IPL 2018: Captains who have stepped down mid-season

In one of the most recent off the field news that hit the headlines regarding the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been the stepping down of Gautam Gambhir from his captaincy stint for his home team Delhi Daredevils. The skipper has taken the onus on himself for the disheartening performance from a group of players who were reckoned as the best, the franchise has ever had.

Despite some quality players featuring in their ranks, Delhi has been languishing at the bottom of the table with five losses in the six games played so far in the tournament. The skipper has faced much of the ire from his fans and thus, decided to nominate a youngster in Shreyas Iyer to take his reigns at the helm of the team.

Disappointment with the bat

Being one of the most experienced campaigners in the side, Gambhir has failed to lead the side from the front. His failure with the bat has raised questions over his spot in the team. In the six outings, the 36-year-old has so far managed 85 runs, of which 55 came in Daredevils’ first game. As a result, he decided to step down from his duties for the team and will carry on solely as a batsman.

However, this is not the first occasion when players have taken this bold decision for the betterment of the side. In past, there have been instances in the league, when players have left their duties in the mid-season. We take a glimpse of what perturbed the eventual to happen.

Here are the previous instances:

2008: VVS Laxman makes way for Adam Gilchrist 

After a bad start to the tournament for the Deccan Chargers, the skipper in VVS Laxman decided to leave his reigns to be carried forward by the Australian great, Adam Gilchrist. However, even the explosive wicket-keeper batsmen couldn’t bring a change in the fortunes of the team as they finished last in the inaugural season but led the side to glory in the 2nd edition in 2009.

2008: Pollock takes the charge after Harbhajan got involved in the Slap-gate incident

It was the third skipper of the season for the Mumbai Indians after Tendulkar was out pertaining to a groin injury that presented Harbhajan Singh with an opportunity to lead the side. However, it was just in their 3rd match that the Turbanator had to sit out as an aftermath of getting involved in the ugly Slap-gate incident with KXIP’s bowler S Sreesanth. He had to pave way for South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock to lead the side.

2009: Anil Kumble replaces Kevin Pietersen

This came in as a forced change when Pietersen, owing to his International commitments had to opt out and thus making for Kumble to lead the side in his absence. It was eventually that the red army reached their maiden IPL final before losing it out to Deccan Chargers.

2012: Kohli adorns the skipper’s role for the first time

It was well before 2013 when Kohli was appointed as the skipper of the team in 2012 after Daniel Vettori was sacked from his duties pertaining to his poor form. The youngster managed six wins in the eight matches that he led as the team narrowly missed out on the qualification for the playoffs.

2012: Sangakkara drops himself

It was one of the firsts of its own kind when the Sri Lankan Legend dropped himself from the side after the dismal run of the Deccan Chargers in the league. He was then replaced by Cameron White at the helm as the Chargers finished at the Ninth spot before bowing out of the tournament.

2013: Ponting paves way for a youngster

The decision to step down as the skipper for his franchise took everyone by surprise as he paved way for a youngster in Rohit Sharma to lead the side. Rohit was banged on as he won six out of the eight matches to ride his team to the playoffs. They lost in the Qualifier 1 to CSK but fought back and claimed their first title beating CSK in the final. Sharma went to lead MI to a Champions League T20 title as well.

2014: Sammy takes over from Dhawan

After his captaincy duties were starting to hamper Shikhar as a batsman, SRH management decided to drop the skipper to replace him with Darren Sammy for the rest of the season. Dhawan could only muster 215 runs in 10 matches as a skipper but a better performance from the team later helped them to finish six in the points table.

2015: Steve Smith replaces Shane Watson

One of the most astounding decisions of the league that saw Steve Smith take up the role of skipper for Rajasthan when Shane Watson didn’t appear at one of the tosses, as he had quietly stepped aside. Rajasthan, in one of the most unlikely fashions, bowed out of the tournament to finish fifth when they lost to Mumbai, after failing to defend 189 in 14.4 overs.

2016: Murali Vijay in, Miller out – no change in result

After a disappointing season in 2015, Kings XI retained Miller to be announced as the skipper for the side. He could only muster 76 runs from six innings with five losses during his tenure as the skipper. Murali Vijay took over, but the fortunes remained unchanged, as Vijay endured six losses in the next nine games.