3 active players whom you might not know have led in international cricket

Many captains have gone on to etch their names in cricketing history courtesy of leading their respective national teams outstandingly well from the front and shattering as well as creating many records in the process. It takes a great sense of responsibility, winning the faith of the dressing room, and leadership abilities to captain a national cricket team, and only a few of them have managed to get the job done in this manner successfully.

The elite list include the likes of MS Dhoni, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Graeme Smith, Virat Kohli, Imran Khan, Kane Williamson, etc. under who their respective sides have turned into world-beaters in international cricket. However, it also needs to be noted that there have been a few active international cricketers who had captained once upon a time, but their captaincy has gone unnoticed due to some reason or the other. Without further ado, here’s a look at three of them.

3. Rovman Powell

Rovman Powell has been one of the West Indies’ promising all-rounders in the limited-overs format who has the ability to bowl handy overs and showcased some solid power-hitting in the middle-order. His cricketing skills have also helped him earn lucrative franchise league contracts across the globe, including the IPL, where he was a part of Kolkata Knight Riders in 2017 and the Delhi Capitals in 2022.

Intrestingly, the dasher once led West Indies from the front when he was still in the initial stages of his international career. Powell was given the responsibility of captaining the Caribbean outfit during their tour of Bangladesh in December 2018. While Carlos Brathwaite was the T20I captain back then, Powell was asked to lead the ODI side on that tour.

Unfortunately for Rovman, he could not create a good first impression as the West Indies went on to suffer a 1-2 defeat in the three-match One-Day International series.

2. Aiden Markram

Aiden Markram is one of South Africa’s most reliable modern-day cricketers who has the potential to play some match-winning knocks for his side. The Proteas side has been in a transition phase for the last few years that saw many of their star players leave due to unavoidable circumstances, and Markram has been one of the players who has constantly been around the team during this period, having tried his level best in making good contributions for their overall prosperity.

Meanwhile, even Aiden Markram has once led the South African team from the front. It was during the 2018 home ODI series against India that Markram was given the challenge of captaining the Proteas after regular skipper Faf du Plessis was ruled out due to a finger injury while AB de Villiers had to miss the series because of injury concerns.

It was indeed an honour for the then emerging cricketer as he became the second youngest player to captain South Africa in One Day Internationals after Graeme Smith. However, the results did not go in favour of the home team as they lost the series 1-5. At the same time, this was also the Indian team’s maiden bilateral ODI series victory on South African soil.

1. Alex Carey

Alex Carey is one of the finest wicketkeeper-batters in ODI cricket at the moment and has now succeeded in cementing his place in the Australian Test squad. Despite being a late entrant at the international arena and being in and out of the national team, Carey has ensured to give more than 100% whenever he got the opportunity to feature in the playing XI.

It is to be noted that even the wicketkeeper-batter has once led Australia. It was during the five-time world champions’ tour of the West Indies that Carey was handed over the captaincy responsibilities after white-ball captain Aaron Finch suffered a knee injury. It was during the ODI itself that the southpaw made two new records.

While the Aussies registered a comprehensive 133-run victory, Carey went on to complete 1000 ODI runs, and 50 ODI catches in that game. Above all, Australia sealed the three-match series 2-1.