2011 WC - The captains

When Mahendra Singh Dhoni opened the bowling with a spinner in his first Test as captain in 2008, the message was clear -- he would not be a prisoner to convention.

The 2011 World Cup will provide a last tilt at one-day glory for Graeme Smith in his role as South African captain.

Canada's Indian-born skipper Ashish Bagai goes into the World Cup leading a youthful side but with plenty of personal experience on the international scene.

Netherlands skipper Peter Borren, who started his cricket career in his native New Zealand, leads the Dutch into their fourth World Cup campaign.

For a man who has known no other passion than to play cricket, Jimmy Kamande's rise to the Kenyan captaincy has not been all smooth sailing.

Egos to the left of him, record-setters to the right: Darren Sammy, unheralded captain of the West Indies, faces mission impossible at the World Cup.

Sri Lanka cannot ask for more of Kumar Sangakkara who performs a triple role - stylish batsman, safe wicket-keeper and shrewd captain.

If Saddam Hossain had not intervened, Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh's World Cup captain and leading all-rounder, may have been lost to football.