IPL fever is on and fans are whole-heartedly supporting their favourite team and players. Things don’t seem to be going in favour of Delhi Daredevils (DD) and it’s on the 8th spot on IPL standings. The team has played a total of 6 matches so far out of which it has lost 5 matches and won only 1. Taking into account this miserable condition, Gautam Gambhir has made up mind of stepping down as DD captain.
The 36-yr cricketer led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to victory in two seasons and this season, he came back to DD for which he played initially. However, the owners didn’t get the expected result and thus, he took the decision of quitting captaincy.
It’s not for the first time that a captain abandoned captaincy in IPL or was removed and there have been some other instances too. Let’s take a look at them:
1. Harbhajan Singh in 2008
Sachin Tendulkar was leading Mumbai Indians (MI) but he took a back seat as he suffered groin injury. As a result, Harbhajan got a chance to lead the team; however, he indulged in slap-gate incident with S Sreesanth who was playing for Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and was suspended after his third game. Shaun Pollock was selected as the team’s third captain.
2. VVS Laxman in 2008
In 2008, i.e., the opening season, VVS Laxman dropped himself from Deccan Chargers (DC) as the team was performing miserably. Adam Gilchrist took the charge but couldn’t turn the table and DC ended up at the bottom in IPL standings. However, he led the team to victory in the next season.
3. Kevin Pietersen in 2009
Due to international commitments, Kevin Pietersen didn’t have any choice but to leave in mid and his place was taken by Anil Kumble. The skipper led RCB to finals; however, DC won the tournament that year.
4. Kumar Sangakkara in 2012
It was the last season of DC when Kumar Sangakkara decided to opt out and the charge was taken by Cameron White. Nevertheless, he couldn’t prove his skill as the team got the 9th place and was out of the tournament.
5. Daniel Vettori in 2012
Daniel Vettori was removed as the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain by management and the reason was his poor performance. Muttiah Muralitharan took the charge of lead spinner while Virat Kohli handled captaincy. Under Kohli’s leadership, the team won 6 out of 8 matches and now he’s among the best cricketers of the world.
6. Ricky Ponting in 2013
Ricky Ponting quit captaincy of MI midway and Rohit Sharma was appointed as the captain. The team won 8 out of the last 10 matches and even though it had to taste defeat to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Qualifier 1, the players fought back and defeated CSK in final, winning their first ever IPL title.
7. Shikhar Dhawan in 2014
Shikhar Dhawan made a score of 215 in 10 matches and the management of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) took the decision of replacing him with Darren Sammy who was serving as the captain of West Indies at that time. The team played better in his reign; however, they ended up at the 6th spot.
8. Shane Watson in 2015
People were quite shocked when Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Shane Watson didn’t come for toss and an announcement was made by Steve Smith that he would lead the team as Watson quit silently. RR’s performance improved a little but it ended up being at the 5th spot at the tournament’s end, not to forget to mention the match between MI and RR in which MI stopped RR from proceeding in playoff by successfully scoring 189 runs in just 14.4 overs.
9. David Miller in 2016
KXIP chose David Miller as the team’s skipper in spite of the fact that he didn’t have any experience of leadership. Under his reign, KXIP lost 5 out of 6 matches while the captain scored merely 76 runs. His charge was given to Murali Vijay; however, this change appeared to be of no use as the team lost 6 out of 9 matches in Murali Vijay’s captaincy.