The Sunrisers Hyderabad played some excellent cricket throughout the 9th edition of the Indian Premier League and deservedly won the title – their first – by defeating the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, May 29th, 2016. Their campaign was lead from the front by their aggressive captain, the Australian southpaw David Warner, who not only scored runs in a heap throughout the league but also lead the side effectively to take them to victories at crucial junctures.
Warner's performances this season threw further light on the need for an effective, dynamic captain to lead the teams in the shortest format of the game, especially in franchise-based cricket. Just like the Australian, there were other leaders too who carried the mantle of the side on their shoulders to good effect, and despite not being able to win the title left a considerable impact on their team, the players, and on the tournament as a whole.
Here, in this piece, we take a look at the performances of various captains during the 9th season of the IPL and rate them on a scale of 10.
9. David Miller: Kings XI Punjab – 3/10
The Kings XI Punjab could not recover from their shambolic performances last season, as they finished at the bottom of the points table this year as well losing 10 of their 14 games. The team management has chosen a new captain to lead the side, the South African southpaw David Miller, a move that backfired, just like the move to give George Bailey the leadership had backfired last season.
Apparently, the burden of captaincy became too much to bear for the left-hander as he could neither do well with the bat nor could he inspire his troops on the field, as the Kings XI slumped to 5 losses from 6 games under his leadership. As if these results weren’t enough, Miller’s dwindling form with the bat, that saw him register scores of 15, 9, 7, 6, 9 and 30 was also stacked against him, and consequently, he was removed as the team’s captain midway through the season.
8. Murali Vijay: Kings XI Punjab – 5/10
The Kings XI’s ploy of changing the leadership midway through an ongoing tournament didn’t work for them either, as after giving them a glimmer of hope in the first match that he captained the side, even Vijay couldn’t guide his side to victories on a consistent basis. However, Vijay did do his part exceedingly well, as he emerged out as the best batsman of the side, accumulating 453 runs from 15 games at an average of 26.43 and a strike rate of 123.39.
While that average and the strike rate aren’t awe-inspiring, but given the dire straits that the Kings XI found themselves in this season, Vijay was easily the most prolific batsman of the side. However, he couldn’t lead the side to considerable success and couldn’t prevent the bottom-of-the-table finish, as under his leadership too, the team lost 5 of the 8 matches. The end of their season perfectly eulogised their run throughout the tournament, when Vijay gave the left-arm spinner Axar Patel the last over when they had 23 runs to defend against the Rising Pune Supergiants.
MS Dhoni plundered the spinner in the last over, hitting three sixes and a four to complete a remarkable run-chase and snatch the victory right out of the Kings XI’s jaws. It was regarded as a tactical blunder committed by Vijay – giving the last over to a spinner – and that pretty much summed up the team’s journey in the league.
7. MS Dhoni: Rising Pune Supergiants – 5.5/10
This IPL season was the first one wherein a side led by MS Dhoni couldn’t make it to the playoffs. For the past 8 seasons, the now-suspended franchise Chennai Super Kings had either won the tournament or had, at the least, made it to the playoffs under the leadership of Dhoni. However, this season saw that trend coming to an end, as one of most successful limited-overs captain in world cricket couldn't build a newly-assembled side.
While the dissociation of the Super Kings was a huge disadvantage, as bringing together a new side, wherein the players have hardly had any experience of playing with one another, a captain of Dhoni's stature was expected to do a lot better than winning just 5 of the 14 games in the season. The Indian limited-overs captain's problems were further aggravated through a series of injuries that hampered the side adversely as marquee players like Kevin Pietersen, Faf du Plessis, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith et al were ruled out at several stages of the tournament leaving the Supergiants with a limited arsenal to propel their campaign.
Despite signing players like Usman Khawaja and George Bailey during the latter stages of the tournament, the Supergiants couldn't perform well as a team and consequently finished at the 7th spot in the table. With the bat as well, Dhoni only looked to be a pale shadow of his former self, as he could not finish games for his side as much as he would have liked to. Although his stats indicate that he has a batting average of 40.57 this season while accumulating 284 runs from 14 games, his only effective knock came in the team’s last game of the tournament – which was a dead rubber, as RPS had already been eliminated from the race to the playoffs – wherein he finished the game in an unbelievable manner, smashing 23 runs off the last 6 balls.
6. Zaheer Khan: Delhi Daredevils – 6/10
The Delhi Daredevils setup saw an interesting combination this season. While they banked on young blood to take them through to success in the league, they also depended upon some of the canny senior men to guide the aforementioned youngsters. The team that was led by Zaheer Khan and was coached and mentored by Rahul Dravid and Paddy Upton, played inspiring, fearless cricket, but couldn’t push the bar any higher as they failed to qualify for the playoffs.
One of the reasons behind such a show can be the youngsters’ lack of experience, but perhaps one of the major reasons, in popular opinion, and something that the Daredevils deployed as a tactic and stood by it throughout the tournament was the continuous tinkering with the playing eleven. The Daredevils never featured the same playing XI for two or more consecutive matches this season and always kept using the practice of horses for courses, something that did more harm than good. As good as some of the moves on the field were, Zaheer Khan’s off-field planning left many of the fans disappointed.
Ironically, the most prolific performers with the bat for the team were the men who played most of the team’s games. Quinton de Kock, Sanju Samson, and Karun Nair played 13, 14 and 14 games respectively, and were the top three run scorers for the side. Amit Mishra, their highest wicket-taker this season, also played all 14 games. This goes on to prove that had they played with a settled side throughout the tournament instead of continuously shuffling the players, there would have been more such performances and would have helped the team’s cause.
5. Rohit Sharma: Mumbai Indians – 6.5/10
The two-time champions, who were defending their crown this season had a topsy-turvy run, to say the least, and ultimately they failed to make it to the playoffs. Their fortunes drew a striking similarity to their captain, Rohit Sharma’s form with the bat. Just 2 of their 7 victories came while batting first and 6 of their 7 losses came while batting first. Interestingly, Rohit Sharma’s batting averages this year were 13.57 and 44.45 while batting in the 1st and the second innings respectively. Clearly, the team suffered whenever Rohit failed to connect with the bat in the first innings.
This wasn’t the only domain wherein Rohit couldn’t do as well as he would have liked to, as the team also saw some of their tried and tested performers warming the bench throughout the tournament. In the quest of unearthing new talents, namely Krunal Pandya and Nitish Rana, Rohit overlooked seasoned campaigners like Corey Anderson and Martin Guptill even though the likes of Kieron Pollard and Jos Buttler were having an ordinary season. Their batting faltered on several occasions, especially while batting first, and eventually resulted in their campaign being cut short at the group stages.
4. Gautam Gambhir: Kolkata Knight Riders – 7/10
The Kolkata Knight Riders have, over the past 4 years, emerged out as one of the most consistent sides in the IPL, having won the tournament twice in the last 5 years and reaching the playoffs on several occasions. One of the lynchpins in their lineup – which also happens to one of the most settled line-ups amongst all teams - their captain Gautam Gambhir, has been instrumental in the team's success ever since his association with the side back in 2012.
Gambhir has garnered at least 300 runs in each of the past five seasons and accumulated 501 runs from 15 games at an average of 38.53 and a strike rate of 121.89 this season as well. Without a doubt, he has been one of the most consistent performers with the bat for the franchise and has led the team from the front, guiding them to title victories twice since taking over the reigns. This season, however, KKR came tantalisingly close to the probability of adding another feather to their cap but missed out eventually.
The heavy reliance on the spinners to win them matches was something that came back to haunt the Knight Riders this season, as, despite some decent performances that were put up by Piyush Chawla and Sunil Narine, the team failed to contain the opposition with the ball on several occasions. The likes of Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Shakib-Al-Hasan and Brad Hogg couldn’t quite do the job for them with the ball, and Gambhir kept on rotating them throughout the tournament, thereby preventing them from enjoying an extended run.
It was only with the ball that the Knight Riders faltered, as their top order and the middle order continued to churn out the runs in the tournament only for their bowlers to give the advantage away.
3. Suresh Raina: Gujarat Lions – 7.5/10
The surprise performers of this IPL seasons were the Gujarat Lions, who, despite being a new franchise did exceedingly well in their maiden season, as they reached the playoffs and finished third. Suresh Raina, IPL’s second highest run-getter and the captain of the Lions had a massive role to play in the success of the side as he scored valuable runs in crucial situations for the team as well as marshalled his troops effectively to make the playoffs in their maiden attempt.
Raina finished as the team’s highest run-scorer this season with 399 runs to his name in from 15 matches at an average of 28.50 and a strike rate of 127.88. The balanced side that they produced within the space of 14 matches during the league stages was a remarkable feat in itself as the likes of Aaron Finch, Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Dhawal Kulkarni, and Praveen Kumar performed decently for the side.
Dwayne Bravo, the Lions’ highest wicket-taker in the tournament, was used judiciously by Raina, as a consequence of which the Caribbean was able to provide the team with breakthroughs when they were needed the most. However, it was also felt that Raina was reluctant when it came to stepping outside the comfort zone and giving other players the opportunities to play whenever one of his trusted comrades failed to do well.
Although Bravo was their most prolific bowler in the tournament, his magic too had faded by the time the tournament reached the business end, and someone like James Faulkner, who warmed the bench for half the season, could have been given another go. Apart from these two, the likes of Dale Steyn and Andrew Tye were also not given enough opportunities to perform and cement their place in the lineup.
2. Virat Kohli: Royal Challengers Bangalore – 9/10
The man who has been unstoppable since the advent of the new year was nothing but the same during the IPL as well as he smashed almost all the batting records and rewrote them in his own style. With 973 runs from 16 matches at a stupendous average of 81.08 and a strike rate of 152.03, Kohli broke the records for the most number of runs in a single IPL season, the most number of centuries in a single IPL season – with 4 centuries – and the highest partnership for any wicket in IPL’s history when he put on 229 runs along with AB de Villiers against the Gujarat Lions.
His batting prowess kept aside, the way he regrouped his side and staged one of the most remarkable comebacks ever seen in all of IPL's history was something to stand and behold, as the RCB won 5 games on the trot when they were required to do just that, to make it to the playoffs even after finding themselves at the 7th spot in the points table. Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers also batted superbly at times, and they batted around their captain, Kohli, who played the role of the sheet anchor.
RCB’s bowling, that was regarded to be their weak link, and rightly so, was completely compensated by the efforts of their batting heavyweights, and the additional performances of KL Rahul and Sachin Baby added a cherry to the cake. However, a team cannot win a tournament as long and as challenging as the IPL just on the back of their batsmen, and that weakness came back to haunt the Royal Challengers in the final of the tournament, wherein the Sunrisers Hyderabad plundered the RCB bowling and scored more than 200 runs, which turned out to be too much for the home side against the team considered to have had the best bowling attack of the tournament.
1. David Warner: Sunrisers Hyderabad – 9.5/10
David Warner epitomized the term ‘leading from the front’ this season of the IPL as he carried the mantle of the side on his shoulders match after match with his superlative batting performance, as well as his determined leadership that saw his team thrive on difficult situations and back themselves to come out on top. Warner persisted with a four-pronged fast bowling attack in a league wherein other teams prized their spinners and heavily depended on them, given the subcontinental conditions.
Apart from finishing as the second highest run-scorer in the tournament with 848 runs in his tally from 17 matches, Warner also made the best use of the available resources to guide his side to victories in crucial situations. The Sunrisers bowling attack that comprised of names like Ashish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman, and Barinder Sran made a name for itself as the best bowling attack amongst all teams in the league and the results were visible by the time the tournament came to an end. Bhuvneshwar Kumar finished as the winner of the Purple Cap with 23 wickets to his name, while Mustafizur Rahman was the fifth-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 17 wickets.
Warner’s utilization of the fast bowlers and medium pacers like Moises Henriques and Ben Cutting to excellent effect, and his side’s brilliant work in the field, that involved some spectacular catches taken by Warner himself made them a deadly package to reckon with.
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