Test Cricket has been the toughest format of the game of Cricket. It brings lots of passion and dedication along with lots of patience, skills, and techniques required to become the best in this format. The Test captains always have added pressure of leadership because every moment of captaincy can be tested in this red-ball cricket format.
We have seen that most of the cricket captains are either batsmen or wicket-keepers but some bowlers did a great job as captains. They led their team brilliantly, led from the front, and won many Test matches and captaincy also took them to places.
In this article, we are going to identify the five best bowling figures by captains in Test cricket.
5. Courtney Walsh (West Indies) – 7/37 vs New Zealand (Basin Reserve, 1995)
Courtney Walsh is one of the most impactful pacers in cricket history. He has a wonderful Test record on his name as the right-handed pace bowler picked 519 wickets in his Test career. He led the West Indies in a total of 22 Test matches where he picked a total of 85 wickets in his captaincy period.
West Indies played a two-match Test series at New Zealand in 1995. In the second Test, the West Indies captain opted to bat after winning the toss and posted a huge total of 660/5. Adams, Lara, and Murray scored a hundred in the first inning. In the second inning, Walsh picked 7 wickets by conceding just 37 runs and forced the follow-on to the hosts. The Windies skipper bowled 7 maiden overs out of 20 in that inning with the very least economy rate of 1.81.
In the third inning again, Walsh picked 6 wickets for just 18 runs and became the man of the match as West Indies won the match by an innings and 322 runs.
4. Kapil Dev (India) – 8/106 vs Australia (Adelaide Oval, 1985)
Kapil Dev was the first Indian Captain who won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 1983. He is one of the legendary cricketers India have ever produced. He has 434 Test wickets to his name in just 131 Test Matches for India. He led the Indian Test team in 34 matches where he picked 111 Test wickets.
In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1985, India and Australia played their first Test match at Adelaide. Australian captain opted to bat first after winning the toss and posted a total of 381 runs in the first inning. For India, Kapil Dev was the alone performer as Indian Captain picked as many as 8 wickets by conceding 106 runs in total 36 overs. He bowled six maiden overs in this inning and picked wickets of four out of the top five Australian batsmen.
However, India batted brilliantly in the second inning with a total of 520 runs as the Test match ended in a draw. Kapil Dev won the man of the match for his brilliance at Adelaide.
3. Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka) – 8/63 vs Zimbabwe (Harare Sports Club, 2016)
Since the retirement of legendary Sri Lankan spinner Muralitharan, Rangana Herath had been Sri Lanka’s main bowler. He performed in Asia as well as overseas and won many games for Sri Lanka. The left-arm spinner picked 433 wickets in his Test career for Sri Lanka. However, he got the opportunity to lead Sri Lanka in 5 Test matches where he picked 36 wickets.
Sri Lanka visited Zimbabwe for a two-match Test series in 2016, under the leadership of Rangana Herath. During the second Test match at Harare, Zimbabwe opted to bowl first after winning the toss against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka posted a marvelous total of 504 runs in the first inning as de Silva and Gunaratne scored a brilliant hundred after early wickets. In the second Inning, Zimbabwe scored 272 runs as skipper Herath picked 5 wickets.
But in the fourth inning, Herath showed his brilliance and picked 8 wickets by conceding 63 runs. It was Herath’s best performance as a captain in Test cricket as Sri Lanka won the Test match by a big margin of 257 runs.
2. Imran Khan (Pakistan) – 8/60 vs India (Karachi, 1982)
Imran Khan is one of the legendary captains of all-time in the history of cricket. He led Pakistan in 48 Test matches where he picked 187 Test wickets. He has a total of 362 Test wickets on his name for Pakistan.
Imran Khan has the second-best Test figure in this list of best Test captains. India played a six-match Test series against Pakistan in 1982. During the second Test match at Karachi, Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl first. India got all-out on 169 runs in the first inning where Imran Khan picked 3 wickets. Pakistan played brilliantly in the second innings and posted a huge total of 452 runs.
The real magic of Imran Khan came in the third inning where he picked 8 wickets by giving 60 runs and won the match for Pakistan. Pakistan defeated India by an innings and 68 runs as Imran Khan won the man of the match award.
1. Kapil Dev (India) – 9/83 vs West Indies (Narendra Modi Stadium, 1983)
Kapil Dev is the only captain who featured in this list twice. He holds the best bowling figure as a Captain in Test cricket.
In 1983, West Indies played a six-match Test series against India. In the third match at Ahmedabad, West Indies batted first and scored 281 runs. India also batted brilliantly as they scored 240 runs. During the third inning, Kapil Dev showed his brilliance as he picked career-best 9 wickets by conceding just 83 runs. He bowled 6 maiden overs in 30 overs with an economy rate of just under 3.
However, India got all-out in the fourth inning on 103 and West Indies won the Test match by 138 runs.
