IPL 2020: Rating all the teams based on their captains' performance

We are in the last week of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the current season has been quite entertaining up to now. With some thrilling last over finishes and some super over finishes, the ongoing season is providing lots of entertainment to the fans. The fight for the playoffs is on and all the upcoming matches for the teams expect CSK and KXIP will be a decider for them to feature in the final top four. While the Mumbai Indians franchise already qualified for the playoffs with 16 points in 12 games, they have to win their remaining two encounters to be in the first position of the table. Performance of any team in a tournament like this depends on the performance of the captain. If he is in a great form he can confidently lead his side especially in a tournament like IPL which happens for nearly two months. So let us rate the captains of each franchise based on their performance. Here is the rating of each IPL captain on a scale of 10: 8) CSK- MS Dhoni (6/10) MS Dhoni. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) Coming to this IPL, the Chennai Super Kings were the only franchise in the history of IPL to reach the playoffs in all the seasons they played and their skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the architect of the franchise’s success over the years. Things were not going in Chennai’s way in the ongoing IPL as they lost the services of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh before the start of IPL and they found themselves at the bottom of the points table with 12 points in their 14 matches. The Yellow Army are out of the competition for the playoffs and for the first time in the history of the IPL they will not be a part of the playoffs. MS Dhoni, who retired from international cricket before the start of the season came into this IPL with lots of expectations but failed to perform for the team. In 14 matches he played in this season he scored 200 runs at an average of 25 and a strike rate of 116.27. The Chennai based franchise clearly missed the finishing skills of their skipper and they hope he will perform for them in the next season which is just five months away from now. 7) RR- Steve Smith (6.5/10) Steve Smith. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The champions of the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League, Rajasthan Royals came into this season with no expectations on them to lift the trophy. But they won their first two matches of the season against CSK and KXIP and started their campaign tremendously. But later the franchise found themselves ways to lose matches and won only a handful of games from then in their remaining encounters. Currently, they were standing at the bottom half of the points table and need to win their last game to have any chance of making the playoffs. The captain of Rajasthan Royals, Steve Smith came into this IPL with lots of expectations on him and started the tournament with 2 half-centuries in the first two matches but failed to continue his form thereafter. In 12 matches he played in this season so far, he scored 276 runs at a strike rate of 129.57 and an average of 25. 6) KKR- Dinesh Karthik & Eoin Morgan (7/10) Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders came into this IPL as favourites to lift the trophy and won four games in the first half of the season and found themselves at the fourth position of the points table. Then their skipper Dinesh Karthik stepped down as the captain to concentrate more on batting and the captaincy responsibilities were handed over to the 2019 World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan. But Morgan failed to keep his team in a winning streak and KKR went down the points table in the championship. Both Morgan and Karthik failed to perform to their best in the season. Morgan scored well runs this season but Karthik scored around 170 runs at a strike rate of 127 and an average of 15.37 and failed miserably this season. To qualify for the playoffs, KKR have to win their remaining one game and have to hope for the results of the other matches to come in their favour. 5) MI- Rohit Sharma & Kieron Pollard (7.5/10) Kieron Pollard. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The defending Champions Mumbai Indians franchise started the season with a loss against their rivals Chennai Super Kings but bounced back straight from the next match against Kolkata Knight Riders and currently, they are the table toppers and became the first team in IPL 2020 to qualify for the playoffs. In their 9th game of the season against KXIP, which they lost in the second super over their captain Rohit Sharma got injured and the captaincy was handed over to their vice-captain Kieron Pollard for the last 3 matches they played. Pollard has done a decent job as a captain and won 2 games out of 3 matches he captained. Both Pollard and Rohit Sharma have been to their best in some of the matches and contributed decently as an individual to the team’s success. In 9 matches Rohit played he scored 260 runs and Pollard in his 12 games scored 216 runs and picked 3 wickets with the ball. 4) DC- Shreyas Iyer (8/10) Shreyas Iyer. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The Delhi based franchise did a pretty good job in the auction ahead of the season and build a fairly strong team for this season. They started their campaign with an epic super over win and have constantly been at the top two positions for the most part of the season before RCB grabbed the spot with a good NRR. At one position they were with 7 wins in 9 games but lost their next four matches and were currently at the third position of the points table with 14 points in 13 matches. Their batsmen suddenly lost their form and the franchise is looking for a way to get into the winning streak. Their skipper Shreyas Iyer scored 414 runs in 13 matches and is the second most run-getter for the franchise this season. His inning of 88* off 38 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders is a highlight of the season and he is expected to fire with the bat in the remaining two games and lead his side to the playoffs. 3) RCB- Virat Kohli (8.5/10) Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The Bangalore based franchise IPL and came into this IPL with a hope to win the championship for the first time ever. The Virat Kohli led side started their campaign with a win over their arch-rivals Sunrisers Hyderabad but lost their next game against KXIP, which was the only win for the Punjab franchise in the first half of the tournament. Then the Bangalore franchise bounced back terrifically and currently they are at the second spot of the points table with 7 wins in their 12 matches so far. At one point of time, RCB looked brutal with 7 wins in 10 games but lost back to back games and made their playoffs chances hard. Virat Kohli started the season on a bad note and failed to score runs in the initial three games. But the Indian captain came into touch in the franchise’s fourth match against Rajasthan Royals by scoring a half-century in that match. Virat scored 431 runs in this season and is the highest run-getter for RCB this season. 2) SRH- David Warner (9/10) David Warner. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The 2016 IPL champions Sunrisers Hyderabad handed over the captaincy to their 2016 trophy-winning skipper David Warner from the New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson ahead of the season. The Orange Army started their campaign on a losing note and ever since they failed to find a winning combination this season. Currently, they were on the 4th positions of the points table with 12 points and it is a pretty difficult scenario for the Risers to find a spot in the playoffs as they have to win the remaining game against the table-toppers MI. On the other note, their skipper David Warner continued his good form in the IPL and is the highest run-getter for the franchise in the current season and also the third-highest run-getter of the season with 444 runs in 13 matches at an average of 37. 1) KXIP- KL Rahul (9.5) KL Rahul. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI) The Preity Zinta co-owned franchise, Kings XI Punjab named KL Rahul as their skipper for this season as they traded their previous skipper Ravi Ashwin to Delhi Capitals ahead of the season. KL Rahul was the franchise’s top run-getter in the previous two editions and continued his good run in the ongoing season also. The Kings started their campaign with a heart-breaking super over loss against Delhi Capitals in their opening encounter and won their next match against RCB in which their skipper scored a magnificent century. But the franchise lost their winning formulae then and lost five straight matches thereafter. After the first half of the tournament, KXIP fell at the bottom of the points table but they bounced back in the second half with five straight wins and climbed to the 4th spot of the points table. Their skipper KL Rahul is the highest run-getter of the tournament with 670 runs in 14 matches at an average of 55.83 and a strike rate of 129.34. KXIP after their defeat against CSK have already been eliminated. ~Written by Uday Gurugubelli *All the data provided are before Match 54 between KKR and RR in Dubai.

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IPL 2020: Rating all the teams based on their captains' performance

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