A leader par excellence, Fleming is widely hailed as one of the best modern skippers of recent times. A sound strategist with tactical nous, Fleming led a small collection of players into a group who could punch above their weight in the international arena.

Fleming is the most capped Test player in New Zealand history with as many as 111 Tests under his belt and is the only Kiwi player to have scored more then 7000 runs in Test cricket. Fleming marked an eye-catching debut against India in Hamilton in 1994 and was unlucky to miss out on a debut century. He continued to be a consistent batsman but struggled to convert his fifties into hundreds. The first Test century finally arrived when he cracked 128 against England in Auckland in 1997.

1998 turned out to be a prolific year for Fleming as he scored 474 runs at 52. A county stint at Middlesex helped Fleming in 2001 and his breakthrough performance was a fine 134 that helped New Zealand shock hosts South Africa in a preliminary match of the 2003 WC. In his first Test after the WC, Fleming returned with scores of 274* & 69* against Sri Lanka at Colombo in April 2003 and ended the year with a fine 192 against Pakistan at Hamilton.

When Fleming reached 81 against Bangladesh at Chittagong, Fleming went past Martin Crowe’s tally of 5444 runs to become the highest run getter for New Zealand in Test cricket. He also went past Sir Richard Hadlee’s tally of 86 Tests and enjoyed a memorable 150th Test innings with a knock of 202 runs, his 2nd double century.

Fleming’s best moment was obviously the 2-1 series victory over England in 1999 and then drew a 3-match Test series against Steve Waugh’s Australia in 2001-02.

Fleming played his 100th Test for New Zealand against South Africa at Centurion, but had a disappointing outing both as a batsman and as a leader. He made amends in the next Test at Cape Town as he amassed 262. Fleming ended his international career after suffering a series defeat at the hands of England in 2008.

Fleming was a part of the New Zealand squad for 4 World Cup’s and led his team in 3 of those. He took the tiny island nation to 2 semi-finals besides winning the inaugural Champion’s Trophy held in Kenya in 2000. His ODI career came to an end after leading New Zealand to a semi-final finish in the 2007 WC.

Stephen Fleming was lured into the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League in 2008 where he represented the Chennai Super Kings. He was appointed as the coach of the franchise in 2009 and has ensured a successful combination with M S Dhoni helping Chennai clinch the 2010 and 2011 IPL titles as well as the 2010 Champion’s League title.

By Pradeep Krishnamurthy