The Hindu : "Of captains & leadership"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 04, 2003

Sport

Sport - World Cup

"Of captains & leadership"

The captains are not exactly leading from the front in the 2003 World Cup. Though Ganguly is on a high after the team reached the Super Six, his own contribution has been minimal. Barring his century against minnows Namibia, Ganguly is yet to strike it rich against big sides and carve out a win with his willow.

The same run without luck had caught England captain Nasser Hussain, who under tremendous pressure, was castled by Andrew Bichel on Sunday after failing to deliver against India too. The hosts Proteas themselves would bear this out. Their skipper Shaun Pollock is facing criticism for unimaginative captaincy. Nor has he had any inspiring or match-winning spell so far.

Keeping good company to Hussain and Pollock is the beleaguered Pakistan captain Waqar Younis. Barring a stray good spell, he too has not been able to do the star turn for his side. Even Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting has had only one good half-century knock to his credit when he turned the match against Pakistan around with Andrew Symonds.

Zimbabwe has also not had any stroke of genius from Heath Streak. In fact, their captain is believed to be facing difficulty in keeping the side together. But come to think of it, the captains of two of the minnows Deon Kotze of Namibia and Netherland's Roland Lefebvre are doing a decent job. But they are under no pressure, not being in the race for the super six phase.

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