5 Cricketers who happened to captain their Idols in a cricket match

Every sportsperson when growing up has a sporting Idol on whom they pattern their play. A good example is Virat Kohli who grew up idolizing Sachin Tendulkar and his crazy run making feats, Virat Kohli has gone on to emulate the tall run scoring feats of the master blaster. While many are fortunate enough to play with their cricketing Idols, very few get to actually captain them in a cricket match. In the following list we look at five such cricketers who were fortunate enough to marshal the troops of the team which also included their cricketing idols.

David Warner – Virender Sehwag

The Australian pocked rocket has been one of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket for the last decade and has been taking away the game from the opposition with his ability to take the attack to the opposition with his batting. He has openly spoken his admiration for former Indian opener Virender Sehwag who had the same cavalier attitude towards batting. David Warner had infact confessed that it was Sehwag who told Warner to back himself as a test batsman , as Sehwag saw a bright future in Warner. The left handed Australian got a chance to captain Sehwag during the 2012 edition of the IPL when both of them were playing for the then Delhi Daredevils.

Angelo Mathews – Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara is a living legend in Sri Lanka for his exploits with the bat and behind the stumps. He embodies Sri Lankan cricket, and for nearly a decade and half he along with Jayawardene were the match winners the Sri Lankan fans looked up to. Angelo Mathews has time and again spoken about his admiration for the former Lankan great Sangakkara. During the tour of England in 2014, Mathews got the chance to captain Sangakkara in history making series win in England. Mathews during the course of Sri Lanka career has picked a lot of tips from the greatest player Sri Lanka every produced Kumar Sangakkara.

MS Dhoni – Sachin Tendulkar

As a kid growing up, MS Dhoni had idolized the prodigious talents of the great Sachin Tendulkar and in fact even in his Bio-Pic there is a scene of a young MS Dhoni craving for a poster of Sachin Tendulkar. Years later when MS Dhoni became a India regular and was elevated to the post of the prestigious post of the Indian captaincy he got the honor of captaining his childhood idol for a few years and infact also won the world cup with him in 2011.

Rohit Sharma – Sachin Tendulkar

There is no denying that 90’s kids adored Sachin Tendulkar like Demi-god and craved to walk the same ground as their Idol. Rohit Sharma too was one of the biggest admirers of the Indian master batsman. In 2013 when Rohit became the captain of a struggling Mumbai Indians he was able to guide it to its first IPL title and give the legend a proper send off with an IPL win in his last season.

Ravichandran Ashwin- Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik was one of the biggest names to come out of Tamil Nadu cricket for a long time, infact during a cricket chat show Ashwin had confessed about his admiration and fan boy moment with Dinesh Karthik. Ravi Ashwin though got a chance to captain his idol during a domestic one day tournament called the Vijay Hazare Trophy during the 2015/16 season. It must have been quiet a moment for Ashwin to have his idol behind the stumps when he became the captain of Tamil Nadu cricket team.