Top 10 youngest cricket captains in history
Leadership is often related with age either in normal life campaigns or during sports ventures. The most experienced person in a group is often considered to be the wiser thus given the duties of leading the whole crew. As experience is directly related to age usually most senior team player, in case of sports, gets the honor of being the skipper. The rule almost applies mutatis mutandis in cricket as well, with most experienced player nominated to be the captain of a side. However in this particular case, experience is not the only criterion to get picked as a leader. Team management also looks for some special attributes specifically related to the leaders for selecting a team captain.
Similarly being aged is not a guarantee for a player to get his appointment as a team skipper. In fact history has witness a lot of youngest cricket captains justifying their roles way better than the veteran ones. Some cricket players are born leaders irrespective of the time span they have been in the field they perform exceptionally well when handed over with the leadership job. On other hand some cricketers are gifted with the sharp learning abilities, quickly adopting the skills mandatory to be a successful cricket captain. David Warner is the perfect example of players with inborn abilities of leadership. His performance in IPL this year both as a batsman and as the skipper of Sunrisers Hyderabad led the side to their first ever trophy. Similarly, Steven Smith one of the best yet youngest cricket captains in history to lead a side full of world class leaders is the illustration of a quick learner. Australian cricket team is full of players having the leading abilities as well as the experience of leadership. However, regardless of the age and experience of Steve Smith, he was given the opportunity to lead one of the most reputed cricket teams.
Moving back to the youngest cricket captains in test match history, Zimbabwean player Tatenda Taibu holds the honor of being the youngest test captain. One of the best wicketkeeper batsman the side ever had, was crowned to be the youngest test captain in history when he led his side against Sri Lanka. Though his captaincy interval as well as the career span did not last too much long. Some other fine examples of youngest cricket captains are Waqar Younis and the South African leading light Graeme Smith, both of them fabulous individually as well as in their respective team leaders.
Top 10 youngest cricket captains in Test history
| Player | Age | Team | Opposition | Ground | Date |
| T Taibu | 20y 358d | Zimbabwe | Sri Lanka | Harare | 6 May 2004 |
| Nawab of Pataudi | 21y 77d | India | West Indies | Bridgetown | 23 Mar 1962 |
| Waqar Younis | 22y 15d | Pakistan | Zimbabwe | Karachi | 1 Dec 1993 |
| GC Smith | 22y 82d | South Africa | Bangladesh | Chittagong | 24 Apr 2003 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | 22y 115d | Bangladesh | West Indies | St George’s | 17 Jul 2009 |
| ID Craig | 22y 194d | Australia | South Africa | Johannesburg | 23 Dec 1957 |
| Javed Miandad | 22y 260d | Pakistan | Australia | Karachi | 27 Feb 1980 |
| M Bisset | 22y 306d | South Africa | England | Johannesburg | 14 Feb 1899 |
| Mohammad Ashraful | 22y 353d | Bangladesh | Sri Lanka | Colombo (SSC) | 25 Jun 2007 |
| MP Bowden | 23y 144d | England | South Africa | Cape Town | 25 Mar 1889 |
Top 10 youngest cricket captains in history
- T Taibu
- Nawab of Pataudi
- Waqar Younis
- GC Smith
- Shakib Al Hasan
- ID Craig
- Javed Miandad
- M Bisset
- Mohammad Ashraful
- MP Bowden
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