IPL: 5 players who have surprisingly never captained their IPL franchise

In the last few years, it has been witnessed that the franchise owners and management in the Indian Premier League (IPL) are relying on more and more young and local players. Keeping their future in mind, they are not hesitating to hand over the reins of the team to these fresh talents. In 2013, Mumbai Indians (MI) trusted young Rohit Sharma to captain the team, and the flamboyant batter gave his team positive results, lifting the trophy. 

In the same season, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) also appointed 24-year-old Virat Kohli their captain. Unlike Mumbai, things weren’t rosy for Bangalore as they failed to win any title during Kohli’s captaincy stint that existed till 2021. Following RCB’s steps, some other franchises have also appointed young Indian players as their captains in recent years. However, the appointment of domestic talent has stunned some league watchers as they have started feeling that franchises could’ve given a chance to their top-performing veterans to lead their respective sides.

Here are five players who have never led their IPL franchises

5. Quinton de Kock

The South Africa wicketkeeper batter Quinton de Kock is active in the cash-rich league since 2013. In his IPL career, he has amassed 2764 runs in 92 matches at a strike rate of 133.91. The veteran became part of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the 2022 mega-auction at INR 6.75 crore. 

The new IPL franchise Lucknow assigned the role of a skipper to KL Rahul, who led the Punjab Kings (PBKS) side from 2018-2021. Going through the excellent records of de Kock, the franchise could have given the captaincy mantle to the Proteas keeper, but Rahul’s impressive batting numbers and captaincy experience won the trust of the LSG team management.

However, the South Africa opener did his job excellently in the maiden season for LSG. Scoring 508 runs with a ton and three fifties in 16 matches at a sensational strike rate of 148.97, he ended up as the third-leading run-scorer, following his teammate KL Rahul and Jos Buttler.