3 players who got India captaincy before leading franchises in IPL

Ajinkya Rahane. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Asian Games 2022 will be played in Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8. The men’s competition will be held from September 28 to October 8th. For the marquee event, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the men’s cricket team, which will be captained by a Maharashtra batter who has represented India in only 10 international matches thus far.

Prior to the team announcement, Shikhar Dhawan was expected to be in the team and lead the side but the selectors ignored the veteran and trusted a new face to captain India in the continental tournament. Following the emergence of the Indian Premier League (IPL), there are only a few instances to remember when players captained their national side ahead of leading a team in the IPL.

Here are the three players who got appointed as Team India skippers before captaining franchises in IPL

3. Jasprit Bumrah (2022)

Jasprit Bumrah is active for Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL since 2013. Currently, he is the second-highest wicket-taker for MI with 145 wickets in 120 matches at an economy of 7.39. Despite these incredible numbers, the pacer didn’t get a chance to become the deputy of Rohit Sharma in the MI squad.

Till 2022, Kieron Pollard was the vice-captain of MI as the franchise trusted the West Indies stalwart due to his vast experience. However, Bumrah got a chance to captain the Indian team in the rescheduled fifth Test against England at Edgbaston in 2022 due to Rohit Sharma’s absence due to an injury.

The speedster became the first fast bowler to captain India in whites in 35 years. Under Bumrah’s leadership, India failed to win the fifth Test as the hosts played aggressive cricket and clinched the game by seven wickets.

2. Ajinkya Rahane (2015)

Ajinkya Rahane was one of the integral parts of India’s team across formats from 2011 to 2015. Back in 2015, Rahane also got the responsibility to lead the Indian team in Zimbabwe for three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and T20 Internationals (T20Is). This was the first time, Rahane was seen captaining the Indian team.

In the ODI series, India whitewashed the hosts under Rahane while the T20I series got leveled as both India and Zimbabwe won one game apiece. Rahane was seen as Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain in IPL in 2018 when Steven Smith, the then RR regular captain got banned due to his infamous ball-tampering scandal along with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.

Rahane’s captaincy record for India has been amazing as he succeeded in winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 for the national side with his leadership skills. In IPL, he led Royals for 24 matches, in which the 2008 IPL champions won nine and lost 15.

1. Ruturaj Gaikwad

In Asian Games 2023 (which was scheduled for 2022 earlier), Ruturaj Gaikwad will join the list of India players who captained the national team before any IPL side. Instead of experienced Dhawan, the BCCI has given an opportunity to the 26-year-old to showcase his leadership and batting skills in the competition.

Earlier, Gaikwad grabbed eyeballs for his brilliant batting performance in IPL 2023. The right-handed batter chipped in with 590 runs in 15 innings of 16 matches in CSK’s record fifth title victory. In his four-year IPL career, Gaikwad has notched up 1797 runs in 52 matches at a strike rate of 135.52.

These numbers made him a credible figure to lead the Indian team in Asian Games which will be played in the T20 format. At the marquee event, his responsibility will be to display his leadership and batting talent and help India emerge as the best team.