IPL 2024: Team-wise backup captain

The IPL 2024 is just a couple of weeks away from start and the excitement is slowly building up for the tournament. IPL is by far the biggest T20 league in cricket and one of the most renowned sporting brands in the world above the English Premier League and just behind the NBA and NFL. Meanwhile, the teams are still finalizing their support staff and leadership positions as Sunrisers Hyderabad are yet to confirm their captain for the IPL 2024. Apart from this, a huge change happened as MI replaced their 5-time IPL-winning skipper Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya for this season. While other teams are settled with their captains for the IPL 2024, they are yet to announce their vice-captains or backup options for captaincy for the tournament. In this piece, let’s have a look at potential players whom the franchises can give the responsibility of leadership in the worst case scenario. Here are the backup captains of each team for IPL 2024: 1. Mumbai Indians - Suryakumar Yadav Suryakumar Yadav. (Photo Source: BCCI/IPL) Mumbai Indians will have a new captain for the first time in 10 years come IPL 2024. Rohit Sharma’s reign as captain has been drawn curtains upon, despite winning five titles for the franchise. Instead, the MI management has named Hardik Pandya as the captain of the side starting IPL 2024. While Rohit Sharma was at the helm of the Mumbai affairs, Suryakumar Yadav was his deputy. However, it remains to be seen whether Suryakumar Yadav keeps his spot as the vice-captain of the side. MI management might think of bringing in some fresh ideas. Yadav has captained India as well, but the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Ishan Kishan may also be considered. 2. Chennai Super Kings - Ruturaj Gaikwad Ruturaj Gaikwad. (Photo Source: Twitter/CSK) MS Dhoni will return to captain Chennai Super Kings, probably for the last time, in IPL 2024. At 42, MS Dhoni still looks extremely fit and agile, but even he knows that he cannot continue playing forever. And given how sharply his mind works, Dhoni must have chosen his successor as well. CSK has already experimented with Ravindra Jadeja as captain in IPL 2022, which flopped badly. But a seemingly better option as vice-captain and potential next CSK captain is Ruturaj Gaikwad. Gaikwad shares the same calm and cool demeanour as MS Dhoni and has captaincy experience in domestic cricket and even captained India to Asian Games 2022 gold. He is touted as the next India captain also and expects Gaikwad to be Dhoni’s deputy in IPL 2024. 3. Royal Challengers Bangalore - Virat Kohli Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will once again be captained by Faf du Plessis. Du Plessis led RCB well in IPL 2022 and 2023 and has led from the front. He has batted well scoring 438 runs in IPL 2022 and 730 runs in IPL 2023 tournaments. RCB missed out on playoff qualifications by a whisker but the Proteas cricketer’s captaincy was lauded. As for the backup captain, RCB has the best man for the job in Virat Kohli. In IPL 2023, Faf du Plessis missed a couple of games and then played as an impact sub. In those games, Virat Kohli captained the side well and it looked like he hadn’t missed a beat after relinquishing captaincy in 2021. RCB also have the option of Glenn Maxwell if they want an overseas leader. 4. Delhi Capitals - David Warner David Warner Delhi Capitals. (Photo Source: ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images) David Warner had captained the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023 when designated skipper Rishabh Pant missed the tournament as he was on his road to recovery from a near-fatal car accident. The tournament proved to be one of the worst outings for the franchise, as they barely missed the last-place finish. However, with Pant returning to the franchise for IPL 2024, Warner might become the vice-captain of the side. Earlier when the Haridwar-born was the captain of the side, Axar Patel was the vice-captain of the side, and he remained the deputy when Warner took over the captaincy duties. It remains to be seen who gets the vice-captain title officially. 5. Kolkata Knight Riders — Nitish Rana Nitish Rana (Photo Source: Twitter) Shreyas Iyer will return to the IPL 2024 to lead the Kolkata Knight Riders after having missed the IPL 2023 due to his back injury. He had a very good World Cup 2023 where he scored over 550 runs in the middle order with two centuries. However, since then, his back issue seemingly returned as he complained of the same during the second Test against England. Nitish Rana captained the KKR team well in Iyer’s absence in IPL 2023, and he will most likely remain Iyer’s deputy in IPL 2024 as well. Rana himself had a decent IPL with the bat, and inconsistent bowling cost them a place in the play-offs. But in case Iyer breaks down with his back issues, KKR can rest assured that Rana is there to take over. 6. Rajasthan Royals - Jos Buttler Jos Buttler. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The Rajasthan-based franchise had a very poor IPL 2023, especially after the high of playing the final in IPL 2022. They have been very well-captained by Sanju Samson for the past few seasons, and the keeper-batter will continue to lead the side for the seventeenth edition as well. Coming to the vice-captain or backup captain of Rajasthan Royals, who better than England’s T20 World Cup 2022 winning captain Jos Buttler? The English limited overs' skipper has been with Rajasthan for a long time and despite being a celebrated captain himself, RR has put the onus of leadership on Samson. 7. Sunrisers Hyderabad - Aiden Markram Aiden Markram. (Photo Source: BCCI/IPL) Many will be surprised to see Aiden Markram’s name as the backup captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad though he had led the side in IPL 2023. However, the SRH franchise performed extremely poorly, finishing 10th on the points table and Markram’s captaincy was uninspiring as well. This is even though Markram has led SRH’s sister franchise Sunrisers Eastern Cape to two SA20 league titles. As confirmed by the franchise, expensive buy Pat Cummins will be captaining the side for the upcoming season. Cummins had an excellent outing as Australia's captain in 2023, winning the ICC World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup as well. He is being paid INR 20.50 CR and Cummins might change the fortunes of SRH this coming season. 8. Gujarat Titans - Rashid Khan Rashid Khan & Shubman Gill. (Photo Source: Instagram/@Rashid Khan) Rashid Khan was the vice-captain of the Gujarat Titans for the last two seasons in IPL 2022 and 2023. He even led the franchises in a handful of games when Hardik Pandya was out due to the reoccurrence of his back issues. Rashid Khan was impressed with the leadership qualities that he has demonstrated for Afghanistan as well. His experience of international captaincy will come in handy when he deputizes for Shubman Gill, who will captain GT in IPL 2024. This is because Hardik Pandya decided to move to Mumbai Indians and left the post open. Gill will also have the luxury of having experienced players like Kane Williamson and Matthew Wade guiding him, apart from Rashid Khan. 9. Lucknow Super Giants - Nicholas Pooran Nicholas Pooran (Photo Source: BCCI/IPL) Nicholas Pooran was officially announced as the vice-captain of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) franchise on social media. He will be the deputy of KL Rahul, who had captained LSG previously. Pooran replaces Krunal Pandya as the deputy. Pandya had led LSG to the IPL 2023 play-offs after Rahul injured himself and was unable to play in the second half of the tournament. In the previous season, Pooran played in the middle order for the Lucknow-based franchise and racked up 358 runs in 15 matches at an impressive strike rate of 172.95. He had hit 137* in 55 balls in the Major League Cricket final for MI New York. And then he led MI Emirates to the ILT20 league title, which was held in the United Arab Emirates. 10. Punjab Kings - Sam Curran Sam Curran (Source: Twitter) Punjab Kings have been touted as one of the most formidable line-ups, after they made some mindful purchases at the 2024 auctions. While their regular skipper Shikhar Dhawan continues to don the captain's hat for this year as well, the role of deputy for them has always been in question. In 2023, Dhawan's injury allowed him to feature only as an Impact Player for some part of the tournament, which is when Sam Curran was handed over the leadership duties. But that took a toll on the all-rounder's individual performances as well as the team faltering to the lower-half of the points table. If the management continues to reap its faith in Curran's abilities, he might be given the nod to act as Dhawan's deputy, however, the experience and skills of Jonny Bairstow may not be overlooked while making a decision, thereby giving a tough head-scratching task for the franchise owners.

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