IPL 2018: 4 Captains, 4 Mistakes

With each passing day, the heat of IPL is adding more and more to the already hot weather in India. The most iconic T20 League has produced excitement and contest like never before.

This year too, IPL has delivered the same to its fans. Explosive innings, nail-biting last overs, scintillating individual performances and what not.

Now that the competition is getting more and more intense, the fight for the top four spots has reached another level. So, here, let us go back to the roots and talk about something interesting.

Yes, take a look at 4 captains and their mistakes so far in this season, which if not committed, might have put them and their teams at a better place.

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#1 Ajinkya Rahane (RR): Jos Buttler's batting order

Well, of course, you saw that coming. I mean we are talking about Jos Buttler here who have gone all guns blazing after being promoted as an opener.

For the first seven matches, the English wicket-keeper was sent to bat at 5th or 6th place. As it could be seen, failure of top-order batsmen in D'Arcy Short, Rahul Tripathi, Ajinkya Rahane, built pressure on Buttler and hence he couldn't open up to his natural style of play. However, he still managed to score 20 or 30+ on most of the occasions but look at the change of the scenario since his promotion.

Jos Buttler has been opening for the Royals since last four matches and he has scored 67, 51, 82 & 95* from those. Impressive, isn't it?

Ajinkya Rahane might be blaming himself for the late realization and at the same time sighing, "better late than never."

But Jinks, you could have used an asset like him right from the start of the campaign to open the innings for your team. Maybe then the story would have been different for you.

#2 Gautam Gambhir (DD): Prithvi Shaw's exclusion

Shaw is doing exceptionally well since getting a chance in the first team

Delhi Daredevils' situation somehow remains unchanged over the years. They come in as underdogs, put forth some blistering performances, too many talented youngsters to brag about and then eventually fail to qualify for the playoffs.

This year though, the story could have been altered but alas!

After the loss against SRH, it's confirmed that DD won't be able to qualify for the playoffs. But every cricket fan knows for the fact that, one man could've made the difference and it's none other than the U19 captain Prithvi Shaw himself.

Gambhir had his calculations wrong right from the start of the season. His failure as an opener alongside Colin Munro proved fatal for the team during the initial stages of the tournament.

Although Jason Roy, who replaced Munro, showed some sparks, he too faded in the long run in terms of consistency. Then came Shaw, who gave Delhi what they had been missing- aggression!

The 18-year-old lad has been batting really well since his inclusion in the team and only if he had got the opportunity earlier on, DD would still have had their chances to qualify.

After Gautham Gambhir passed the mantle to Shreyas Iyer, the progress of their side has been evident. Shaw eased the pressure off in-form Iyer and Rishabh Pant. But nevertheless, it was a decision made too late and Delhi have already suffered their blow.

#3 Ravichandran Ashwin (KXIP): Benching Chris Gayle in first two matches

With three 50s and one century out of 7 games, Gayle continues to be Gayle

If there's a title to the most entertaining cricketer, it would surely fit none other than Christopher Henry Gayle himself. There is a reason why the West Indian is known as a crowd pleaser. Barring last year, Gayle has always stormed in the IPL.

Following a bad 2017 season, we saw Gayle being an auction reject. However, KXIP laid their hands upon this run gun during the latter stages of the auction and now Preity Zinta must surely be thanking her stars for having made the right decision to bid for the Caribbean.

However, Gayle remained an unused asset for Ashwin's side for the first two matches as Aaron Finch and Mayank Agarwal were picked ahead of him.

Due to having an explosive opener in Lokesh Rahul, maybe Ashwin never opted to fancy his chances with Gayle. But now, Ashwin must be proud of his decision of including Gayle in the playing XI to bolster his team's top order.

Out of the 7 matches played so far, Gayle has bagged 3 fifties and 1 century. Pairing up with KL Rahul, he is now a nightmare for every team and its bowlers.

Just imagine what if Chris Gayle had been captain Ash's choice since day 1? Maybe then KXIP would have been the first team to qualify for the playoffs instead of SRH. You never know!

#4 Virat Kohli (RCB): Too much team shuffling

Another year and another heartbreaking season for the Indian captain

There is something peculiar about Virat Kohli and IPL. It's like some sort of jinx for the Indian captain. Each year he is denied a comfortable campaign due to some reason or the other.

Time and again, the story remains the same. RCB come in as one of the strongest sides on paper but fail to live up to the expectations. Or even half of it.

With the likes of Brendon McCullum, Quinto de Kock, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli himself, RCB should have showered runs throughout the season but unfortunately, that isn't the case here.

Maybe Virat had put a lot of trust on his overseas batsmen. If you actually take a look, rare are the matches where McCullum, de Kock or de Villiers proved to be effective. Though each of them played individual knocks on an occasion or two, neither of these could match their captain's consistency.

Here comes the question: What if Virat had settled with a consistent set of players?

We saw VK shuffling a lot with his playing XI this season. Barring a few regular names, none cemented their place. We saw Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Pawan Negi, McCullum, Sarfaraz Khan, Moeen Ali, de Grandhomme, Parthiv Patel, Manan Vohra, Mohammed Siraj, Murugan Ashwin in and out of the squad. Oof! That is indeed a long list of players.

Talking further, Kohli's decision regarding the inclusion of Parthiv Patel so late in the tournament can be called into question too. Parthiv marked his debut in style after scoring a fifty against CSK and ended up as the lone warrior for his side. Maybe a consistent place in the team would have proved useful and Parthiv Patel might have done better than his counterpart, Quinton de Kock.

Another notable player from the RCB side is Mandeep Singh. But, he often got shadowed under big names. Looking at the stats so far, Mandeep has performed really well in the middle order with considerably good strike rate. Had Kohli promoted him up the batting order to the opening slot, Mandeep might have done better than the others. Such has been this batsman's form lately.

Nevertheless, all such miscalculations have proved fatal for RCB as yet again they lie at the bottom half of the table.