Top 5 unusual picks as skipper that turned out to be a success

#4 Shoaib Malik

Malik faced stiff opposition as skipper but ended with a reasonably good win rate

From the time a young Malik turned the ball a mile in the Lomard U-15 World Cup in England, he was earmarked as an off-spinner to wear the senior national colors at some stage. As he developed over the years, he added batting to his repertoire of cricketing skills. Slowly but surely, he mutated into a batting all-rounder for Pakistan and was being sent up the batting order. Despite mixed outings with the bat, Malik did just about enough every time and eventually caught the late Bob Woolmer’s attention with his acumen for the game.

When handed the captaincy, Malik was faced with innumerable challenges. That said, in the 36 ODI’s that he led, Pakistani registered 24 wins to give him a formidable win rate of 66%.