Top 5 IPL Captains who deserved IPL trophies but failed to win

Jul 4, 2016 at 11:18 AM

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Top 5 IPL Captains who deserved IPL trophies but failed to win

IPL 2016 was 9th season of Indian Premier League (IPL). In these 9 seasons, IPL produced some great captains who motivated their teams hugely. Some of ended as successful while some of them failed to win the trophy despite deserving that.

In this article, we will talk about those top 5 captains who deserved IPL trophy due to their great and motivated captaincies, but failed to win that.

  1. Rahul Dravid (Rajasthan Royals – 2013) – 3rd

Rahul Dravid is known as one of the best IPL captain. After winning the inaugural IPL trophy (2008), Rajasthan Royals had not run well in next 4 IPL season as they finished 6th (2009), 7th (2010), 6th (2011) and 7th position (2012) respectively. However after taking captaincy in 2012, Rahul Dravid also not started very well as his team finished at 7th out of 9 teams in that year where his team only managed to win 7 matches.

Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid

But things were changed in IPL 2013 where Rajasthan Royals played very well under Dravid’s captaincy. With very limited foreign star cast, the team equally depended on Indian cricketers. Under Dravid’s captaincy, some new cricketers performed very well along with international stars. Ajinkya Rahane, currently one of India’s talented batsman, was the biggest discovered by Rahul Dravid during his captaincy for Rajasthan Royals.

In 2013 IPL, Rajasthan Royals performed well as they finished 3rd position in the points table after the end of double-round robin system. During the double round robin system, Rajasthan Royals won 10 matches while they lost 6 matches. The team was excellent during their home games in IPL 2013 as they won all the home matches (8 matches) but their performances were heavily decreased during away games as they won only 2 away matches out of 8 matches in IPL 2013 group stage. However at later of group stage in IPL 2013, the spot-fixing charges against three Rajasthan Royals cricketers (S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan) shook heavily to the team.

Rajasthan Royals 2013
Rajasthan Royals 2013

Later in the play-offs of IPL 2013, Rajasthan Royals won in the Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) but lost in the next game in Qualifier 2 against Mumbai Indians (MI). Though the team finished at 3rd position in IPL 2013, but under Dravid’s captaincy the team once again landed up in their respectable position.

After that IPL 2013, Rajasthan Royals also performed well in Champions League 2013 under Dravid’s captaincy where the team finished as runner-up.

  1. Virender Sehwag (Delhi Daredevils – 2012) – 3rd

IPL 2012 was one of the best season for Delhi Daredevils (DD) where Virender Sehwag led that team. Under Virender Sehwag’s captaincy, DD performed very well in IPL 2012 while the team had finished at the last position (10th) in the points table in previous IPL season (IPL 2011).

Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag

Sehwag had taken captaincy of Delhi Daredevils from the inaugural IPL (IPL 2008). Before IPL 2012, DD once performed well during IPL 2009 where they ended at top of the table after the end of group stage but lost in the semi-final.

In 2012 IPL, Delhi once again performed very well as they finished at top of the table at the end of group stage competition. Out of 16 matches in the group stage of IPL 2012, Delhi won 11 matches. Sehwag led his team from the front as he scored 495 runs in that tournament after playing 16 matches. Sehwag hit 5 half-centuries in the tournament and he ended as fifth most runs scorer of IPL 2012. He batted in his popular aggressive style as he finished with 161.4 strike rate.

Delhi Daredevils 2012
Delhi Daredevils 2012

Later in play-offs, Delhi Daredevils lost both Qualifiers (Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2) and finished at third position in IPL 2012. Though Delhi Daredevils failed to qualify in final of IPL 2012, but their improving performances in IPL made happy to the IPL fans, specially comparing their performances with previous IPL year (last position at the points table in IPL 2011). Sehwag led his team from the front in IPL 2012 which bought reliability of his team in IPL.     

  1. George Bailey (Kings XI Punjab – 2014) – Runner-up

Till the date, George Bailey was the best captain of Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in IPL history, yet he failed to bring the IPL trophy in KXIP dressing room. After showing good performance in inauguration IPL (IPL 2008), where KXIP were semi-finalist, KXIP never qualified again in the semi-final/playoffs before IPL 2014.

George Bailey
George Bailey

KXIP captaincy was handed over to George Bailey for IPL 2014. From the beginning of the tournament, KXIP ran outstandingly well under Bailey’s captaincy. During the UAE tour, KXIP finished unbeaten as they won 5 out of 5 matches. After that in India, Bailey leading KXIP never broke that fine momentum despite few loss. At the end of group stage competition, KXIP finished at the top of the table with 22 points in 14 matches. During group stage fight, KXIP won 11 games and lost only 3 games.

Kings XI Punjab 2014
Kings XI Punjab 2014

Then in the playoffs, though KXIP lost in Qualifier 1 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), but entered in the IPL 2014 final after winning in Qualifier 2 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). KXIP was very close to win IPL 2014 but finally failed from inches away as KKR snatched the trophy at the very last moment. Though KXIP lost the final match of IPL 2014 but they played dangerously and greatly in the whole tournament under Bailey’s captaincy. With that captaincy of Bailey, KXIP images went on high which will be never down.      

  1. Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore – 2016) – Runner-up

Virat Kohli is the captain who leading his team from the front. IPL 2016 was memorable for Virat Kohli as a captain as well as a player. In IPL 2016, Virat won “Player of the tournament award”, “Orange Cap” and “Maximum Sixes Award” by his great batting performances. Virat scored 973 runs in 16 matches of IPL 2016 with 4 centuries and 7 half-centuries. It was the most runs scored by any batsman in an IPL season.

Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli

But as a captain, Virat Kohli was marvelous for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2016. At the middle of group stage in IPL 2016, RCB was at lower position in the points table as RCB only managed to win 2 matches out of first 7 matches. At that moment, it was very tough believe that the team would qualify for the play-off as their bowling was very weak. Despite having good batting line-up and putting big total on the board, bowlers were constantly failing to defend those total.

But never give up mind set-up Virat Kohli showed terrific captaincy in next seven matches where RCB hugely turned around the table with 6 wins and finished at second position in the points table at the end of group stage competition. The weak bowling was looking much better during second half as few times it proved as a match winner. With his destructive batting and never give up captaincy, Virat moved his team into one of favourite team in IPL 2016.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 2016
Royal Challengers Bangalore 2016

Later during play-offs, RCB won the Qualifier 1 and entered into the final of IPL 2016. RCB was favourite in the final but unfortunately lost against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). However, Virat Kohli’s captaincy earned lots of respect along with his team efforts from the cricket world which was not scratched after the IPL 2016 final defeat. 

  1. Anil Kumble (Royal Challengers Bangalore – 2009) – Runner-up

Anil Kumble was one of greatest captain in IPL history, yet he never won IPL trophies as a captain. However, in IPL 2009 he was not first choice captain for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Kevin Pietersen was first choice captain for RCB in IPL 2009. After a disastrous run in inaugural IPL (IPL 2008) as they finished at 7th position out of 8 teams, it was looking that the run would take continue in IPL 2009 while RCB lost 4 matches out of first 6 matches under Kevin Pietersen captaincy (won 2 matches).

Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble

After that, Kevin Pietersen left IPL due to fulfil his international commitments with England and Anil Kumble replaced him as captain. After taking charge of RCB, Anil Kumble totally changed team’s image as team lost only 2 matches out of next 8 matches of IPL 2009 group stage. Like other best captains, Anil Kumble too led his team from the front as his team won 6 matches in IPL 2009 group stage after taking his captaincy. Kumble was second highest wicket-taker in IPL 2009 with 21 wickets.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 2009
Royal Challengers Bangalore 2009

RCB beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) quite easily in IPL 2009 semi-final but ended inches away to win the trophy as they lost against Deccan Chargers (DC) by just 6 runs in the final of IPL 2009. Even despite the loss in the final match, Anil Kumble won “Player of the match” award for his brilliant bowling effort (4/16). Kumble tried very hard to win that trophy, but failed that at the very last and close moment. However, he won heart with his captaincy and bowling in the IPL 2009.

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