IPL 2016: Captain’s analysis

The IPL is a perfect stage for skippers to showcase their finest leadership traits. Great teams have great leaders who make things happen. It has been very often that we see an ordinary bunch punch above their weight and stun the opposition. This season we witnessed some highly motivational leadership from captains. Notwithstanding what the eventual fate of the team was in the competition, almost all the skippers performed their duties wonderfully. Some almost single-handedly carried their team till the decisive stage. It would be interesting to see how each captain of the eight franchises performed in the 2-month long championship. 1. Virat Kohli – Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: BCCI) Virat Kohli was highly inspirational throughout the tournament. It was his gritty performances and highly inspirational leadership which single-handedly took RCB to the finals. The tournament favorites were at one stage on a verge of a premature elimination and needed 4 wins out of 5 games at the half-way stage of the tournament to qualify for the knockouts. But, he soaked in the pressure wonderfully and guided his team to the decisive stage of the competition. He showed confidence in his second string bowling attack and brought the best out of them. He also did not hesitate in giving opportunities to uncapped names like Harshal Patel, Sarfraz Khan and Sachin Baby. It was unfortunate to see him lose in the finals but overall he set a great example for others to follow with his leadership skills. 2. David Warner – Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner. (Photo Source: BCCI) Leading the ‘Underdogs’ to the ultimate glory isn’t an easy-peasy task to accomplish. David Warner achieved the distinction this season. His team, too, had injury and form issues. But, that did not bother the tough Australian. The SRH batting was totally relying on Warner and he did not let them down. It was their batting that was relatively weaker whereas SRH’s bowling was perhaps the strongest in the competition. He backed his strengths throughout the tournament and would normally opt to put runs on the board and defend it rather than following the trend of chasing the targets. To conclude, SRH owes it’s maiden title to Warner’s heroics with the bat and mature leadership. 3. Zaheer Khan – Delhi Daredevils: New Delhi: Delhi Daredevils captain Zaheer Khan celebrate fall of a wicket during an IPL match between Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders at Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi on April 30, 2016. (Photo Source: Surjeet Yadav/IANS) Zaheer Khan had a memorable time as the skipper of the Delhi Daredevils side. The Delhi franchise, which has a very poor record in the IPL, looked like a whole new squad this season. A mature head was required to lead the youngest IPL side of the tournament and Zaheer seemed to be the perfect suite for the job. DD looked fairly dominant at the start but unfortunately lost their track due to over experimentation with the team set up. Leaving out match-winning players just on the basis of changing conditions hurt their chances badly in the completion. On-field he led his troops very well but off-field, he lacked the tactical prowess. DD ended the season with below par tally of 7 wins and 7 losses in 14 matches, finishing at No.6 in the points table. 4. Suresh Raina – Gujarat Lions: Suresh Raina. (Photo Source: BCCI) It was a wonderful season for IPL debutants, Gujarat Lions. Usually, a new set up takes times to gel and get going together but that was not the case with the Lions. Suresh Raina, who was the full-time captain for the time, made sure that the plans were executed properly. Raina began his captaincy journey with a comfortable win in the opening game and continued to dominate other teams for most of the tournament. Gl ended the league stage as the toppers with 9 win and 5 losses in 14 games. However, Raina failed to take his team to the finals despite getting two chances. The Lions journey came to an end after back to back losses to Royal Challengers Bangalore and eventual champions Sunrisers Hyderabad. But, apart from the failure in the knockout, Raina had a fairly successful time as the captain. 5. David Miller/Murali Vijay – Kings XI Punjab: Mohali: Murali Vijay of Kings XI Punjab celebrate fall of a wicket during an IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on May 9, 2016. (Photo Source: Surjeet Yadav/IANS) Kings XI Punjab was led by two skippers this season. South African David Miller started the IPL 2016 as the first skipper of the side before losing his captaincy to Murali Vijay. Miller had a terrible time leading the team and failed to marshal his troops. Poor batting performance was one major reason why the team failed miserably. He led his side in 6 matches and could win only one while losing five matches. With a hope of some turnaround, KXIP decided to relieve Miller off the captaincy role and handed it over to Murali Vijay. Vijay also could not bring any drastic change in Punjab’s fortunes. He led the side in 8 games, winning just three out of it. KXIP did comparatively better under him. But, even his efforts were not enough to avoid a last place finish for the Punjab side. 6. Gautam Gambhir – Kolkata Knight Riders: (Photo Source: BCCI) Gautam Gambhir will be quite unsatisfied with his efforts as a player and as the skipper. KKR began the tournament as one of the fan favourites to win the title. But, consistency became an issue for KKR as well as Gambhir as the tournament progressed. They failed to keep the winning momentum intact for a longer course of time. Gambhir, who led his side twice to IPL glory, made good use of his strengths (spin bowlers) but failed to motivate the top order batsmen. Overall, KKR ended up with 8 wins and 7 losses in 15 games under Gambhir before facing exit in the Eliminator at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad. 7. Rohit Sharma – Mumbai Indians: Bengaluru: Mumbai Indians Rohit Sharma and Krunal Pandya celebrate fall of a wicket during an IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on May 11, 2016. (Photo Source: IANS) Rohit Sharma failed to defend his IPL title this season. He has been very impressive as skipper since taking over the captaincy. His captaincy was put to test last season after MI had won only one of their first six games. MI then brought a remarkable turnaround and lifted the trophy. This year, however, he failed to repeat any such heroics with his team. Rohit began on a winning note but then failed to win games consistently. Eventually, it boiled down to the last league game against Gujarat Lions but they lost it and were knocked out of the tournament, finishing fifth in the pints table. There no were major flaws in his leadership but he committed a couple of mistakes in team combinations. The decision to promote Hardik to No. 3 in the batting position was a bad one. Also, giving the under-performing Pandya eleven matches to play and hesitating to bring in his replacement, Nitin Rana, early in the tournament was another bad decision. 8. MS Dhoni – Rising Pune Supergiants: Bengaluru: Rising Pune Supergiants captain MS Dhoni during an IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rising Pune Supergiants at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on May 7, 2016. (Photo: IANS) MS Dhoni, in a way, was the unluckiest skipper in the tournament. Firstly, injuries haunted him throughout the league stages. Most of the big names in the side had to return home due to injuries. The replacement brought in to fill the void also could not bring any turnaround. If this was not enough, Ravi Ashwin’s lack of form made matters worst. It looked like he was unable to execute any of his plans owing to these uncontrollable developments. But, the most two-time World Cup winning captain utilised all the available players in the best possible way. He eventually had to settle down at no. 7 in the points table with only 5 wins in 14 games.

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IPL 2016: Captain’s analysis

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