Captain Wars: Imran Khan Edges Past Virat Kohli as the Best captain in ICC Poll
The poll included four legends Team India skipper Virat Kohli, former South African captain AB de Villiers, current Australian women’s captain Meg Lanning and former Pakistan cricket legend and present Prime Minister Imran Khan.
- Trending Desk
- Updated: January 14, 2021, 9:23 AM IST

The International Cricket Council (ICC) ran a poll to decide the best player who has also improved the individual performance after taking leadership/captain role of the respective teams. The poll was part of the world’s governing body for cricket’s pace-setters segment in modern-day cricket.
The poll included four legends Team India skipper Virat Kohli, former South African captain AB de Villiers, current Australian women’s captain Meg Lanning and former Pakistan cricket legend and present Prime Minister Imran Khan. ICC took to the microblogging site to conduct the poll in which the former Pakistani legend edged past Kohli by a whisker, reminiscing of the rivalry courted by the two Asian countries.
See the tweet here:
Lastly, Imran Khan, one of Pakistan’s greatest and leader of the 1992 @cricketworldcup triumph 🌟 pic.twitter.com/LyrZiybD4y
— ICC (@ICC) January 12, 2021
Who would you rate as the best among these giants?
— ICC (@ICC) January 12, 2021
As fans were asked to choose among the four legends of the game, the poll drew a total of 536,346 votes. The poll results were a close call as Imran garnered 47.3 percent votes, while Kohli finished with 46.2 percent. Former Protean skipper managed to get just 6 percent, while Lanning, unfortunately, registered just 0.5 percent of the votes.
Kohli and Imran’s votes were almost in a neck and neck contest. Even their captaincy record stands out with remarkable stats. Kohli’s batting averages stood at 52.29 in the limited-overs format when he is not the captain and a stupendous 73.88 per cent as the Indian captain.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan, who led Pakistan to world cup glory in 1992, averaged 25.43 with the bat and 25.53 with the ball in Test cricket. However, his batting average shot up to 52.34, while his average with the ball improved to 20.26 in games when he led as a captain.
De Villiers averages 45.97 when not leading the Proteas side, his batting average improved as he registered 63.94 as a captain.
Meg Lanning, Australia’s multiple world cup winning player, averages at 43.87 when not helming duties of a captain but averages at 60.93 when she is in charge.
Team Rankings
Rank | Team | Points | Rating |
---|---|---|---|
1 | England | 6877 | 275 |
2 | Australia | 6800 | 272 |
3 | India | 10186 | 268 |
4 | Pakistan | 7516 | 259 |
5 | South Africa | 5047 | 252 |
FULL Ranking |