Top 5 Captains in Champions Trophy history

The eighth edition of ICC Champions Trophy is set to commence from 1st June and the top 8 teams will battle for the ultimate glory. The tournament which is termed as ‘Mini World Cup’ has been won by South Africa, West Indies, India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia. South Africa and New Zealand won the first couple of editions in 1998 and 2000 respectively when the tournament was known as ICC Knockout Trophy.

Australia have claimed it twice whereas India too have won it twice, once in 2002 when they shared the trophy with Sri Lanka and then in the last edition in 2013. There have been various captains who lead their respective teams across all the editions of the tournament. Only a few captains though have been able to make a mark.

Here we take a look at the top 5 captains of Champions Trophy from its last seven editions.

1 Ricky Ponting (Australia)

Ricky Ponting led the Australian side in the period when they were at the peak of their dominance in international cricket. Kangaroos won the title in back to back editions under his leadership in 2006 and 2009. Australia sauntered to their first Champions Trophy triumph in 2006 in India when they thrashed West Indies in a low-scoring final by 8 wickets. The invincible bowling attack of Bracken, Lee, Mcgrath and the aggressive field settings from their captain seldom gave the Caribbean side a chance to come back into the game.

Ricky Ponting-led Australian Team entered the ICC mega event in 2009 as the defending champions. But many believed they will fail to win it this time around as the legends of the team had retired. But there was one common thread and that was the leader of the side – Ricky Ponting. He knew how to get the best out of the lot and he did it by scoring a match-winning century himself in the semi-final against England. Eventually, Australia beat New Zealand in the final to become the first team to defend the title.