Recently, Ravindra Jadeja handed over his captaincy to MS Dhoni which made huge headlines. He isn’t the first skipper who did this, before him a lot of skippers quit their position. In this article let us have a look at those skippers who took this decision in the middle of the season.
2008: VVS Laxman – Adam Gilchrist
Hyderabad’s old franchise, the Deccan Chargers lost 12 out of 14 games in that season despite having a solid group of players. VVS Laxman was the icon player for them at that time but things didn’t turn out as expected. The management replaced him with Australian southpaw Adam Gilchrist in the middle of the season. The team won the IPL title in the next season under his captaincy.
2009: Kevin Pietersen – Anil Kumble
RCB bought Kevin Pietersen ahead of the 2009 IPL season for INR 1.55 million and made him the skipper of the team. RCB lost four of the first five games under the leadership of Pietersen and that’s when team owner of RCB then Vijay Mallya replaced him with Anil Kumble. The franchise won 8 out of 10 matches under his leadership but lost in the finale to Deccan Chargers.
2012: Daniel Vettori – Virat Kohli
In 2012, RCB won just two games of their first five and Virat Kohli was named the captain of the franchise in the middle of the season replacing Daniel Vettori. The team did partially well under him in the rest of the matches and finally, in 2013 he became the full-time skipper of the franchise. He continued to lead the team for 8 more years and finally, in 2021 he stepped down as a captain.
2012: Kumar Sangakkara – Cameron White
In IPL 2012, under Kumar Sangakara, Deccan Chargers lost 5 games in a row. Sangakara left the team and that’s when Cameron White was made the skipper of the franchise. There wasn’t any positive results as they went on to lose five out of their next eight games. It was the last season of Deccan Chargers after which the team got dissolved.
2013: Ricky Ponting – Rohit Sharma
Ricky Ponting was made MI’s captain in the 2013 season but things did not go smooth as MI lost four of their first five games of the season. Ricky Ponting stepped down and Rohit Sharma was made the skipper. With Rohit leading the team, MI managed to lift its first IPL trophy in 2013.
2013: Angelo Mathews – Aaron Finch
In 2013 the Pune Warriors team had a poor start, they won just a single match in their first five games. Angelo Mathews was the skipper. After repeated losses, Mathews decided to step down and the Pune management named Aaron Finch as their new captain. In that year, Pune Franchise won just 16 league matches and finished in 8th place in the points table.
2014: Shikhar Dhawan – Darren Sammy
Shikhar Dhawan was named as the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad for IPL 2014. In IPL 2014, SRH won two games out of their first four, and Dhawan’s batting performance dropped. Darren Sammy was appointed as the new skipper of the team. However, the result did not go as expected since the Hyderabad-based franchise could not qualify for the playoffs that season. In 2016, David Warner was appointed as the skipper and SRH lifted the trophy for the first time.
2015: Shane Watson – Steve Smith
In 2015, Rajasthan Royals were doing decently well but Shane Watson, who was the skipper desired to focus on his skipper and wanted to focus more on his skills, which made him drop the captaincy tag. Steve Smith was the new captain of RR and he took the franchise to the playoffs. Smith did serve the franchise as a skipper for a long time.
2016: David Miller – Murali Vijay
Punjab Kings started off with a pathetic performance in 2016, and the captain David Miller was also not in good form. The team management decided to replace him with Murali Vijay, who had a better batting performance. But, things didn’t go as expected as they finished at the bottom of the table.
2018: Gautam Gambhir – Shreyas Iyer
In 2018, Delhi won only one game out of their first six under Gambhir’s captaincy and he decided to step down as the captain. Shreyas Iyer was named the skipper of Delhi in the middle of the season. Under him, Delhi won four out of eight games. They didn’t qualify for the finals but Iyer was the captain for two more seasons.
2019: Ajinkya Rahane – Steve Smith
In IPL 2018, RR lost the first six out of eight under Rahane and he left the position. RR named Steve Smith the captain of the Jaipur-based franchise but there weren’t any positive results as RR finished at the second last position in the points table.
2020: Dinesh Karthik – Eoin Morgan
KKR were doing well in 2020 but he decided to step down as the captain and soon World Cup-winning captain Eion Morgan was the best choice. KKR’s performance was average in the season as they ended in the fifth season. Morgan’s captaincy had a good influence as KKR reached the finals in 2021 but lost to CSK.
2021: David Warner – Kane Williamson
In IPL 2021, SRH was not performing poorly, having won only a single game out of their first seven matches. The management changed the leadership to Kane Williamson but not affect the result as SRH finished the season at the bottom of the table. In 2022, Kane Williamson continued as a skipper and David Warner was bought by Delhi Capitals.
2022: Ravindra Jadeja – MS Dhoni
CSK management made Ravindra Jadeja the captain but the team couldn’t fair well. For this reason, CSK handed MS Dhoni back the role of leadership. Under Dhoni’s leadership, CSK did win one match and they have to win all the next league matches to qualify for the playoffs.
Read more: Top 10 most valuable cricket teams of IPL
