IPL 2018: Rating the new IPL captains
The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League has already begun and the fans are excited to see some new players in their teams. This year's auction was the biggest auction since 2008 and the teams have seen a huge rejig this year.
All the 8 teams have a number of new players and 5 out of 8 teams have a new captain this year. The captains are often the most important player on the team and there have been instances where the captains have influenced the results of the team.
MS Dhoni has always been a huge influence on his teams. Gautam Gambhir was an inspirational captain for the Kolkata Knight Riders and took his team to two titles. Rohit Sharma's influence was felt in the first season itself as he took his team to the title in his very first year as the captain.
#5 Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane has been made the captain of Rajasthan Royals this year as the regular captain Steve Smith has been banned from playing Cricket for a year. Rahane has the previous experience of captaining the Indian team.
Rahane is known as a calm and composed batsman but his captaincy style hasn't been the same. He usually has an organized batting technique and style but his captaincy is anything but organized.
Rahane seems to have got his batting order wrong as he has been using Short to open the innings while demoting Tripathi to number 6. Samson has also been sent below his normal batting position as Rahane seems to be promoting Stokes to bat at number 3 which is something that Stokes hasn't been comfortable with.
Rahane has also refrained from using spinners in the powerplay which has allowed his opposition teams to get off to a flying start. He needs to rectify these mistakes as the captain and bring his characteristic composure to his captaincy.
Rating: 6/10