Aakash Chopra rates all the captains ahead of IPL 2020

The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is knocking at the doors. The much-awaited season of the cash-rich league starts later this month on March 29 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. As per the tradition, the defending champions will be playing the tournament opener and thus Mumbai Indians (MI) will take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the first game of the season.

All the eight teams are looking solid on paper and one expects a cracking season once again. With all the teams having most of their bases covered, it is a bit tough now to pick the clear favourites. While the traditional heavyweights like Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata will be looking to extend their dominance, the likes of Royal Challengers and Kings XI will be desperate to put up a good show.

Aakash Chopra picks Smith ahead of Kohli

While only time will tell how the captains fare in the upcoming season of the IPL, former India opener Aakash Chopra has already rated the captains. In a video posted on his official Facebook account, the former cricketer-turned commentator, who plied his trade for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, rated the captains in order from low to high.

At number 8, he went for KL Rahul who will be leading an IPL time for the first time in his career. After Ravichandran Ashwin’s departure, Kings XI Punjab named Rahul as the captain of their side. Chopra picked Delhi Capitals’ Shreyas Iyer at number seven. Iyer proved his captaincy mettle last year when he led Delhi to the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

At number six, the 42-year-old went for David Warner who has been re-appointed as the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad. Warner missed the 2018 season in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal and returned to IPL last year but only as a batsman. He finished the tournament as the highest run-scorer and has now replaced Williamson as the captain. Warner is the most successful captain for the Sunrisers, having led them to their first and only IPL title so far in 2016.

For number five, Aakash Chopra picked Dinesh Karthik who led Kolkata Knight Riders in the last two seasons. Karthik was followed by India and Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli at number four. Chopra pointed out Kohli’s poor track record as captain in IPL and said that he could have been at number five too.

In the top three, Aakash Chopra picked Rajasthan Royals’ Steve Smith, Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma and Chennai Super Kings’ MS Dhoni. Smith, who is at number three in Chopra’s list, is yet to win the IPL as captain. The former Delhi cricketer went for Rohit at number two despite the latter being the most successful captain in the history of IPL if winning the tournament is concerned.

He is the only captain to have won four titles. Dhoni, who has led Super Kings to three titles, took the top spot in the list. Aakash Chopra stated that Dhoni pipped Rohit to the top spot only because the latter has far better resources than the former.

Here is the full video: