Brendon McCullum and Michael Clarke are two best ODI captains at the moment: Stephen Fleming

Stephen Fleming

Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has rated Brendon McCullum and Michael Clarke as the two best captains in the One Day International (ODI) of the game at the moment, citing their aggressive approach as the main reason.

Speaking to PTI at the New Zealand High Commission, Fleming said: "I believe Brendon McCullum and Michael Clarke are the two best one day captains at the moment. For me, a good one day captain is one, who is really aggressive. These two captain, McCullum and Clarke, are really aggressive captains. They don't take their foot off the pedal and are always looking to attack."

When asked what category he would put Indian captain MS Dhoni in, instinctive or diligent, he said: "Dhoni is a bit of both. He is instinctive as well as he does his homework at the same time. He is not averse to taking risk."

Proper communication between coach and captain is paramount

With Sachin Tendulkar’s comments on Greg Chappell – referring to the Australian great as someone who craved for total control during his time as the Indian head coach between 2005-07 – making the headlines in the last two days, Stephen Fleming, on what he would term as the ideal role of a coach, said: "It varies from country to country and set-up to set-up. It's not same in two teams. I can tell you about my personal experience about when I was appointed captain of New Zealand.

"For the initial period, I let the then coach take command and guide me as I was new to the job. Once I was settled, I started taking more responsibility. However a proper communication between coach and captain is must."

Recalls being appointed as CSK coach

Recalling Chennai Super Kings’ decision to appoint him as the head coach from the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), he quipped: "I remember why CSK offered me a coach's job. It was basically a 'Return on Investments' as I was picked up at the auctions and I didn't do that well in the first year. So they decided to make me the coach. I also took it up as I knew this was fine but I would never be a career-coach.

"Every coach remembers the first team meeting he addressed and I also remember what I did. I was well prepared with CDs that had video footages, motivational speech and some songs and stuff like that. I could see the big Australians Matthew Hayden and Mike Hussey sitting in front row. Dhoni and Murali (Muralitharan) in the second row and so on."