Captains with MOST ICC titles, it's not MS Dhoni or Ricky Ponting at top
With Steve Waugh as the captain, Australia won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 1999 and ICC KnockOut Trophy (currently known as the Champions trophy) in 2000. His emphasis on mental toughness and team cohesion laid the foundation for Australia's dominant era and served as a blueprint for future captains.
Pat Cummins brought Australia to unprecedented success in 2023, when the team won ICC World Test Championship and ICC Cricket World Cup. The global prominence with the red ball and white ball in such a short period is one of the most unlikely aspects of the contemporary cricket game, and it makes the Cummins leadership outstanding.
Darren Sammy wrote history as he became the first captain to clinch two ICC T20 World cups in 2012 and 2016. A leader by all means, he also inspired and made the ceremony after the 2016 final contain all emotions, with tears, and happiness, and dancing being remembered as one of the most recognised moments in cricket.
The first skipper to lift an ICC title was Clive Lloyd and the West Indies won the ICC Cricket World Cup back to back in 1975 and 1979. His side had a ferocious batting and bowling combination, explosive, awe-inspiring and nearly unstoppable and that solidified the Caribbean influence in international cricket. A genuine cricketing star, Lloyd made a match winning 102 in the inaugural 1975 final to establish the tone of a West Indian dominance.
Some of the achievements of MS Dhoni as a captain involve the ICC T20 World Cup in 2007, ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. His influence is not confined to the silverware, however, and it is characterised by his ability to quietly remain calm in crunch situations, faith in the youth and a radicalisation of the white-ball game in India.
Ricky Ponting has led Australia to win two ICC Cricket World Cups in 2003 and 2007 as well as ICC Champions Trophy titles in 2006 and 2009. Captaining the troops of a star-studded team comprising of the likes of Warne, McGrath and Gilchrist; Ponting transformed them into an invincible bowling team which believed in being aggressive, precise and an invincible and undying spirit. There is a record in his name as his team did not lose during the 2003 and the 2007 ODI World Cups.
Among all women and men in the cricketing world, no captain has been able to conquer as many ICC titles as Meg Lanning. During her tenure, Australia won four world titles of the ICC Women T20 World cups (2014, 2018, 2020 and 2023) and the ICC Women Cricket World Cup in 2022.
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