Captain's Corner: Sourav Ganguly vs Stephen Fleming

2. ICC/World events

Fleming led New Zealand to their one and only ICC glory with the 2000 Knockout Trophy success

The measure of a good captain can truly be assessed on the big stages like the World Cup or the Champions Trophy. The two factors which also needs to be considered is how far the team progresses in the competition as well as the teams that they beat along the way in getting there.

ICC ODI World Cup

	Editions	Matches	Won	Lost	NR	Win%
Sourav Ganguly	2003	11	9	2	NIL	81.8
Stephen Fleming	1999,2003,2007	31	18	12	1	58

Ganguly led the Indian side with aplomb during the 2003 world Cup campaign as they beat all sides that came their way except the all-conquering Australian side, whom they lost to on two occasions, including the final.

Fleming meanwhile led New Zealand in 3 World Cups and managed to progress to the semi-final stages on two occasions losing to Asian opposition in Pakistan in 1999 and Sri Lanka in 2007.

ICC Champions Trophy

	Editions	Matches	Won	Lost	NR	Win%
Sourav Ganguly	2000, 2002, 2004	11	7	2	2	63.6
Stephen Fleming	1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006	13	8	5	NIL	61.5

Though the winning percentage for Ganguly is marginally higher than that of Fleming, what the table doesn’t show is the fact that the latter came out on top when New Zealand faced Sourav Ganguly-led India in the final of the 2000 ICC Champions Trophy, chasing down the target of 265 with four wickets in hand to win their one and only major ICC honour till date.

Ganguly also tasted success in the Champions Trophy as well but it was more of a share of the spoils as the final, as well as the reserve day for the final of the 2002 Champions Trophy, was washed out forcing India to share the trophy with Sri Lanka.