8 cricket captains who share traits with football managers

What the manager is in football, the captain is in cricket. Managers in their long overcoats, with their crazy touchline antics and bullying post-match press conferences, are paradoxical figures of much reverence and ridicule in modern football. Every tactic of theirs is put under the knife and analysed by fans and pundits during and after the game.If managers are the favourite whipping boys of modern football, it is the captain in cricket who is held accountable and admired or abused for every decision of his. The coach remains a peripheral figure often absent from the public eye in cricket and it is the captain who must make the decisions that matter in the field of play.For this article, we have chosen to compare great football managers with legendary cricket captains based on a variety of factors like physique, demeanour, tactics and success. Let us look at 8 cricket captains who share traits with football managers.

#8 Diego Maradona - Sachin Tendulkar (Legendary player, unsuccessful captain)

Great players, but not leaders

Diego Maradona and Sachin Tendulkar are legends in their own right who have reached the pinnacle thanks to their superhuman skill and prowess. But there is an obvious point of unhappy similarity between them -- despite their legendary status, both Maradona and Tendulkar have shown that they clearly lack man-management skills.

Tendulkar's short stints of captaincy were as disastrous as Maradona's tenure as head coach of the clubs and the country. Maradona had worked as a coach alongside Carlos Fren to lead Mandiyú of Corrientes (1994) and Racing Club (1995) but did not taste enough success. He was then appointed as the manager of Al Wasl FC, a Dubai-based club, in May 2011 only to be sacked in July 2012.

But his reign as the head coach of Argentina prior to this was more boisterous and ignominious to say the least. Maradona took over the reins of the Albicelestes in November 2008. He saw his team succumb to a 6-1 defeat to Bolivia, their worst ever defeat margin, leaving Argentina's hopes of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in serious jeopardy.

Argentina eventually did qualify after which Maradona courted controversy asking reporters to "S**k it and keep on s**king it' in a live post-match press conference. Argentina were comprehensively beaten 4-0 by Germany in the quarter-finals of the World Cup after which Maradona was sacked.

Similarly, Tendulkar never prospered as a captain and the burden of captaincy very often hindered him from playing freely. His most embarrassing moment as a captain came during the 1997 Test series when India collapsed for an unthinkable 81 while chasing a low target of 120 for victory.

Having been sacked ignominiously, he was re-appointed as the captain in 1999. His second stint was unimpressive as well and he recommended Ganguly's name for captaincy as he stepped down in 2000.

In his autobiography Playing it My Way, Tendulkar writes that he witnessed some of his darkest days during his captaincy and stopped enjoying his cricket. He also emphasizes on the fact that the selectors did not always give him the team he had wanted.

Interestingly, years later, he would step down from the Mumbai Indians captaincy after which the franchise went on to win both the IPL and Champions League T20 under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.

#7 Marcelo Bielsa - Brendon McCullum (Mad genius)

Both are adored by everyone for their style of play

Athletic Bilbao’s Iker Muniain was once asked by a Spanish Journalist, “Is Marcelo Bielsa as mad as he seems?” Muniain's reply is still remembered to this day: “No, he’s madder”. As a manager, Bielsa has enjoyed mixed success at his clubs, Atheltic Bilbao and Marseille, and the countries of Argentina and Chile.

But it is his impassionate fervour and dynamic methods, he attended cult status while managing the Chilean national team. Such was his popularity that when there were reports of Bielsa having already decided to leave after the FIFA World Cup 2010, the Chilean fans launched the "Bielsa is NOT leaving" campaign.

Legend has it that Bielsa had once drawn circles on his shoes to show his players how to kick the ball and had continued wearing those same shoes thereafter. He introduced his famous 3-3-3-1 formation which was a tactic that required a high intensity, fluid attacking and fast pressing.

Excited and impetuous at times, with his crazy touchline antics and staunch tactical acumen, there is not a single moment of dullness when Bielsa is around. As Pochettino said about the chances of Bielsa coming to the Premier League, “We will miss the special one, this is true, but maybe now we have El Loco, the crazy one."

Consider Bielsa's characteristics - impetuous, rash entertaining, loved - and immediately the name of the Kiwi cricket captain Brendon McCullum comes to the mind. You never know what to expect when McCullum is batting -- he can give the charge to the fastest of bowlers even when you least expect it.

As a captain, McCullum's greatest contribution has been to infuse some of this dynamism and hope into his team-mates. The Kiwis under McCullum have undoubtedly played a more aggressive brand of cricket that took them to their maiden World Cup final this year.

One to always wear his heart on the sleeves, McCullum too enjoys cult status among his fans and is universally loved for playing the game with a big heart.

#6 Jrgen Klopp - Sourav Ganguly (Passionate and expressive)

Both wear their heart on their sleeves

Speaking on their new manager, Liverpool player Lucas Leiva said, “He seems to be very passionate – he likes to put in everything that he has and he asks the players for the same. Be very intense, be aggressive with yourself, is what he has been saying."

Watching Klopp passionately barking his orders from the touchline or celebrating with gay abandon after his team scores automatically infuses an infectious optimism in the players. A man to always wear his heart on his sleeves, Klopp's claim to fame is having built a brilliant Dortmund team right from the scratches.

With his trademark high-tempo and passing, Klopp infuses his passion and energy in his teams. After he took over at Liverpool, he said that he was anxious to give them a new identity and make sure that they played 'memorable football'.

Identity is exactly what Sourav Ganguly gave to the Indian team as a captain. Taking over in the new millennium, Ganguly resurrected the team from the ashes of the match-fixing scandal and created a group of team out of talented youngsters that went on to dominate world cricket.

Under him, Team India reached the final of the 2003 World Cup and played some memorable cricket in Australia. It was under him that India learnt to win in overseas conditions, beating teams in their very own backyard.

Like Klopp, he had an infectious passion and optimism about him. Who else had the courage to keep the legendary Steve Waugh waiting at the toss? Who else could have shown his bare-bodied chest and waved the jersey in the air from the Lord's balcony?

#5 Arsene Wenger - Stephen Fleming (The Professor)

Both put plenty fo trust on young players

Tall, suave and serious, when Arsene Wenger first arrived at Arsenal, he exuded every bit of élan like that of a quintessential French intellectual. His air of suavity as much as his training methods soon earned him the sobriquet of 'The Professor' at the North London club.

Wenger, with a master's degree in Economics and his immense knowledge of the game, has brought his grey-haired sagacity and love for structure into Arsenal. With his innovative training methods, introduction of new dietary habits and nurturing of young talents, Wenger went on to build the team of the famous Arsenal invincibles in 2003-04.

But his greatest contribution has perhaps been bringing in his taste for French aesthetics into English football. Wenger says, "There is a famous saying, that the only way to deal with your life is to transform it into art, every minute of your life. Football is an art like dancing is an art – but only when it's well done does it become an art."

With his love for structured movements combined with sleek passing, Arsene Wenger taught Arsenal to play the beautiful game in an attractive fashion. That he could combine aesthetics with attacking football has made Arsenal such a great club under him.

With a tall physique and dignified air much like Wenger, Stephen Fleming was one of the finest ever captains who graced the game of cricket. Fleming was a born captain as he naturally took to the job beating the formidable Lankans under Ranatunga during his early days as a captain.

Putting a lot of hope on the younger players, Fleming built a brilliant Kiwi side that was able to beat England under Nasser Hussain in their own backyard and give West Indies a run for their money. He took the Kiwis to the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2007 after which he relinquished his captaincy.

As a batsman, Fleming was beautiful. As a captain, he commanded respect for the moral uprightness with which he played. His immense knowledge of the game made him a great coach as he teamed up with captain MS Dhoni to led the CSK to exemplary success in the IPL.

#4 Carlo Ancelotti - MS Dhoni (Cool headed)

The pair are similar in more ways than one

Calm and nonplussed under pressure, very few modern football managers are as respected as Carlo Ancelotti. It is his brilliant reading of the game that has made him taste success with all the clubs he has managed so far. Be it winning the league with Chelsea and PSG or the Champions League with AC Milan and Real Madrid, Ancelotti has made his results speak for himself.

One instance of his brilliant reading of the game and foresight was converting Pirlo, who was then an attacking midfielder, to a deep-lying playmaker behind Rui Costa. The move turned out to be a masterstroke as Pirlo went on to become one of the best registas in modern football.

MS Dhoni, known for his trademark cool temperament has also won virtually every trophy that a captain can have in his kitty. Be it the World Cup, ICC World T20, ICC Champions Trophy or the IPL, Dhoni as a captain has won everything.

And like Ancelotti, he has proved his brilliant foresight through his unconventional decisions. Be it throwing the ball to Joginder Sharma in the final of the ICC World T20 in 2007 or asking Uthappa to bowl in the bowl-out against Pakistan in the same tournament, Dhoni has proved that he reads the game brilliantly like no one does.

#3 Jose Mourinho - Ricky Ponting (Mind games)

Masters of the mind games

The true Machiavellian character in modern sport, Jose Mourinho is the master of mind games. The Special One is himself candid about it as he once confessed, 'Everything I say and do are mind games. The only thing that is not mind games are the results.'

With his continuous veiled jibes at the referees and other rival managers, Mourinho has turned mind games into an art as he loves to create a sense of positive tension around him which is necessary for him to thrive. He has repeatedly asserted that there is a 'clear campaign' against his club to deliberately put referees under pressure to give decisions for him.

His continuous run-ins with Wenger including the famous touchline bust up and a press conference where Mourinho called Wenger 'a specialist in failure' are great examples of the controversial atmosphere willingly created by Mourinho to succeed.

Like Mourinho, mind games and sledging were a potent weapon of Ricky Ponting as a captain. Though a great captain who brought endless glory to Australian cricket, the end rather than the means were more important to Ponting as he could stoop to any level to win.

He had repeatedly attacked the England batsmen with words to demoralise them ahead of any Ashes series. Speaking ahead of Jonathon Trott's debut in the Ashes, Ponting said, "It's always hard making your debut in a Test match against an Australian team, let alone in such a big game. We've had a good chance to have a look at films of the way he plays and we've spoken to a few of the Australian guys around the county circuit about him as well.”

On another occasion, he chose to attack the entire English batting line-up before even they arrived in Australia. "Kevin Pietersen is a big question mark for them at the moment," said Ponting.

"Alastair Cook is just holding on to his spot by the skin of his teeth and Paul Collingwood has probably not had the best Test summer of his life either. So there is enough happening around there to know they will be a little nervous when they arrive in Australia."

#2 Pep Guardiola - Mark Taylor (Tactician)

Both were renowned for their tactical ingenuity

Modern football has undoubtedly seen some of the best managers but no one perhaps is as shrewd a tactician as Pep Guardiola. Emphasizing on pressing, passing and possession, Guardiola built a new Barcelona team the blueprint of which was later exploited to great success even by the Spanish national team.

Known for tactical astuteness, Guardiola is never afraid to experiment with his formations to the length that some of them seem outright crazy at times. For instance, he had the temerity to go in with a 3-man defence man-marking Barcelona's strikers in the semi-final of the Champions League at Camp Nou last season.

And talking of tactical astuteness, who else can be a better cricket captain than Mark Taylor? Known for his adventurous and effective captaincy, Taylor was unafraid of trying new things often to devastating effects. Like Guardiola, he was not interested in mind games or sledging and only concentrated on pure tactics.

Taylor had prolific man-management skills and always played to win. He was the skipper who in a way created the prolific Australian Test team the benefits of which was later reaped by Waugh and Ponting. And if Guardiola had his Messi, Taylor always had his Slater to fall back upon.

#1 Sir Alex Ferguson - Sir Clive Lloyd (The Ultimate Master)

Lloyd and Ferguson transformed the fortunes of their side

"At the end of this game, the European Cup will be only six feet away from you, and you’ll not even able to touch it if we lose. And for many of you, that will be the closest you will ever get. Don’t you dare come back in here without giving your all.”

That was Sir Alex Ferguson's famous pep talk delivered to his players while they were trailing to Bayern Munich in the final of the Champions League in 1999. And the players responded brilliantly scoring two goals in injury time to give United their first treble under Ferguson.

Ferguson's response was one of disbelief; 'Football, bloody hell!' were, of course, his famous words after the match. 'The greatest ever manager' in the words of Manchester United legend Matt Busby, Ferguson established a long reign at Old Trafford during which he brought exemplary and unparalleled success to the club.

If Ferguson is responsible for turning Manchester United into the giants of modern English football, Sir Clive Lloyd was perhaps the greatest ever captain who saw West Indies rise to the pinnacle of Test cricket in the 70s. For almost a decade, the Windies under Llyod were the most feared and unbeatable team in the world.

If Ferguson had his hair-dryer, Llyod had the power of his monstrous bat which could bludgeon oppositions into silence. If Ferguson had his Class of 92 comprising the genius of Scholes and Giggs, Llyod had the best opening batsmen in Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge. And if Ferguson had the best players in Beckham and Ronaldo, Lloyd, of course, had a certain Viv Richards.

Rampaging winners and fast, counter-attacking wingers were Ferguson's trump card. Llyod quickly understood that he had the most feared fast bowlers in the world and decided to break away from the two spinners plus two pacers tactic that was popular in the 70s to go in with an all-out pace attack.

Sir Garry Sobers has rued over the fact that the West Indies will never be the same again. “In the 1970s and 1980s and into the 1990s, West Indies were champions and had the best players in the world. I don’t think you’ll see that again in the history of cricket,” Sir Garry said.

Manchester United have also continued to struggle ever since the departure of Six Alex Ferguson and one wonders if, for them, things will ever be the same again.