5 cricketers you didn't know who have captained their teams

While MS Dhoni and Ricky Ponting's records as the captains of their respective teams will be remembered forever, there are a few cricketers whose captaincy contributions have gone unnoticed.

We have seen the likes of Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina lead the Indian limited-overs side, with the former achieving a 100% win record in the six matches he captained.

More recently, we saw Ajinkya Rahane captain the side as well for a few matches in the longer and shorter formats of the game.

While most of the fans recall these short captaincy stints, there have been a few names who the fans might not remember.

In this article, we take a look at 5 cricketers you might not know that have captained their teams.

#5 Floyd Reifer

Hailing from Barbados, Floyd Reifer made his debut way back in 1997. After playing one ODI that year, he played his second only in 1999 after which he had to wait ten years before making an international comeback.

The ugly fall-out between the West Indies cricket board and its players led to the board sending a second-string side to the ICC Champions Trophy in 2009 which was held in South Africa.

He captained the side in all their matches and as expected, they lost all three of them. Reifer played a total of eight ODIs for West Indies and scored only 117 runs at an average of 14.62.

#4 Gary Kirsten

Due to Hansie Cronje's absence, Gary Kirsten was made to captain the South African side against Pakistan in the first Test of the 1997/98 series.

Due to bad weather, the match ended in a draw as both the sides were able to complete only one innings each.

Kirsten himself did not have a happy outing as he scored only 3 in the first innings and remained not out on 20 in the second innings before the conclusion of the match.

He did not captain a single game after that but continued to play an integral part in South Africa's success, featuring in over 100 Tests and nearly 200 ODIs for them.

He also went on to coach the Indian World Cup-winning side of 2011.

#3 Shane Warne

Shane Warne's captaincy skills have been lauded by many after he captained the Rajasthan Royals to IPL success in the inaugural season back in 2008.

However, what many people don't know is that he boasts an incredible record as captain of the Australian cricket team as well, back in 1998-99.

He captained a strong ODI side and out of the 11 matches the Kangaroos played under his leadership, they won 10.

He led his side in one ODI against New Zealand in 1998 which they won and then captained the Kangaroos to a tri-series victory against New Zealand and England in 1999, losing just one match in the tournament.

#2 Abdul Razzaq

The enigmatic Pakistani all-rounder was forced to captain the ODI side for one match back in December 2006 as the then captain Younis Khan had to miss the match.

Razzaq had a forgetful outing leading the side as Pakistan were thrashed by West Indies in the 4th ODI, which happened to be the only win for the Caribbean side in the series.

Pakistan managed to score only 209 in fifty overs with Razzaq scoring 33, which was the second highest individual score for Pakistan.

Marlon Samuels's century took the game away from Pakistan as they won the match by seven wickets with more than fifteen overs to spare.

Razzaq did not take up any captaincy role after that debacle.

#1 Ravi Shastri

The head coach of the Indian cricket team was an integral part of the playing XI during his playing days. He played most of his matches under Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev.

However, he found himself at the helm for one match against the West Indies in 1987 which India won.

In the fourth and final match of the Test series, debutant Narendra Hirwani's masterclass gave India their first victory, thereby ending the series on a stalemate. He picked up eight wickets in each innings and ripped through the West Indies batting order.

Shastri himself did not do too much in the match. He contributed a few runs with the bat lower down the order and picked up a wicket each in both the innings.

He might have captained only one game in Tests but led the side in 11 ODIs where India won only four.