How to be a great cricket captain?

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In This article let’s take a look at how to be a good or great cricket captain like what are the steps you need to follow to perform good as a cricket captain and lead from the front.

This is the most comprehensive article you can find online on this topic so I would recommend you to bookmark and share the article.

So without any delay let’s dive right in.

How to be a good, great cricket captain

If you want to be a good captain of cricket then you obviously have to work on your communication skills and be a good listener, appreciate the individual performance of the players and you also have to give good individual performances and scores

like a century as a batsman captain so that you can get that respect and power as a captain of the team and you also have to give you 100% effort before you expect 100% effort from your team members on the field basically you need to walk the talk and lead the team from the front as a good captain.

So there are many more things you need to do which we will look at in this article in detal.

  1. Know the rules & get knowledge first

As a cricket captain you are going to be the head of the team playing outside in the stadium and you are going to lead the team from the front so you obviously have to get the knowledge of rules and other important information about cricket.

Example everybody knows that there are three formats of the cricket which are test ODI and T20 and obviously different kind of players and skillsets are required to play different formats of the game, and if you want to be a good cricket captain you also obviously

need to have a good knowledge of the cricket pitch and also about the rules of LBW, You also need to have the good knowledge of the field positions of the cricket, you also need to have the knowledge of no balls because you are going to be the person who is going to set the field apart from the bowler and the wicket keeper For example in power play of T20 cricket which is first 6 overs of the game,

not more than two fields are allowed at the boundary line and if you by mistake place more than two fielders at the boundary circle then obviously it can lead to no ball and that can definitely harm the team by getting unnecessary runs which can be avoided.

These are some important rules and knowledge you need to gather if you want to be a good captain as you should be avoiding all these silly mistakes of cricket.

2. Don’t just talk the talk, walk the talk

This is another important step you need to follow if you want to be a great cricket captain like those of MS Dhoni or Ricky pointing or Virat Kohli or any other captain we have seen in the past they all follow this thing that you not just have to just talk the rock but you also have to walk the talk and lead the team from the front.

What I mean by this is that even though you are a cricket captain but you are still one of the 11 players of the team and whether you are a Batman or all rounder or bowler, if you want to be a good cricket captain then you have to lead the team from the front by performing good individually.

For example if you are a batsman and captain then you obviously need to score good runs like 50s and 100s as opening and middle order batsman in crucial

moments of time and you also need to get team to respectable total to earn respect from your players and this is what I mean when I say walk the talk.

And if you are a bowler then obviously you need to take wickets of the opposition players or you need to not leak many runs or don’t bowl many loose deliveries that can harm the team, and if you are a fielder or wicket keeper then you obviously need to give you 100% and save the runs of do run outs and also catch amazing catches in the field.

Basically you need to perform good and give you 100% individually to earn respect as a head of the team because respect and power is something that you not get by Just becoming the captain of the team but you need to earn it from the players by your individual performances.

Whether you are batting or bowling or feeling in the ground you need to give your 100% effort as individual player before you expect such effort and performance from other players of the team and when you give your 100% It can lead to example and motivate your fellow team members to perform good.

This is very important step you need to follow if you want to be a great cricket captain.

3. Show confidence and let them know you are the leader

Another important thing you need to do is to show confidence to fellow members of your team & let them know that you are the leader and captain of the team and you can do this by following the steps I mentioned below.

  • You obviously have to improve your leadership skills and especially communication and interpersonal skills, in order to do that you can check out & read this amazing book of how to win friends and influence people to improve your communication skills better.
  • You have to keep on eye contact when you are talking with your fellow members of the team because this will let the opposite person know that you are confident and leader of the team when you keep the eye contact for long period when you are speaking to individual people
  • You also have to have a good open body and your body language also communicates a lot of things about your mindset and if you have a open body language then people will be more interested to speak with you as a leader because having a good and clear communication between your team members is very important if you want to be a good captain
  • You also have to address some of the important issues of your team that hold the performance of the team like fitness of the players or giving their 100% effort on the team irrespective of the result like scoring the runs and centuries or as a bowler taking the wickets or not leaking many runs or as a fielder saving runs and doing run outs or catching balls and it’s all about giving 100% for the team
  • You also have to be able to speak loudly and clearly without any mumble, You also have to speak slow and in a loud voice so that other people can easily understand your message, don’t try to hurry and speak fast as it can lead to low self-confidence or It may not properly convey the message to other people of the team
  • It is not all about just talking as a head of team but you also need to be an effective listener & be open to the feedback that is constructive and good for the team and you should also see advice and feedback or suggestions from people like coaches of the team and of the players as well so that individual people and players know that they are getting respected and valued in the team
  • Whenever some player performs good in the team like he scores the century as a batsman or takes five wicket hall in a test match as a bowler then as a captain of the team you need to appreciate the individual effort and reward the player with something and you should also do it in front of other players of the time so that it creates a good competition among the players to perform good for the team and they will also get happiness when they get recognition, appreciation for their effort
  • You should also have a good relationship with individual players not just in front of the team but also in private, there are many players like juniors who recently joined the team, who may not be very open to share some secrets and stories or things, who hesitated to share some information in public in front of team so you also need and be open to such private stories, conversations of players in rooms because there are many junior players who hesitate to talk about some things that they face in the team that can affect their performance
  • You also have to learn how to motivate and inspire the fellow members of your team before and during the match so that they can perform good and give their 100% effort on the ground and as a captain of the team you also have to defend your members against public, press and you sometimes have to stand up for your team members if they are facing criticism for their performance or actions on the ground like you should not necessarily justify the action or anything like that but you should be there to support them and give them some guidance and things like that which are very important for individual players in tough times

These are some important things you need to do if you want to be an effective cricket captain.

4. Be cool and handle pressure 

And the next thing you need to do is to be cool, stay calm like MS Dhoni or Kane Williamson and also learn how to handle the pressures effectively.

As an individual player you can try things like meditation and mindfulness to maintain your calm and coolness both on and off the field and when anyone of the player in the team does not perform good or for example

a fielder misfield and leak some runs in the field then instead of getting angry and frustrated over the fielder for not saving the run you could instead speak to that player personally after the end of over and inspire him or you could change the fielder in that position and place a better fielder and after end of the match you also have to address such issues of fielding

and fitness in your group discussions and team meetings so that there can be some improvement in players, You need to set high standards of performance so that other players of the team match to the standards and also take you seriously.

Apart from this cricket is one such game where anything can happen at any time especially in T20 cricket, every single ball and every single over can be very crucial because you can either take a wicket or score runs in the overs and change the result of the match like victory or defeat so obviously you need

 to come up with a strategy and tactic to take the wickets of the opposition players by analysing their strengths and weaknesses in the board meeting but when you are on the field and playing the match you also be have to be very flexible and adapt to changing situations because there are external factors that affect the game like dew and pitch condition and you also need to be able to take quick

 decisions or you need to change your strategy and adapt a new one or get advice from your head coach during breaks so you not just have to be cool and calm, but you also need to be open to feedback and adapt to changing situations of the game, You need to take decisions quickly and fast.

And you also approach your bowler if they are not bowling good against the player and ask them to change their line in length or advise him in better field setting and help the fielders, bowlers.

5. Think and act for the betterment of the team, stay accountable, responsible for decisions

As the captain of the team, You are the person who is going to take all the decisions whether it is of dropping any player in the team or adding any players, You are the person who is going to decide the field set on the ground and you are the person who is going to decide the batting order and other things and

 you also have to go to the toss before the match begins so basically you are going to represent the 11 members of the team and basically your country on a global stage if you are playing in international cricket so you need to be very professional person as a player and this comes by respecting other players

and captains of the team, by having a good shake hand with other captain, by projecting yourself professionally and talking respectfully with others especially with press and journalists, in cheering the crowd and these are some things you need to do as a captain.

Apart from this because you are the head of the team so you always have to think of how you can take actions and do something that will improve the team and try to take the performance of the team to the next level so every

action audition you take must be for the betterment of the team whether it is off dropping a player as I mentioned earlier and when you drop any player who is not performing good then you will have to address that to the player so that he can work on his game and come back with better performance and you also have to set high standards in the team in terms of fitness and performance.

And when any good player is having a tough time like he’s not scoring many runs or not taking many wickets as a cricket player then you also have to back him and support for him against the public and journalists so that he can get confidence and give him some

mental support, some feedback upon his performance, and as I mentioned earlier cricket is again where things can happen at any time and whatever the strategy you come up before the match might not be very helpful so you need to change your strategies and take decisions very quickly on the ground and

sometimes the decisions might end up wrong but still as the captain who has taken the decision and final call you need to stay responsible and accountable of your decisions and actions.

These are some things you need to do if you want to be a good person and especially a great captain in the team.

With that said let’s conclude the article.

Conclusion

These are all the things you need to know if you want to be a great cricket captain.

Do let me know what are your thoughts about captaining a cricket team in the comment section below and also share the article and subscribe to my blog to receive notifications as whenever I publish a new article in future.