Do New Captains Of IPL 2022 Play Second Fiddle Or Have Final Say?

The captain playing second fiddle to the manager may serve the purpose in the game of football but it doesn't work in cricket where the skipper cannot rely heavily on the dressing room to get cues as he has to make frequently on-the-spot decisions on the ground. 

Who is the decision maker in an IPL team became a topic for discussion after the Kolkata Knight Riders media team posted a QnA session video recently in which the franchise's captain Shreyas Iyer was Venkatesh Iyer's batting position this term and he sounded unsure. "We haven’t decided yet. I need to have a chat with the coach and management." the captain said. 

The captains for the current IPL teams include Shreyas Iyer (Kolkata Knight Riders), Mayank Agarwal (Punjab Kings), Hardik Pandya (Gujarat Titans), KL Rahul(Lucknow Super Giants), Sanju Samson(Rajasthan Royals) and Rishabh Pant(Delhi Capitals). Among these captains, only Rahul has the experience of leading the team at the international match. He had captained the Team India during the second Test in South Africa after Virat Kohli got injured. 

It all started when former South Africa coach Bob Woolmer guided the then South Africa captain Hansie Cronje during a match at the 1999 World Cup through an earpiece, however, his cues didn’t help the Proteas against the Aussies. 

A cursory glance at the IPL past editions and wins tells us that experienced captains led the teams to victory. MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma share nine titles in the IPL tournament while Gautam Gambhir wond two for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Recently, we see the IPL teams were relying on low-profile skippers apparently due to their marketability factor and coaching staff were given the task to make strategies for the team. Rohit Sharma’s captaincy skills have contributed to the Mumbai Indians success story. RCB have found a strong captain in Faf du Plessis.