Who is the best captain in IPL history?
The names of Mahendra Singh Dhoni of Chennai Super Kings and Rohit Sharma of Mumbai Indians will definitely come up in this discussion. The Indian franchise has shared 9 T20 League titles between them. Dhoni has won four IPL titles, Rohit has won 5 titles.
Sunil Gavaskar feels why Rohit is lagging behind Dhoni despite winning 5 IPL titles. Gavaskar feels that Rohit has left Dhoni behind in terms of bringing young talent to the fore in the IPL. But Rohit never got the credit he deserved.
In this year’s IPL as well, Rohit brought new talent to the fore. He played Akash Madhavwal in the Eliminator episode. The pacer bowled 3.3 overs against Lucknow Supergiants and took 5 wickets for just 5 runs. Mumbai won by 81 runs against Lucknow in his spell. That is the best bowling in the IPL by a bowler who has not played international cricket. First feat of taking 5 wickets in play-offs too.
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Madhavwal also played cricket in 2019 called tape tennis. But Rohit saw the light of talent in him. The Mumbai captain got results by playing him in one of their most important matches in this year’s IPL. Gavaskar’s observation, however, is different. Had this Madhavwal been the anointed of Chennai Super Kings, then many would have given credit to Dhoni. Everyone used to talk about Dhoni’s vision. The former India captain was lauded for bringing out the talent.
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Rohit is getting that achievement? Gavaskar doesn’t think so, ‘Rohit is definitely very underrated. He has won 5 IPL titles with Mumbai. Let me give an example. Akash Madhavwal bowls Ayush Badani over the wicket. He went round the wicket on the very next ball. Nicholas Puran was batting then. Not everyone will do it—especially when he has success bowling over the wicket, other bowlers will try to go round the wicket and take the ball outside the left-handed batsman. But through Madhavwal, Rohit took the ball inside Nicholas Puran. The old ones are out. Had Dhoni done it, there would have been a lot of talk about his captaincy. But Rohit is not getting enough credit.’
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Gavaskar gives yet another example of Rohit not getting enough credit. That is to bat first and use Nehal Wadhera as an impact batsman against Lucknow, ‘Usually a team doesn’t play a batsman as an impact batsman if they bat first. But Rohit played Wadhera. This is another example of his brilliant captaincy. So I think everyone should give enough credit to Rohit.’
