171.

Australia had asked India to follow on and in the second innings, India had a decent start losing the first wicket after a 50-run opening stand. After the loss of the opening wicket, Ganguly sprang a huge surprise which altered the course of the entire series. 'Dada' asked VVS Laxman to go in at Number 3 instead of Dravid.

The decision to bring in Laxman at number 3 and Dravid at number 5 proved to be a huge success as both of them performed brilliantly.

Laxman scored his highest Test score of 281, and Dravid scored 180 to set Australia a target of 384. As a result of this brave decision, Australia not only lost that match, but also the next match at Chennai, ultimately losing the series 2-1.

#4. Dhoni promoting himself ahead of Yuvraj

This six by Dhoni will stay etched in the memories of Indian fans forever

India started the 2011 World Cup as the favourites. During the tournament, India proved itself to be worthy of the tag despite a few hiccups. India faced Sri Lanka in the finals of the 2011 World Cup,

Srilanka won the toss and choose to bat first and set India a target of 275. India didn't have the best of starts, losing Sehwag and Sachin early. Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir then built a partnership before Kohli got out for 35. Yuvraj Singh was slotted in to bat next but Dhoni sprang a surprise and promoted himself ahead of Yuvraj.

Dhoni had played with Muttiah Muralitharan for the previous 3 years in Chennai Super Kings and therefore felt that he was more suited to tackle Murali than Yuvraj was.

The reason why this was indeed a brave decision was that Dhoni had been in poor form till that match in the World Cup.

This move was a successful one as Dhoni scored a 91 Not out in the finals and this helped India in winning the World Cup after 28 years. India became the first host country to win the World Cup.

#3. Nasser Hussain declaring the innings at 0/0

The agreement between the two captains yielded a result in the match where 3 days were washed out

This incident happened during England's tour of South Africa in 2000. South Africa had already won the series 2-0 before the fifth test. The 5th test was badly affected by the weather as 3 days were washed out by rains.

Hansie Cronje and Nasser Hussain entered into an agreement to compensate for the loss of 3 days of play. The two agreed to a deal where South Africa would bat till they reached close to 250 and then declare the innings, allowing England to chase that target.

The first innings finished with South Africa scoring 248/8 Declared and England wanted to chase the target, but the rules of those times permitted forfeiture of the innings only once. This rule prompted Nasser Hussain to declare England's innings at 0/0.

According to the agreement between the captains, Cronje forfeited South Africa's 2nd innings, allowing England to chase a target of 249. This agreement turned out to be a masterstroke for England, as the side was able to pull off a victory over the hosts by chasing the target down successfully.

#2. Azharuddin promoting Sachin to open the batting

Sachin first opened the batting in Auckland in 1994

Sachin Tendulkar started his ODI career at number 4 and played his initial innings in the middle order. He didn't get a chance to open the innings for almost 70-odd matches. It was an injury to the team's regular opener Navjot Singh Sidhu which prompted the then-captain Azhar to take a gamble.

Sachin was longing for an opportunity to play higher up the order and Azharrudin to felt that a talent like Sachin was being wasted down the order. Sidhu's injury provided the captain an ideal opportunity to try Sachin at the top. The promotion of Sachin up the order took place in 1994 in a match against New Zealand in Auckland.

This move not only changed India's fortunes and Sachin's career but it also changed the way cricket was played at that time. Sachin had struggled in International cricket till then, not scoring a single century.

He scored his first ODI century in his 79th ODI match, within a few matches after his promotion to the opening position.

This move has great importance in the history of cricket and in Sachin's career as well.

#1. Don Bradman reversing his team's batting order

Bradman's decision to reverse the batting order was a masterstroke

One of the most interesting incidents in cricket took place in the Ashes series of 1937. Australia had lost the first two Tests and had to win the third to stay alive in the series. The 3rd test proved to be a cat and mouse game, with both captains trying to outdo the other with clever strategies.

Australian captain Don Bradman, in a surprising move, opted to bat first on a pitch which was assisting bowling. Australia struggled in the 1st innings and reached to a score of 181/7 when the match was stopped due to rain. The wicket became even more difficult to bat as the pitch was wet because of the rain.

Bradman sensed an opportunity and declared the innings at 200/9 making England bat on a wet wicket.

Bradman clearly understood the pitch and was in no mood to start batting again, so he asked his bowlers to bowl a defensive line so that the England batsmen are not dismissed cheaply. Sir Gubby Allen, captain of the England team too was aware of the situation, and he displayed his captaincy skills by declaring the innings at 76/9.

Sir Don Bradman then made a change which proved to be a masterstroke in the course of the match. The pitch being wet prompted the captain to reverse his batting order. Bradman asked his No 10 and No 11 batsmen to open the innings and spend some time in the crease so that the pitch became playable by the time the regular batsmen came out to bat.

This move worked wonders as the tailenders survived the day and the next day the pitch was much better to bat on. Bradman scored 270 runs in the second innings, and Australia ended up with a score of 564, setting England a target of 689. England finally ended up losing the match.

This move of Don Bradman not only changed the result of the match, but also enabled Australia to win the series 3-2. This move was also important in prolonging Bradman's captaincy stint with the Australian team.