Test captaincy is a huge honour for any cricketer. While players might get a chance to captain in the white-ball formats, the red-ball format is elite in this regard. Unless the player has been a part of the setup for a while, it is unlikely that the other cricketers get this chance. Interestingly, this huge responsibility has sometimes been given to players who were not even born in that country. Of course, these cricketers would have done the hard job climbing through the ranks in their current nations. On that note, here, we take a look at the list of two current Test captains who were not born in the country they are captaining.
1) Ben Stokes (England) – New Zealand
The most popular name on this list is, of course, Ben Stokes. England has seen plenty of cricketers come from different parts of the world. Eoin Morgan, one of the greatest captains of England, was actually born in Dublin, Ireland. In fact, Morgan played for Ireland initially.
In Stokes’ case, he hails from New Zealand. That said, when it comes to Test captaincy, he is one of the best that England has seen. Stokes is a top cricketer and still has a few more years to give to his country.
2) Shan Masood (Pakistan) – Kuwait
Shan Masood is a part of this list of current Test captains who were not born in the country they are captaining. After Babar Azam stepped down from the role, it was Shan Masood who took over the mantle. Shan was born in Kuwait and was also educated in the United Kingdom.
Test captaincy requires technical proficiency and top-class temperament. Shan has shown this in the past. This is one of the main reasons why he was picked. However, it would be a massive challenge for him. It needs to be seen how he would perform.
