The mega event is going to start from May 30, featuring ten teams for a round-robin followed by a knockout.
Captains of respective ODI teams participating in World Cup 2019. (Photo: Twitter/@cricketworldcup)
ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: With the World Cup round the corner, all teams are prepared to face the biggest cricketing event. The tournament holds special significance for the captains who have to shoulder a heavy responsibility of performing well throughout both as a captain, devising different strategies for each opponent, and also as an individual player.
Let’s have a quick look at the captains of the ten teams set to compete against each other in a round-robin game followed by a knockout.
Leading the England side to no. 1 spot in ODI rankings, Morgan will be looking to sign things off in England’s favour.
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England will have an edge of playing on home turf and it will be interesting to see how the captain of arguably the best side takes advantage of the situation and turns things in favour of the Englishmen. England has never won a Cricket World Cup. Will home ground advantage and Eoin Morgan set the record straight?
By winning more than 70 per cent of the ODI matches he captained, the Indian skipper will definitely try his level best to bring home the trophy, a third time for India. Kohli will be backed by the 2011 World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni, which is a great advantage for him.
Though the recent IPL season was not good for the RCB captain as his team ended with a wooden spoon, the captain is always ready to learn and improve. It will be interesting to see how the impulsive lad controls his aggression during tense situations and backs his players.
With a win percentage of almost 84, Faf du Plessis is the most adorned captain in the league and expectations from him are as high as his achievements as a captain.
South Africa instead of being a world-class team have struggled in every mega event, hence it will be a big challenge for the top-order batsman to manoeuvre his troops and break the shackles.
Talking about his batting, the righty South African is a masterclass with an average of 46.5 in ODIs.
Kane Williamson is one of the most calm-headed captains world cricket has ever witnessed. Contrary to his this nature, when it comes to field setting and bowling changes, the Kiwi batsman is quite attacking. Either it is his batting or captaincy, the 28-year-old has ticked all the boxes.
Williamson who played in the 2015 World Cup final, which was won by Australia, will definitely use all his experiences to rectify the previous mistakes.
Finch was handed over the captaincy only in 2018, and he has since won almost 56 per cent of the matches for his side. Though he had struggled with the bat at the beginning of his captaincy innings, his recent back-to-back centuries against Pakistan have boosted his confidence and the effect could be observed in his batting.
The pinch hitter will try to maintain the legacy of the Men-In-Yellow.
Sarfaraz Ahmed was named Pakistan ODI captain in 2017 and Pakistan under his captaincy won the ICC Champions Trophy the same year, beating reigning champions India.
By winning around 60 per cent of the matches he has captained, Sarfaraz is no doubt a potent leader and the wicket-keeper-batsman has to now prove his mettle at the showpiece event. He will try to continue his leadership in the way he has done and will be looking forward to contributing with the bat too.
In the World Cup 2015, it was Mashrafe Mortaza under whose captaincy Bangladesh entered into quarterfinals for the first time, inching England by 15 runs in a nail-biter.
Winning more than 55 per cent of the matches captained, Mortaza will be leading Bangladesh in the upcoming World Cup. Mortaza as skipper has filled energy in the Bangladeshi camp and the result is quite evident.
The West Indians had started the chapter of World Cup by winning the 1975 and 1979 titles, but the team has not been able to repeat the feat even once after that.
Of late, West Indies has not been playing well and even their recent form is highly disappointing. They have not won a bilateral ODI series since 2014.
The 27-year-old Jason Holder will try his level best to regain the lost glory.
Dimuth Karunaratne last played an ODI in 2015. In addition to this, his 190 runs with an average of 15.8 off 17 matches he has played make things look only tougher for him.
However, the Colombo-born southpaw would recall the blinder he pulled off in an under pressure Test innings where he led Sri Lanka to win their maiden test series in South Africa.
Gulbadin Naib has been recently handed the captaincy after the Afghanistan Cricket Board sacked Asghar Afghan. The move drew a lot of criticism even from the players of the Afghanistan team. With “tensions” overshadowing the camp, the new skipper will have to be ready to take on the upcoming challenges.
Though the allrounder’s ODI figures (615 runs, 29 wickets after 41 matches) don’t please much, Afghanistan will be hoping a good outing under his captaincy.
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