Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, who covered the entire season of Indian Premier League and understands Indian cricket very well, has now ranked all the skippers involved in the league. After another season of disappointment with the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the stocks of Virat Kohli as the skipper of the side has only plummeted.
While Manjrekar ranked MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma very highly, he gave young Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer more points than Kohli. MS Dhoni received a solid 9 out of 10 from Manjrekar - one point was docked for carrying Shane Watson for far too long in the tournament.
Rohit Sharma, who clinched his fourth IPL title, was awarded 8 out of 10 from Manjrekar, who was mighty impressed with the right-hander for his balanced approach and the ability to get the best out of the big names in his side. However, he did believe that Rohit could have handled Kieron Pollard better and made better use of him as a batsman.
'Rohit is very reliable, balanced captain'
"Rohit Sharma has been around for a long time. Very reliable, balanced captain. Doesn't make too many major mistakes. Knows how to handle some of the big guns in the team… I just like the ways he conducts the business out there," Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.
Awarding Kings XI Punjab captain, Ravichandran Ashwin a solid 7 out of 10, Manjrekar hailed him as an excellent prospect as a captain and a player as each of his moves has a specific thought process. "There is always some thought going on in every move and every selection," Manjrekar said.
Rajasthan Royals, who struggled to get going right through the season, even saw a change in their leadership as Ajinkya Rahane was shunted aside and was replaced by Steve Smith midway through the tournament. While Rahane received a mere 5 out of 10, Steve Smith bagged 6 points.
Young Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer, who was on point with many of his moves impressed Manjrekar a lot as was awarded 8 out of 10. It was a rating which was more than what Virat Kohli received (6 out of 10).
Kane Williamson got 7 while Manjrekar did not rate or speak about Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik.
Despite the blip in his IPL performance, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly insisted that Virat Kohli's IPL captaincy will not have any impact in the World Cup as he enjoys a good record as an ODI skipper.
"Don't compare Virat Kohli's IPL captaincy record with that of India. His captaincy records for India is very good actually. He's got him in his team as the vice-captain. Dhoni is there. So he's well supported," Ganguly said.
