IPL 2018: Captains and their favorite oppositions
In cricket, it is often believed that every player has a favorite opposition that they gorge on, having played with them for a long period of time and gaining an advantage over them. Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman loved playing against Australia back in their day, Rahul Dravid would pile on a mountain of runs against England and Ricky Ponting would bring his competitive side out all the more against India.
Even as the IPL is an unpredictable competition with the composition of teams changing from time to time, players have shown an incredible tendency to play well against a certain opposition better than others. When it comes to the captains of the various teams of the IPL 2018, chances are high that their records will hold the key in their team’s success against another.
Here are the 7 skippers (barring Kane Williamson who hasn’t been a regular for Sunrisers Hyderabad) and the oppositions that will surely find it hard to get past them –
#1 – MS Dhoni (vs Royal Challengers Bangalore)
Dhoni has been by far the most successful and experienced captain in the history of the IPL. He is the complete package for Chennai Super Kings, not just with his leadership but also his batting and wicketkeeping standards remain high.
In this case, Dhoni’s batting records will be considered to pick his favorite opposition. And this was a might tough one! His performances against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad have been nothing less than impressive. He has played some memorable innings against all of them.
His number of runs, average and strike rate will be the parameters to choose from. The team that somehow fits in all the three of them well enough is Royal Challengers Bangalore. In 23 matches against them, he has 609 runs averaging 32.05 and a strike rate of 136.73. Only Gautam Gambhir is ahead of him with 644 runs against RCB, being the highest run-getter of all time.
Rest assured, Virat Kohli is expected to be on his toes every time his inspiration and predecessor takes guard.