Every cricketer's dream is to lead their nation at least once in their career. But, only a few are given this opportunity for this massive feat. Many of them make them memorable, but unfortunately, some of them do not deliver it up to par. In many cases, an experienced player is given this role to lead the team as he has played for a good amount of time. However, there have been some instances when some players were given this opportunity at a very young age. In this article, we are going to look at top cricketers who lead their nation at a young age.
1. Waqar Younis – 21y 354d
Waqar Younis was one of the greatest swing bowlers of his time. Waqar played 262 ODIs for Pakistan between 1989 and 2003. Waqar led the team Pakistan at the age of 21 years and 354 days, against West Indies. However, luck was not on their side and Waqar lost his first match as a captain.
2. Kane Williamson – 21y 332d
Kane Williamson is one of the finest batsmen from New Zealand. Kane is also a very great captain, as he led Team New Zealand to win their first World Test Championship Trophy. Kane has won many matches because of his great captaincy skills and amazing batting techniques. Kane started his captaincy against West Indies on 5 July 2012. Kane did not perform very well in this match and was on the losing side in this game.
3. Sandeep Lamichhane – 21y 226d
Sandeep Lamichhane is a left-arm spinner who plays for Nepal. Sandeep is also the first player to play in IPL and CPL from his nation. Sandeep was allowed to lead team Nepal against Papua New Guinea on March 16, 2022. Sandeep bagged one wicket in this game and Nepal also won this game.
4. Prosper Utseya – 21y 125d
Prosper Utseya is a Zimbabwean bowler who played between 2004 and 2015. Utseya made his ODI debut at the age of 19 against Sri Lanka. Utseya took more than 100 wickets in his career. Utseya was leading Zimbabwe for the first time at the age of 21 years against Bangladesh. Utseya bowled well in this game as he gave just 34 runs in 10 overs. Zimbabwe was victorious in this game.
5. Vriitya Aravind – 21y 21d
Vriitya Aravind is a wicket-keeper batsman who has played 55 ODIs for the United Arab Emirates. Vriitya is also the youngest captain for UAE in ODIs. Vriitya was appointed as captain against Nepal. This match did not go too well for him as he scored 44 runs and was on the losing side.
6. Tatenda Taibu – 20y 342d
Tatenda Taibu is a former Zimbabwean wicket-keeper batsman who played from 2001 to 2012. Tatenda was appointed captain of the team after the resignation of Heath Streak. Taibu captained first time Zimbabwe in ODIs against Sri Lanka, where he also won the Man of the Match award. Taibu scored 96* in this game but unfortunately, luck was not on his side and Sri Lanka won this match by DLS.
7. Anshuman Rath – 20y 315d
Anshuman Rath is a wicket-keeper batsman from Hong Kong who has been playing since 2014 for his nation. Rath was captaining for the first time in ODI against Pakistan on December 16, 2018. This game was one-sided the whole time and Hong Kong lost the match. Rath made 19 runs in this game.
8. Rajin Saleh – 20y 297d
Rajin Saleh is a former Bangladeshi batter who played for the nation from 2003 to 2008. Despite his short cricket career, Saleh was allowed to captain the nation at a very young age. Saleh captained against South Africa was the first time in ODIs, and the team was destroyed by Pretoria’s. Saleh went for a duck and Bangladesh collapsed at 93 runs.
9. Rohit Paudel – 20y 73d
Rohit Paudel is an all-rounder who has played for Nepal since 2018. Paudel has played over 50 matches in ODIs and scored more than 1000 runs. Paudel was given the captaincy in ODIs against UAE in 2022. This game was like a nightmare for Paudel. First, he got out at a score of 1, and second, Nepal failed to chase the target as the UAE bowlers kept breaking them.
10. Rashid Khan – 19y 165d
Rashid Khan is probably one of the best leg spinners of this generation. Belonging from a very poor nation, Rashid made his name in international games with his extraordinary bowling. Rashid was leading team Afghanistan against Scotland in a World Cup Qualifier match and took a wicket in the game. However, Rashid lost his first match as a captain.
