Indian Premier League: Just four more matches are remaining in the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League. The playoff one match will be played between the teams of Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders. These two franchise sides are on the one and two position on the points table.
This game between KKR and SRH will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, 21st May 2024 at Shri Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The match will start at 7.30 PM Indian Standard Time (IST) and Local, 2 PM GMT. Star Sports will telecast this match live and the cricket lovers can watch this game free on JIO Cinema mobile application.
As we all know that the wicketkeepers are very important players in the game of cricket. A team cannot be completed without a player who should be behind the stumps. Now a days, a wicketkeeper is not a gloveman, but he is also a batsmen and since some years, the glove men have been given an additional responsibility of leading their teams.
In International cricket, many wicketkeepers have led their teams and the same trend has been followed in the Indian Premier League as well. Today we shall name all the wicketkeepers who have captained their IPL franchise teams in this segment. However only two wicketkeepers have won the titles as skippers in this cash rich league tournament.
The former wicket keeper batter of the Aussie nation also captained two teams in the Indian Premier League history. Gilchrist was the skipper of the Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab franchise sides. Gilly led the Deccan Chargers to their title win in 2009. But he couldn’t do the same with Kings XI Punjab later.
The Kiwi batter Brendon McCullum who had set the first ever Indian Premier League season match with a magnificent century for KKR was appointed as the leader of the same franchise side later in 2009 TATA IPL season. But the captaincy stint didn’t go well for BAZ.
As a skipper of the Purple Army that season, Brendon won just three matches in that edition. The Kolkata Knight Riders finished last on the points table that year and after that this player from New Zealand was never asked to lead any IPL franchise team ever.
The team of Kochi Tuskers Kerla (KTK) was led by Parthiv Patel in the Indian Premier League season of 2011. He replaced the Sri Lankan legend, Mahela Jayawerdene as the skipper of that franchise side in that edition.
The current wicketkeeper and finisher of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Dinesh Karthik, was the skipper of the Kolkata Knight Riders team. DK led the Purple Army franchise side from 2018 to 2022. Dinesh was also one of the successful skippers of the KKR franchise side in the IPL.
The Karnataka wicketkeeper batter, Kannur Lokesh Rahul has also led the Indian Cricket team in the past whenever Rohit Sharma wasn’t available. He was the skipper of Punjab Kings and since TATA IPL 2022, KL Rahul has led the team of Lucknow Super Giants.
As of now, Rahul is yet to win a title as the wicketkeeper captain in this T20 tournament. In last two editions of the Indian Premier League, LSG had qualified for the playoffs. But this time, they have failed to make it to the top 4.
This wicketkeeper batter has been selected in the T20 World Cup 2024. Rishabh Pant is the skipper of the Delhi Capitals. He missed quite a few matches after he survived a car accident in 2022. Now Pant performed well in this season of the Indian Premier League and he is also the front runner to be in India’s playing XI for the World T20 in USA and Caribbean.
The skipper of Rajasthan Royals, Sanju Samson is the second wicketkeeper who has been chosen for the world cup event of the shortest format. Sanju has been good as a batter in this year’s Indian Premier League. His team RR is in the playoffs and this time, Samson will look to end the 15 years of trophyless drought in this TATA IPL 2024.
This list of the wicketkeeper skippers of the Indian Premier League cannot end without the mention of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Mahi was the skipper of Chennai Super Kings till the last edition of 2023. Now he has passed the rich legacy to Ruturaj Gaikwad in this season of TATA IPL 2024.
However, CSK didn’t qualify for the playoffs and now it remains to seen whether MSD will take the captaincy back from Rutu in the next IPL season or not. Mahi Bhai has led the Yellow Army franchise from 2008 to 2023. In 2016 and 2017, Dhoni had also captained the team of Raising Pune Supergiants.
