Stats: Youngest captains in the Twenty20 format

India’s domestic Twenty20 competition Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament offered a lot of surprises so far in the view of 2018 IPL player auctions. The specialist bowlers turned to bat up the order taking up the pinch hitters role while the regular batsmen offered variety with the ball by rolling their arms in hope of falling in the eyes of the franchises. On the sidelines, Team Rajasthan handed over the captaincy to an 18-year-old for the Super League round.

Pankaj Singh, who led Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy, missed out from playing the tournament. The left-arm pacer Aniket Chowdhary took up the responsibilities for the Zonal round. Aniket led the team with economical spells as they won four of their five matches to top the Central Zone. However, Mahipal Lormor was given the responsibilities in the absence of Aniket for the Super League round. He started his captaincy career successfully with the wins against Jharkhand and Karnataka.

The left-handed all-rounder sizzled in the Under-19 World Cup in 2016 falling into everyone’s eyes with his big-hitting ability and left-arm spin. Lormor was picked by Delhi Daredevils later that year and made his professional debut for Rajasthan in the 2016/17 and soon became a regular member of his team. On Monday, when Lormor walked out for toss against Jharkhand, he became the 2nd youngest captain in the Twenty20 history. At the age of 18 years and 67 days, Lormor is older than only Taimur Ali (who led Quetta Bears in 2009) to lead a team in the T20 format.

Lormor is also the only Indian and one of the five players to lead a side in this format before turning 19. Rashid Khan, at the age of 18 years and 357 days, led his team in the last year’s Afghanistan Domestic T20 tournament to join this rare list. The previous youngest Indian to lead a side in the Twenty20 format was Rohit Motwani of Maharashtra in 2014 who led for the first time at the age of 19 years and 90 days. Dinesh Chandimal is another known name among the youngest captains in this format as he led a side in the Sri Lankan domestic cricket in 2008 at the age of 18 years and 357 days.

Youngest players to lead a team in the Twenty20 cricket:

These cricketing stats are as on 23rd Jan 2018. For live updates on IPL auction 2018 and other important news in cricket world, keep following www.crictracker.com