Indian Premier League T20 cricket tournament completed first round of league matches. Contrary to pre-tournament expectations, Rajasthan Royals played extremely well while Hyderabad Deccan Chargers disappointed with their poor performance. Captains played vital role in changing the fortunes of their teams. Every IPL franchisee is now searching for a captain like Shane Warne while Vijay Mallya is still paying price for his blind belief in Rahul Dravid.
Top captains in IPL 2008:
Image courtesy: www.rajasthanroyals.com
1. Shane Warne: He is the best captain by miles in IPL. He is leading his young boys from front and getting sensational results. He is the coach, captain, leader, motivator, guide, inspirational figure and match winner for Rajasthan Royals. They are already started preparations for IPL 2009. He is the best captain Australia never had.
Rating: 5/5.
2. Shaun Pollock: He single handily inspired demoralised Mumbai Indians to winning ways with wonderful performances with both bat and ball. They are playing exceedingly well despite absence of Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh. Pollock is an inspirational leader.
Rating: 4.5/5.
3. Virender Sehwag: He is the second highest run scorer in the first round of IPL at an astonishing average of 190. Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan are supporting him well in batting while Glenn McGrath is exceptional in bowling. He needs to take some bold decisions to strengthen middle order.
Rating: 4/5.
4. Yuvraj Singh: He is leading his young team very well but he is failing to convert his good starts into match winning knocks. His belief in young bowlers like Piyush Chawla and Sreesanth despite bad start paid rich dividends.
Rating: 4/5.
5. Mahendra Singh Dhoni: This cool man struggled to find an ideal batting lineup after the exit of Hayden and Hussey. His composure in crisis times and his maturity earned accolades from even opponents. But his batting still has not reached expected levels.
Rating: 3.5/5.
6. Sourav Ganguly: This inspirational leader is getting full team and crowd support despite successive losses after the rousing start. His performance in the last match against Royal Challengers is simply superb.
Rating: 3.5/5.
7. Adam Gilchrist: He is playing well but failed to motivate his insipid teammates.
Rating: 3/5.
Verdict: It is waste to talk about captaincy of VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. Dravid failed spectacularly in the IPL auction and in the tournament. Hyderabad is searching for ideal winning combination that tells the story. Youngsters of Rajasthan Royals are lucky to get a captain and coach like Shane Warne.
Missing point: Innovation. No team is employing enough innovations and almost all teams are playing with predictable lineups, batting orders and strategies. I want to see Irfan Pathan as opener and unknown names like Sarvesh Kumar in the Hyderabad lineup etc.
Image courtesy: www.rajasthanroyals.com
1. Shane Warne: He is the best captain by miles in IPL. He is leading his young boys from front and getting sensational results. He is the coach, captain, leader, motivator, guide, inspirational figure and match winner for Rajasthan Royals. They are already started preparations for IPL 2009. He is the best captain Australia never had.
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