Top 5 IPL skippers who left captaincy midway through the tournament: The Indian Premier League (IPL) is widely reckoned as the biggest T20 cricket league across the globe. The fast-paced T20 game is loved by several fans and millions of people tune in to watch the proceedings of the Indian Premier League every year. Currently, the 15th edition of the gala Indian T20 tournament is underway and it’s been an entertaining and fun journey so far.
Participating in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is a dream of every cricketer across the globe. At least once in their life, every cricketer wants to play a season of the IPL. However, only a few fortunate ones get the opportunity and get selected through the auction process and play with their Indian counterparts in the elite Indian league.
Besides playing in the Indian Premier League, several cricketers get the opportunity to spearhead a team. Leading a franchise in the IPL is as hard as getting captaincy on a national side.
Though over the years, in the IPL, we have seen several captains become successful with their leadership, while, there are many who failed miserably during their stint as the captain. There have been several instances in the Indian Premier League when the captains have stood down from their roles midway through the tournament, due to various reasons, and the franchise had to appoint a fresh face to lead.
In this very article, we will take a look at the top 5 IPL skippers who left captaincy midway through the IPL.
Top 5 IPL skippers who left captaincy midway through the IPL:
CSK – Ravindra Jadeja:
The latest example of the midway captaincy change is premier all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. Former CSK skipper MS Dhoni decided to stand down from his captaincy following years of leading the team and handed over the reins of the side to experienced Ravindra Jadeja ahead of the IPL 2022.
Being an experienced campaigner, fans and the franchise anticipated Ravindra Jadeja to keep the CSK legacy alive with his able captaincy, however, everything went exactly the opposite for the all-rounder.
The defending champions faced a string of defeats before registering their maiden victory in the IPL 2022. Neither Jadeja could bring out the best from his team, nor he could unleash the best with the bat. Owing to the excessive pressure, Jadeja left CSK captaincy after the eighth match and handed over the reins back to MS Dhoni.
DD – Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir’s name in Kolkata Knight Riders’ history book has been written in golden ink. The southpaw took KKR to two IPL title victories under his captaincy in 2012 and 2014. However, he was removed from the franchise ahead of the 2018 auctions.
GG went to the auction pool in 2018 and was picked up by Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals). He was straightaway made the skipper of the side, however, destiny had something else written for two times IPL winning skipper.
In his first six appearances for Delhi Daredevils, Gautam Gambhir took his side to just a solitary win and he subsequently decided to step down from the captaincy. Soon Delhi announced their young skipper in Shreyas Iyer, who led the side for two years before getting dropped ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction.
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KKR – Dinesh Karthik
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) suffered the captaincy turmoil when Dinesh Karthik decided to relinquish his leadership role midway through the IPL 2022. KKR bagged the services of Dinesh Karthik during the 2018 auction and was assigned the captain’s role.
Karthik successfully led KKR in the two-season, however, during IPL 2020 due to his personal batting failures, he decided to step down from his duties. Though KKR was in a pretty good position with four wins from seven matches, runs seemed to have dried from Karthik’s bat which prompted the cricketer to focus solely on his batting and leave the captaincy.
Subsequently, KKR appointed Eoin Morgan as the leader of the side for the remainder of IPL 2020 and IPL 2021.
SRH – David Warner:
SRH skipper David Warner has also been a victim of a midway captaincy change in the Indian Premier League. Notably, Warner has played a key role in building Sunrisers Hyderabad over the years.
The Aussie batter was outstanding with his batting during his stay in the SRH. He even took SRH to their only IPL victory back in 2016 as the skipper of the side. However, no one knew one day he will be sacked from the team.
Unfortunately, Warner endured a disappointing season with the bat during the IPL 2021. The cricketer was unable to score runs for the team. SRH relied too much on the services of Warner and couldn’t perform well.
Midway through the IPL 2021, SRH management decided to sack Warner from the captaincy and have the roles to Kiwi Kane Williamson.
RR – Ajinkya Rahane:
Inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals felt Ajinkya Rahane was the right man to hand over the captaincy of the team ahead of the IPL 2018 after the team decided to drop Steve Smith from the captaincy due to his infamous sandpaper scandal.
Steve Smith was banned from international cricket and had to leave his international captaincy as well. RR was on the same line and removed Smith from the leadership and subsequently appointed Rahane as the leader of the pack.
To everyone’s surprise, Rahane couldn’t bring the best out of his troops and his team lost six of its initial eight matches. Under pressure, Ajinkya Rahane decided to leave the captaincy during the IPL 2018 and the RR management once again handed over the reins to Steve Smith.
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