From Dhoni to Paine: Surprising captaincy appointments in recent times

In the wake of Suryakumar Yadav pipping Hardik Pandya to become India’s T20I captain, we look at instances in the recent past where the ‘next cab in the rank’ did not end up becoming captain.

Tim Paine appointed Australia’s Test skipper in 2018

Following the sandpaper gate ball-tampering saga in Newlands in 2018, Cricket Australia (CA) dropped a bombshell by appointing Tim Paine as the side’s Test skipper. Prior to being appointed captain in March 2018, Paine had only played 12 Tests, with four of those coming back in 2010. 

When Steve Smith was sacked as captain, other senior candidates such as Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, and Nathan Lyon seemed to be front-runners to take over, but CA ended up appointing Paine in what was a very left-field choice.

As it turned out, Paine captained Australia for three years and 23 Tests, with the highlight being the Kangaroos retaining the urn in England (in 2019) for the first time in 18 years.

Aiden Markram named South Africa’s stand-in ODI skipper in 2018

Following an injury to Faf du Plessis mid-way through the ODI series against India in 2018, Cricket South Africa (CSA) named Aiden Markram as the stand-in skipper. 

Markram, then 23, had only played two ODIs at the time of being handed temporary ODI captaincy. He had, in fact, only played seven international games in total at the time of being made captain.

The move was a shock of sorts as the side included other senior players such as Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla, David Miller, JP Duminy, and Kagiso Rabada. 

Either way, the move turned out to be a massive flop, with South Africa losing the six-match ODI series 5-1. Four of those losses came under the captaincy of Markram, who was not considered for captaincy again for another five years.

Gulbadin Naib appointed Afghanistan’s captain ahead of 2019 World Cup

A month ahead of the ODI World Cup in 2019, Afghanistan sacked long-term skipper Asghar Afghan as captain and replaced him with Gulbadin Naib.

Gulbadin had been an ODI regular for Afghanistan, but the move was a bolt from the blue, considering Afghan had been leading the side regularly across formats since 2015.

Afghanistan also had a pretty good record with Afghan at the helm, winning 31/56 matches while registering wins against Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh. Under Afghan, Afghanistan had also tied the 2018 Asia Cup encounter against India.

But the board controversially sacked Afghan ahead of the 50-over World Cup and appointed Gulbadin skipper ahead of the likes of Mohammad Shahzad, Mohammad Nabi, Rahmah Shah, and Dawlat Zadran - all of whom were more experienced.

Gulbadin’s stint as skipper turned out to be a disaster: Afghanistan lost 10/12 matches under his leadership overall, and finished bottom of the 2019 World Cup table with zero wins.

MS Dhoni appointed India’s T20 skipper in 2007

A bit of a throwback, but 17 years ago, India’s decision to appoint MS Dhoni the skipper for the 2007 T20 World Cup was a pretty surprising one.

With seniors such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly rested, Yuvraj Singh, by far the most experienced player in the young T20 core, was expected to lead the side in South Africa. 

But the selectors went ahead with Dhoni as skipper, even though the wicketkeeper batter had played more than 100 fewer international games than all of Yuvraj, Virender Sehwag & Harbhajan Singh.

But as the famous saying goes, the rest is history. 17 years on, Dhoni is still the most successful captain in India’s history. 

Jason Holder appointed Windies’ Test skipper in 2015

When Jason Holder took over from Denesh Ramdin as Test captain in 2015, he was just starting to establish himself in red-ball cricket. 

At the time of being appointed skipper, Holder had played only eight Tests and had shown promise with the bat — scoring a century against England — while fairing decently with the ball, taking 16 wickets at an average of 35.0.

He was, however, ODI captain already, having led the team in 12 ODI games by then.

Only 23 at the time of taking over Test captaincy, Holder led some senior players such as Kraigg Brathwaite, Ramdin, Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo, Kemar Roach and Jerome Taylor.

He ended up leading the team for five more years, and under his captaincy, West Indies famously beat England 2-1 at home in 2019.

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