Heading into the 2022 IPL Auction, there are still three Indian Premier League teams – RCB, KKR, PBKS – that are without a standout captaincy option for the upcoming season. Virat Kohli has explicitly stated that he will not be captaining the Royal Challengers Bangalore beyond 2021, while Kolkata and Punjab chose not to retain their captains – KL Rahul and Eoin Morgan – from last season. For all three of these teams, the 2022 IPL auction is of prime importance as, along with building a balanced team, they also need to find a skipper who will lead the side for the foreseeable future.
Here are five probable captaincy candidates’ teams could consider at the 2022 IPL auction.
1. David Warner
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Most IPL teams opt against appointing an overseas captain as that player might not always be selected in the first-choice starting XI while also not being fully in-tune with the young domestic players available. However, one option for teams to consider in the 2022 IPL auction is Australian David Warner. Although Warner has hardly captained his country, the opener has a stellar record as the skipper of the Sunrisers Hyderabad, finishing with a win percentage of 52% and leading the team to an IPL trophy in 2016.
2. Shreyas Iyer
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As a relatively young Indian batter who has established himself on the international stage, Shreyas Iyer could spark a major bidding war at the 2022 IPL auction by the teams that desperately need a captain this season. Iyer has won an impressive 21 of his 41 matches as captain of the Delhi Capitals, and the 27-year-old led the team to their first IPL final in 2020. The Mumbai batter has already had three years of captaincy experience in the IPL and could be the best option for teams looking for a long-term leader in this auction.
3. Ravichandran Ashwin
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One left-field captaincy pick for teams could be off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who has already had some prior IPL leadership experience with Punjab and is one of the few veteran Indians still available at the auction. Although Ashwin endured an unsuccessful spell as captain of Kings XI Punjab in 2018 and 2019, the off-spinner is one of the most experienced T20 players in Indian cricket and could potentially work well alongside Virat Kohli as captain of RCB.
4. Faf du Plessis
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Another foreign batter who could be considered as a viable captaincy option for IPL teams this season is South African opener Faf du Plessis. At age 37, Du Plessis isn’t the ideal long-term solution for the IPL teams lacking leadership, but the former CSK batter has captained his country in all three formats and has plenty of T20 experience after playing in franchise leagues across the world. Du Plessis also has a stellar record with the bat in the IPL, finishing last season as the second-highest scorer in the league and averaging over 30 at a strike rate of 130 in a century of matches in the Indian Premier League.
5. Shikhar Dhawan
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Shikhar Dhawan could be in demand at the 2022 IPL auction considering his stellar form for India and Delhi Capitals in white-ball cricket over the past few years. The 36-year-old has scored over 500 runs in each of the last three IPLs and has also adapted his game to the demands of modern T20 cricket, raising his strike rate to above 130 over the past few seasons. Dhawan’s previous captaincy experience in the IPL was back in 2014 with SRH, but the left-hander recently led the Men in Blue on their tour to Sri Lanka in 2021 and is one of the most experienced Indian internationals available at the auction.
[Featured Image Credit: ANI]
Shivaan Shah