With the 15th edition of the IPL coming to a close on Sunday (May 29), we can now reflect on another season of high-quality T20 cricket. Given that the Mega Auction was held before the season, IPL 2022 promised to be a thrilling event. In addition, with the arrival of two new teams, there was a lot of team makeup shifting and rearranging.
This season, a few franchises had new captains. For example, after becoming one of the highest-paid players at the auction, Shreyas Iyer was named captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders. In any team sport, the person who assumes leadership responsibilities is the team’s backbone, and this is especially true in a sport like cricket.
We have seen fresh captains named by the clubs from season to season. Either the additional burden has an influence on the player’s performance, or he is simply ineffective as a skipper. There are a variety of reasons for this, therefore in this piece, we examine three teams who may have a new captain next season.
1) Punjab Kings
Before the IPL 2022 season, Mayank Agarwal was named full-time captain of the Punjab Kings. To be fair, the Indian hitter performed admirably in his new role and made some sound tactical decisions in the middle. The Kings, on the other hand, missed out on the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season, finishing sixth in the standings with seven wins and defeats each.
With the bat, Agarwal had a disappointing season, scoring just 196 runs at an average of 16.33 in 13 appearances. This is a significant drop from his 441 runs at an average of slightly over 40 runs in 2021. Given the abundance of choices at the top of the order, the Indian batter was demoted to the lower middle order.
Mayank Agarwal’s disappointing season could have been due to the pressure of captaincy getting to him. Punjab Kings may consider replacing the Indian captain with a new one so that their star may bat without being pressured. Shikhar Dhawan, a left-handed batter, is a possibility, or the Punjab Kings could go after an experienced international player in the next auction.
2) Mumbai Indians
For the first time in their historic IPL history, Mumbai Indians had their poorest ever season, finishing bottom on the points count. The five-time champions were the first team to be eliminated from the postseason race after winning just four games. Rohit Sharma and his teammates had to wait nine games to score their first points of the season.
Later in the year, Rohit Sharma may be forced to cede his captaincy responsibilities. The Indian hitter has been named India’s captain in all three formats, which will put a strain on him in the future. After led MI to five titles, the 35-year-old is considering stepping down as captain.
Furthermore, Rohit Sharma’s IPL 2022 performance was at an all-time low, as he failed to score a single half-century. He only managed to score 268 runs in 14 innings, averaging under 20 runs per inning. Mumbai has a few players who could step in and take over the captaincy from ‘The Hitman.’ Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah are two of the front-runners for the position.
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3) Chennai Super Kings
Just before the IPL 2022, MS Dhoni turned over the leadership to Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. However, Jadeja decided to step down as captain after a spate of losses in the first half of the season. As a result, MS Dhoni was reassigned as the captain of the Chennai Super Kings, a team he has guided to four IPL championships.
The Men in Yellow had a disastrous season, finishing ninth in the points standings with only four victories. Despite the fact that MS Dhoni has said that he will play for at least another year, there is still some uncertainty regarding his ability to lead the team next year.
Given that Ravindra Jadeja will most likely be absent from captaincy duties next season, Chennai Super Kings will have to start exploring for choices in the auction.