Reports: Six Indian players are contenders of IPL captaincy

The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League has eclipsed all of its previous editions when it comes to the buzz surrounding it. With new team formations for this year, the forthcoming auctions, set to take place on January 27 and 28 at Bengaluru, are highly anticipated. While all the teams have retained a minimum of one and maximum of three players already, it will be interesting to see who they used their RTM cards on.

Yuvraj Singh as a captain?

As per reports on the Times of India, there are six highly-possible captaincy contenders – Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravi Ashwin and Manish Pandey. Among these, only Gambhir has served as a successful captain – taking Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL trophies in 2012 and 2014 respectively.

Pandey’s name, on the other hand, is understood to have surfaced after his standout leadership for India ‘A’ on their recent tours. Rahane, who has been a consistent performer in the IPL and serves as Kohli’s assistant in whites, can make for a good leadership nucleus of any team. Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh may be out of form with the bat and ball but bring with them years of experience.

Will KKR retain Gambhir?

KKR have the option of using the Right to Match card on Gambhir or Pandey, but the senior member of the two had earlier exhibited his wish to play for the Delhi Daredevils this season, and reports had also suggested that the KKR management has not discussed anything about retaining their captain of seven seasons. Gambhir may thus return to Delhi, where he played the first three editions.

“I’m sure that KKR will bid for Gambhir but how hard they will go is the question. If his price goes beyond a certain point, they may not go too far. Gambhir has not been retained in the first place, so then there is no logic in KKR going all out for him in the auction 2018. I guess it would depend more on auction price,” TOI quoted former CSK player S Badrinath as saying.

With several new introductions into the tournament, IPL 11 promises to be bigger and better.

Likely captains for the upcoming IPL season

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