The International Cricket Council is currently running a poll on who is the best player as a captain in their latest segment of pace-setters. The main focus behind the whole poll run by the ICC was that averages of players improves as a captain and leader and thus, they were the true 'pacesetters' in modern-day cricket. The ICC poll included four legends in the poll. They were India cricket team skipper Virat Kohli, South Africa captain AB de Villiers, the dominant Australia women's cricket team skipper in Meg Lanning and Pakistan's former captain and current Prime Minister Imran Khan. With less than 10 minutes left for the poll to finish at the time of writing this article, the result was a close India vs Pakistan tussle.
With over 500,000 votes casted, it boiled down to Virat Kohli and Imran Khan. In the end, it was the Pakistan captain whoo emerged victorious. Virat Kohli had 46 percent of the vote while Imran Khan had 47 percent. AB de Villiers received only seven percent of the vote while Meg Lanning unfortunately received only one percent. However, Virat Kohli and Imran Khan were almost neck and neck in the contest. When one looks at the captaincy record of both Virat Kohli and Imran Khan, it is remarkable.
Virat Kohli has a batting average of 73 when he is the captain of the Indian cricket team in ODIs while his average dips to 51 when he is not the captain. Virat Kohli is the ultimate chase-master and is considered one of the best in the world when it comes to batting currently. Virat Kohli is closing in on Sachin Tendulkar's tally of ODI centuries and although he ended 2020 without a single century in any format, Virat Kohli will be gunning for more centuries in 2021. The ICC poll saw social media trending Vote for Kohli on Twitter in a heavy way.
Legendary Imran Khan
However, when it comes to Imran Khan and his captaincy, he truly changed the landscape of Pakistan cricket. As captain, he ensured Pakistan did not lose three out of the four series against the almighty West Indies team of the 80s. Imran Khan also helped Pakistan win a series in England after 16 years in 1987 and he regularly dominated India. However, his crowning achievement will be the 1992 World Cup triumph in which Pakistan were boosted by his 'Cornered Tigers' speech. The win made Imran Khan one of the best captains and all-rounders in the history of cricket.
As captain, Imran Khan averaged over 50 with the bat and 20 with the ball while as non-captain, his average with the bat falls down by half while with the ball, it touches close to 30. The debate will forever linger on as to who is the greatest captain, but there is no denying the fact that Virat Kohli and Imran Khan are both great.
