When it comes to the most successful IPL captains, the two names that automatically come to mind are Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni, but surprisingly, the name Gautam Gambhir is not mentioned. In addition to Rohit Sharma and Dhoni of the Mumbai Indians in Chennai Super Kings, Gautam Gambhir is the only other captain to have lifted an IPL title more than once, leading Kolkata Knight Riders to victory in 2012 and 2014.
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This year, with Dinesh Karthik handing over the KKR captaincy to Eoin Morgan midway through the 2020 IPL, to focus on hitting, it was a decision that drew mixed reviews. Former captain Gambhir was not entirely in favor of the move, believing that KKR would have been better off without the changing of the guard. Citing his own example, Gambhir explained how the added responsibility of the captaincy can help improve a hitter.
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“It just shows the mindset. You left the captaincy because you wanted to focus on hitting, but then it didn’t work out, so it’s probably good sometimes when you take responsibility, “Gambhir told Cricket.com. “Than I realized when I was at a worse stage in 2014. I got three ducks in a row when we started the tournament. It was the captaincy that helped me get back into shape.
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“And the reason because when I wasn’t hitting, I was thinking about how to make the team win through my captaincy and decision making. But when you’re not captaining, you’re thinking even more about your hitting. “
Despite the presence of big-name patrons like Dhoni and Morgan, Gambhir has gone ahead with a completely different player as his pick for the captain of his fantasy team for the 49th game of the 2020 Indian Premier League between CSK and KKR on Friday. .
CSK may be knocked out of the 2020 IPL, but it may act as party spoilers for KKR, which is currently in fifth place and needs to win the remaining two games to have a shot at the IPL playoffs. With so much at stake, Dhoni and Morgan’s team would be eager to outperform the other. Dhoni and Morgan are World Cup winning captains and led their teams to World Cup titles in 2011 and 2019 respectively.
But Gambhir, a former captain who twice won the IPL with KKR in 2012 and 2014, chose the all-rounder Sunil Narine as the captain of his fantasy team. Gambhir included Dhoni in his XI, but as the team’s wicketkeeper batsman over Dinesh Karthik.
“The reason I chose MS Dhoni is that he can captain the team better than Eoin Morgan and at the same time he’s in reasonably better shape than Dinesh Karthik,” Gambhir said.
Narine returned to his form in KKR’s game against Delhi Capitals, smoking 64 runs, even though his form on the ball has been a bit of a concern.
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