IPL 2024: Rating captaincy of all team leaders

Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The IPL 2024 came to an end with KKR beating SRH to win the title. It was a season where the batters enjoyed in the middle and the bowlers had to come up with special spells to stop the batters. They had to be guided well by their captains, coaches, and management. While some teams had good captains, other teams did not have a good decision-making process, which cost them some games.

Here is the ranking of the captains based on their decision-making in IPL 2024:

10. Hardik Pandya – 3.5/10

Hardik Pandya ( Source : IPL )

Hardik Pandya had the worst season as a captain. Pandya did not make good use of the spinners. Mohammad Nabi was underused as a player. With the new ball, he asked the hit-the-deck hard bowlers to deliver the goods.  There were constant changes in the team and the batting order. It was an off-season for Pandya as a captain. His form itself was a matter of concern in the first half of the season. Given his success in the past, this was surprisingly a poor season for Hardik as a skipper.

9. KL Rahul – 4.5/10

KL Rahul. (Source -IPL/BCCI)

KL Rahul did not have a good campaign as a skipper. As a captain, he made some questionable decisions. The bowlers were not backed enough and a few batters were not dropped despite performing badly. As a batter himself, he had a mediocre season where the batters were at their best. Some of the players did not even get a chance despite looking better than the ones in the playing XI. There were constant changes in batting orders that did not help the team’s cause. 

8. Rishabh Pant – 5/10 

Rishabh Pant. (Source -Twitter/X)

Rishabh Pant returned to action for the first time in over 15 months. After escaping a life-threatening accident, the star player made his comeback in cricket and did well as a batter. But as a skipper, he was not good enough. DC’s bowlers were average and some of Pant’s decisions were questionable. As an example, Abhishek Porel was constantly chopped and changed in the batting order, and there was no clarity in roles for the players which did not help DC. Pant would need to get better for the next season.

7. Ruturaj Gaikwad – 5.5/10

Ruturaj Gaikwad. (Source -IPL/BCCI)

Ruturaj Gaikwad led CSK for the first time in IPL history. His captaincy was not that good. In many games, there was a constant change in the batting order that did not help the players. CSK backed some of the players like Ajinkya Rahane, Sameer Rizvi, Shardul Thakur, and Deepak Chahar a bit more than they should have. Gaikwad has a lot to improve. CSK also made constant changes that seemed to have affected the mindset of the players.

6. Shubman Gill – 6.5/10

Shubman Gill. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Shubman Gill led the Gujarat Titans for the first time. Barring a few questionable decisions, he actually did well as a skipper. The youngster had a difficult challenge as only a handful of players in GT were in form. The bad form of many players meant GT could not qualify for the playoffs for the first time in IPL history. He looked composed under pressure and got the right combination of bowlers for different roles. But Gill did a decent job as a captain. 

5. Sam Curran – 7/10

Sam Curran. (Source -IPL/BCCI)

Sam Curran’s captaincy has gone unnoticed due to the performances of PBKS. Moreover, he led PBKS in 8 games. When Shikhar Dhawan got injured midway through the tournament, Curran led PBKS well. As a skipper, he backed the players despite their bad performances. Most importantly, he got the bowlers to do well more often than not. The star all-rounder bowled well himself and was handy as a batter. In crunch moments, he made the right decisions. Though some of them did not go well, his captaincy was good.

4. Faf Du Plessis – 7/10

Faf Duplessis. (Source -IPL/BCCI)

Faf du Plessis made some bad decisions in the first few matches. But with the progression of the tournament, he got the best from the players. As a batter, Du Plessis fired in the second half. The bowling changes got better with every match. One of the main reasons behind the incredible turnaround was assigning certain roles to the players.  Under the South African, RCB won six of their last six league matches to enter the playoffs dramatically.

3. Sanju Samson – 8.5/10

Sanju Samson. (Source -IPL)

Sanju Samson did well as a captain. RR qualified for the playoffs pretty comfortably and seemed to end the group stage at the top at one stage. Despite only two of their batters being in good form, Samson has got the best from his bowlers around whom the team has rallied well. Be it the powerplay overs, middle overs, or death overs, RR bowlers have done well. It is their batters who let them down. 

2. Pat Cummins – 9/10

Pat Cummins. (Source -Twitter/X)

Pat Cummins was brilliant as a captain. Despite having a mediocre bowling lineup, SRH managed to get wins at a good rate, thanks to the inspirational captaincy of Cummins. Having done well for Australia which has a good set of players, the challenge for the star player was to transform the fortunes of SRH. And he did exactly that. The batters changed the dynamics of the league by their attacking approach. All in all, Cummins got the best from many players in this campaign.

1. Shreyas Iyer – 9/10

Shreyas Iyer (Photo Source – Twitter/X)

Shreyas Iyer was arguably the captain of the season. His decision-making has been good as there have been no major flaws observed in his leadership. The star player did not have a great season as a batter himself but has gotten good contributions from many batters. He performed well in the semifinal when it mattered. KKR had the best balance between bat and ball. The major reason behind it has been the selection of the players and, in turn, the performances of the players.