IPL 2023: Rating captains on their performance in 16th edition

MS Dhoni. (Photo Source: Twitter)

India Premier League 2023 season ended on a high note as the mega clash between two heavyweights Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings saw a blockbuster three-day affair. Much like that final, the entire season was exciting and witnessed edgy thrillers.

Most of the teams had gone through a rollercoaster journey as they turned their fortunes to succeed, led by their skippers, who stood tall no matter what. Their body language and confidence are reflected in the team’s on-field performance. Youngsters look up to them for guidance, so they need to direct them on the right track.

They say in cricket, the captain is as good as his/her team. His job is to lead the side and play good cricket on the field regardless of results. Though they have a lot of pressure, they manage to control things to take the team in the right direction.

Let’s take a look at captains’ performance in IPL 2023

10. David Warner- 5/10

Aussie opener David Warner was the designated captain of Delhi Capitals for this season. In the absence of Rishabh Pant, he had a tough task to pull off. David wasn’t a rookie leader as he led a successful title-winning campaign for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016. A leader par excellence, who leads by excellence had a disappointing season in 2023.

He had a great squad assembled this time. Warner being one of the most successful openers in IPL, failed to find his opening partner right. Axar Patel was their star performer throughout the season and was underutilized. He could have been brought up the order when the situation occurred, but Axar ended up playing fewer balls due to arriving late.

Warner didn’t have luck favouring him most of the time and the failure of Indian batters hurt him so much that they struggled to find a well-balanced side. By the they started to find the rhythm, the tournament got over for them. Warner had the likes of Ricky Ponting, Sourav Ganguly, and Shane Watson in the dugout and even they collectively failed to keep the nerves of the players in the crunch situations.

9. Aiden Markram- 5.5/10

Proteas star batter Aiden Markram was handed over the role of captaincy for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was coming in this year’s IPL after winning the inaugural SA20 for Sunrisers Eastern Cape. As both franchises were managed by the same owner, it was quite evident that Markram might lead SRH. Expectations were high from him even after SRH had two back-to-back disastrous seasons.

Aiden arrived late at the SRH camp due to national commitment and joined the team from the second match but nothing changed. He never had a fixed batting lineup. He had all the ingredients for a successful season, but they were wrongly placed. He backed the bowling core very little, henceforth they lacked confidence. It looked like Markram was burdened with the captaincy pressure and didn’t quite enjoy it. It affected his personal performance as well as it was way below his standard.

For the past few years, SRH have released quite a few players and then went into the auction with a heavy purse. Every time they make some big purchases but after the season starts, they get back to underperforming, and disappointing for the fans to see their franchise ‘down and out’ like this. With SRH, more than their captain the problem lies in their management. Some of their own field decisions have been baffling which could have been handled way better. 

8. Shikhar Dhawan- 6/10

Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan led the Punjab franchise for the first time. Having some captaincy experience earlier, it was expected of him to shine in IPL but ‘Gabbar’ looked off throughout the season. After a few matches at the start, Dhawan was injured and Sam Curran had to step into his shoes.

Their bowling attack disappointed the most as apart from Arshdeep Singh, nobody turned up to take wickets regularly. Dhawan’s bowling changes were criticized as Punjab kept on conceding 200 runs at some point. Even though Dhawan had Sikandar Raza, his name went missing in many playing XIs.

It’s understandable that they missed the service of Johny Bairstow, but too much dependence on one player can’t be the sole reason for the downfall. It felt like Dhawan had his shoulders down. He lacked consistency in his batting as well as in his captaincy decisions. Team management needs to work with their captain and keep backing a strong Indian core to perform better next season.

7. Sanju Samson- 6.5/10

Rajasthan Royals’ captain Sanju Samson would have been disappointed with the way things ended for his franchise as it was a perfectly well-balanced side much like last year when they came runners-up. They started off on a good note winning back-to-back matches, but in the end, they couldn’t even qualify for the playoffs.

Yashasvi Jaiswal had a breakthrough season as Rajasthan survived due to his brilliance solely in the matches they played later in the season. Sanju, who’s been with the franchise for a long time, made some captaincy blunders. They couldn’t make use of the impact rule in their favor.

If they would have held on to some crunch moments in the end overs, they could have qualified for the knockout stages. Sanju much like his batting form, struggled with his batting line-up. Despite having good players on their side, Sanju and Sanga failed to place the setup well. They kept on shuffling bowling options, denying bowlers a proper run.

6. KL Rahul/Krunal Pandya- 7.5/10

Lucknow Super Giants had two captains this season captaining their side. Their designated skipper KL led them in nine matches before getting injured against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Since then, vice-captain Krunal Pandya took his place until their last match in the eliminator. Despite being the tournament favourite, they ended their campaign in the eliminator match.

KL who’s been a consistent IPL performer over the years, underperformed this year but that hardly impacted his franchise’s results. This season, he captained the Lucknow franchise brilliantly and made good use of the impact player rule like using Amit Mishra in the slow deck of Ekana Stadium.

With their destructive middle order, they reached the playoff stage. Krunal being the stand-in skipper tried his best, but his individual performance also affected the team’s chances. The availability issue of Mark Wood and Mohsin Khan minimized their bowling strength and they couldn’t move ahead of the Eliminator game.

5. Nitish Rana- 7.5/10

Among all the captains, Nitish Rana captained any IPL franchise for the first time. Considering this fact, Nitish did reasonably well in this franchise-based league. A well-established domestic batter Nitish paired up with successful domestic coach Chandrakant Pandit to turn the fortunes for Kolkata Knight Riders. Nitish replaced Shreyas Iyer who is down with injury for quite some time now.

Nitish struggled to place a fixed playing XI and a lack of role clarity was displayed in players’ performance as they were not given a settled role to perform. Being a first-time captain, the Delhi boy lacked consistency which cost them a playoff spot. Nitish badly needed Russell and Narine to step up and win matches for him on a consistent basis, which didn’t happen.

But, Nitish as a captain, kept the team environment healthy and happy. Being from the domestic circuit, he formed a great bond with the uncapped players and the likes of Rinku Singh, and Suyash Sharma excelled under his captaincy. Nitish may have to make a way for Shreyas next year, but surely has the potential to lead a franchise. 

4. Rohit Sharma- 8/10

Rohit Gurunath Sharma and Mumbai Indians have been synonymous since the day the Mumbaikar joined them. Him being the joint most successful IPL captain besides MS Dhoni, he knows how to be a champion side. Last season, MI finished at the bottom of the table, probably their lowest point in recent times. From there, they reached the playoffs and played till the second qualifier, where they were beaten by Gujarat Titans.

MI’s talent scouting and backing of the players have been the biggest reason behind their dominance. And Rohit being everyone’s favorite, giving players full support to express and win matches for them. The likes of Tilak Varma, and Nehal Wadhera formed a core middle order which benefitted the Mumbai franchise and the resurgence of Piyush Chawla came as a surprise package.

MI missed Jasprit Bumrah’s service but Akash Madhwal made them feel assured at a point. Rohit might not have had a great season, but his captaincy was brilliant, spot-on. It never showed like they were going through a transition period as most of the things went smoothly. 

3. Hardik Pandya- 8/10

Hardik Pandya took his franchise Gujarat Titans to the finals two consecutive times. When he was with the Mumbai franchise, he performed as an individual for the team. But since last season, GT have unlocked leadership qualities in him and he has impressed everyone with his instinctive captaincy.

At the start of the season, when Gujarat struggled with few match results going against them, everyone thought the season was over for them, but they were proved wrong by the end of the season. It was a strong assembled squad that checked every box where Hardik unleashed his boys at the right time to win matches for him.

If MI had Piyush Chawla, then GT brought Mohit Sharma as their trump camp. Hardly anyone believed he still could deliver but the skipper had his belief in Mohit. The Baroda boy is a true example of a leader who leads by example.

2. Faf du Plessis- 8.5/10

Francois du Plessis was given the long-pending task of Royal Challengers Bangalore. The former Proteas international joined this Bangalore franchise last year and replaced their longest-serving captain Virat Kohli. Faf, a born leader, brought a breath of fresh air into their dugout.

Faf who retired from international cricket, is still going strong with the bat. He almost carried RCB’s batting on his shoulder along with Virat. Being an opener gave him the power to control the game and his impactful consistent innings gave cushion to the RCB’s rookie bowlers.

RCB never had any consistent performers except a few who kept piling runs and who took wickets. Their bowling attack was impacted due to Reece Topley and Josh Hazelwood’s unfortunate injuries. Still, they managed to perform their best. Faf, who has won IPL titles with CSK, knows how to achieve the ultimate success. If Harshal, Hasaranga, Shahbaz, and to some extent, Maxwell would have performed their best, RCB could have sealed the first four spots. They have been unfortunate to lose control of the game in important moments.

1. MS Dhoni- 9/10

Sixteen years have passed since IPL started and if one thing has stayed the same, it is MS Dhoni the captain. The 41-year-old former India captain has yet again shown the world how it is done. Hardly any expert gave Chennai Super Kings a solid chance to win this year’s IPL, except the Dhoni-maniacs. It was their second trophy in the last three years.

Without a big name in the bowling line-up, MS fielded Tushar Deshpande, and Matheesha Pathirana as his warriors and they paid back with their best IPL season so far. Down with a knee injury, MS knew his capabilities and let other batters take center stage. Dhoni being the mastermind had the game under his control even during the crunch moments.

The way he utilized someone like Pathirana or Shivam Dube was commendable. They’re not fully proven or are even big IPL stars, but Dhoni extracted exactly what he wanted from them. This is the quality of a true leader who knows strengths and weaknesses and plays according to those.