The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been suspended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) till April 15. The decision has been made after the Government of India’s (GOI) order, which stated that all tourist visas and e-visas granted on or before March 11 has been suspended due to Coronavirus outbreak.
BCCI issued a statement which said, ”The Board has decided to suspend IPL 2020 till April 15, 2020, as a precautionary measure against the ongoing Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) situation. The BCCI is concerned and sensitive about all its stakeholders and public health in general, and it is taking all necessary steps to ensure that all people related to IPL, including fans, have a safe cricketing experience.”
Coming back to IPL, the opening game was supposed to be played between reigning champions Mumbai Indians (MI) and runner-ups of last season Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Wankhede Stadium.
Assuming If IPL gets started from April 15, then surely it will be a cracker of a season. All the eight teams look solid on paper and will exhibit world-class shows in the upcoming edition.
Behind any team’s success, the role of its captain is vital, and IPL has produced great skippers over the years.
In a video posted on his official Facebook account, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra rated the IPL captains in order from low to high.
At number 8, Chopra went for KL Rahul, who will be captaining an IPL franchise for the first time in the upcoming season. Kings XI Punjab named Rahul as the leader of their side after Ravichandran Ashwin’s departure.
For number 7, cricketer-turned-commentator picked Delhi Capitals’, Shreyas Iyer. Iyer proved his captaincy in the previous season when he guided his side to the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
At number 6, Chopra chose Australian opener David Warner, who has now been re-appointed as the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad. The pocket dynamite missed the 2018 season due to his ban to play any form of cricket imposed by Cricket Australia after a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.
Warner returned to play IPL 2019 but only as a batsman. He showcased tremendous form and finished the tournament as the highest run-scorer. Now he has replaced Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson who led SRH in 2019. Under Warner’s leadership, Sunrisers won their first and only IPL title in 2016.
For number 5, the 42-year-old picked Dinesh Karthik, who led Kolkata Knight Riders in the last two seasons. Karthik didn’t have a good show in the previous season, but he has all the potential to come back.
After Karthik, Chopra went for India and Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli for the number four position. Chopra said that the reason to pick Kohli at No.4 is that his performance as a skipper isn’t up to the mark to be featured amongst the top three in IPL.
For the top three positions, Chopra picked Rajasthan Royals’ Steve Smith, Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma, and Chennai Super Kings’ MS Dhoni.
Rohit being the most successful captain having won the maximum four titles, has been placed at number two by Chopra. On the other hand, Dhoni, who led Super Kings to three titles, has been rated as the best skipper of IPL by Chopra.
Chopra gave the reason behind picking Dhoni over Rohit, stating that MSD has far better resources than Rohit.
