IPL 2018: Captains & Ratings
Seven Indian stars and 1 New Zealand stalwart began the title hunt on 7th of April in 2018. After almost two months of intense action, it was Indian legend MS Dhoni who lifted the 2018 IPL trophy for Chennai Super Kings.
In this segment, let's take a look at how each of these eight skippers fared in the most recent season. All captains have been rated on a scale of ten.
Ajinkya Rahane (Rajasthan Royals)
Ajinkya Rahane got the captaincy weeks before the start of the tournament as Steve Smith was banned for ball tampering. But it took way too long for the Royals to get the combination right. Their decision to stick with the non-performing D'Arcy Short for too long was a major tactical error.
They got back on track only after Jos Buttler was sent to open. Even then, tinkering too much at the top did cost them, like dropping an in-form Sajnu Samson from 3 to 4 led to his dip in form. Though Rajasthan advanced to the play-offs, there were a lot of areas where they could have improved.
The eliminator was probably the game where Rahane was the most aggressive as a captain and looked in good touch with the bat. However, his consistent inability to accelerate after getting set did adversely affect the team. Moreover, the resources could have been utilised better as evident in their eliminator encounter.
Rating - 6.5
Gautam Gambhir/ Shreyas Iyer (Delhi Daredevils)
Gautam Gambhir wanted to finish his career with the Daredevils with a belief that he would take his home team to glory. But a series of losses, accompanied by his own poor form, led to him giving up captaincy midway, after which he didn't even play a single game. Though it was quite a selfless move, he should have taken the responsibility to take the team upwards and not leave them midway.
Shreyas Iyer got his form with the bat better with captaincy. As a new captain, he was quite impressive. Though his team did not win many matches, they showed the potential to beat any team, as evident from their last 2 league games. A couple of games could have gone in their favour and they might have finished in the top 4 as well. Overall, if he stays captain for the next season, he needs to improve upon certain areas where he faltered this season.
Rating - Gautam Gambhir 4.5, Shreyas Iyer 6.5
Ravichandran Ashwin (Kings XI Punjab)
The KXIP management raised a few eyebrows when they went in with Ravichandran Ashwin as the captain. The first half of the tournament saw the off-spinner emerge as the most unpredictable and brave skipper, as his team won 5 of their initial 6 matches.
However, Ashwin conceded quite a few erroneous team selections such as involving too much faith on certain non-performers while not giving proper chances to the likes of more dependable David Miller and Manoj Tiwary. This was accompanied by a string of poor performances from everyone barring KL Rahul and Andrew Tye. All of these led to the ouster of KXIP in the most unimaginable way, losing 7 of their last 8 games. He was however not afraid of taking risks.
Rating - 7
Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
Quite vocal about RCB having the most balanced squad ever, Virat Kohli could not quite bring that balance into the playing XI for quite a long time. Making the squad top-heavy and leaving the lower middle order weak and playing with just 5 bowlers in the initial matches saw then losing from winnable situations. His form with the bat was not a question, though it was an average performance according to his own standards. Also, Kohli getting out to spin so frequently in crucial matches did affect the team's fortunes.
Rating - 6
Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians)
Rohit Sharma had a forgettable season with the bat and on the field as a skipper. Though they kept losing on close matches which could have gone either way, it would not be wrong to blame the skipper as the senior players failed to finish off close matches even with so much of experience.
Moreover, team selection and utilisation of players were questionable as well. Mumbai's over-persistence with Kieron Pollard, under-utilisation of JP Duminy did not meet logic. There were certain smart moves as well, such as opening with Suryakumar Yadav and picking up leg-spinner Mayank Markande from nowhere. Overall, the season was more of a disappointment for skipper Rohit.
Rating - 5.5
Dinesh Karthik (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Hardly did anyone foresaw Dinesh Karthik to lead an IPL side before the auction. But Kolkata Knight Riders, with no obvious captaincy candidate in their squad, had to choose between Karthik and Robin Uthappa. They went on with the more experienced gloveman.
And the result was better than anyone expected. With a team comprising of injury-prone foreigners, U-19 stars and a few senior Indian players hardly in national reckoning, Karthik optimised his limited resources in the best possible way.
Believing in youngsters and taking responsibility to finish off games on his own were the standout features of his captaincy. Karthik's form with the bat was terrific as well and his composure was his greatest strength. There was no real flaw in his captaincy aside for the under-utilisation of Javon Searles.
Rating - 9
Kane Williamson (Sunrisers Hyderabad)
It would be hard to imagine a foreign captain rivalling MS Dhoni among the top skippers in the IPL. During this year's season, Kane Williamson led his team from the front by sealing the Orange Cap. The Kiwi's calm and composed nature led his team to win from crunch situations, mostly while defending.
Sunrisers Hyderabad successfully defended scores below 150 thrice this year. The confidence of playing with just five bowlers helped them in six consecutive matches. But as soon as they started losing, Carlos Brathwaite was brought in as the sixth bowler. Except for the minor mistake of giving Brathwaite the 18th over in Qualifier 1 and a few defensive decisions in the final, there was not much to question regarding Williamson's captaincy.
Rating - 9
MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings)
MS Dhoni seemed to be a man on a mission as the hunger for the trophy was clearly visible on his eyes this year. The never-so-expressive skipper was different from his usual self in terms of being expressive. His clever team selections and out of the box bowling changes kept the opposition guessing on most occasions.
After not getting even two overs in the first half of the tournament, Ravindra Jadeja bowled his full quota in the remaining matches. The likes of Shane Watson and Harbhajan Singh not bowling at all in a game and then bowling four overs each in the next game added to Chennai's unpredictability.
Also, the Super Kings were one of the best chasing teams of the tournament. They kept winning matches from unwinnable situations and there was always a new hero for them with the bat. Dhoni himself seemed to have gone back in time machine to his initial days when he finished with sixes at will. His batting was a big positive for the T20 powerhouse and his utilisation of senior players was brilliant as well.
Rating - 9.5