The player under the most pressure in an IPL season is the captain. No matter which franchise, the skipper is always under pressure because the franchise expects a lot from the team, and it is the leader’s responsibility to get the job done after the team management assembles the best possible squad at the IPL Auction.
However, not every captain has had a successful IPL season. Some of them underperformed both as a captain and a player. Hence, even though they started an IPL season as the skipper of their franchise, they ended the tournament on the bench. Here’s a list of five such players.
1. Kumar Sangakkara – IPL 2013, Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunrisers Hyderabad feature multiple times on this list. The first time a captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team benched himself was in 2013 when Kumar Sangakkara handed over the team’s reins to Cameron White. Sangakkara had scored only 120 runs in nine matches at a strike rate of 88 that season.
2. Daniel Vettori – IPL 2012, Royal Challengers Bangalore
Daniel Vettori captained Royal Challengers Bangalore at the start of the 2012 season. However, after he failed to take wickets consistently, he handed over captaincy to Virat Kohli. Muralitharan replaced Vettori in the playing XI.
3. Ricky Ponting – IPL 2013, Mumbai Indians
There were two foreign captains who started IPL 2013 as captains but ended up on the bench. One was Kumar Sangakkara, and the second was Ricky Ponting. Ricky stepped down as captain and gave the captaincy to Rohit Sharma. MI won the tournament that year.
4. Gautam Gambhir – IPL 2018, Delhi Daredevils
Gautam Gambhir played his last IPL season for the Delhi Daredevils in 2018. He started as the team captain, but after some disappointing performances with the willow, Gambhir stepped down. Shreyas Iyer became the new skipper of the Delhi-based franchise.
5. David Warner – IPL 2021, Sunrisers Hyderabad
The latest name to appear on this list is David Warner. The Sunrisers Hyderabad sacked him as captain in the first phase of IPL 2021. Kane Williamson replaced him as the skipper. In Phase 2, Warner played two matches but due to lack of form, he was benched.
