The ongoing eleventh season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2018) has seen many young and lesser known players make a huge impact with their performances. Right from the first week of the tournament, young players, not just from India but all around the world, have given good performances and made headlines for all the good reasons.
The likes of Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Rana, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and many other have been top performers for their respective teams. However, it also needs to be added they have been given good opportunities by their captains and coaching staffs.
In this post, we will have a look at top 5 decisions taken by captains in IPL 2018:
1) Mumbai Indians’ decision to open with Surya Kumar Yadav
Surya Kumar Yadav is surely one of the finds of IPL 2018. He has been a brut force for Mumbai Indians at the top of the order. Till last season, Yadav used to bat in the middle order for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and he was never as effective. We must give credit to Rohit Sharma for sticking to this decision and dropping himself to accommodate Surya Kumar Yadav at the top of the order.
2) Gautam Gambhir’s decision to step down as captain and also drop himself from the playing XI
Gautam Gambhir, who is one of the heroes of India’s World Cup win in 2011, made a very bold decision to first step down as captain and then drop himself from the playing XI. In fact, Gambhir has also refused to take his fees from the Delhi Daredevils. He gave the captaincy to young Shreyas Iyer who has done a decent job so far.
Hats off to Gautam Gambhir for taking such a bold and selfless decision.
3) MS Dhoni’s decision to open with Ambati Rayudu
Ambati Rayudu is one the leading run scorers of the IPL 2018 so far and he has been included in the ODI squad for the series against England. MS Dhoni, despite of having Murali Vijay in the squad, pushed Rayudu to the top of the order and backed his talent in interview and press conferences.
4) Ajinkya Rahane’s decision to push Jos Buttler at the top of the order
For the first matches in IPL 2018, Jos Buttler batted at number 5 for Rajasthan Royals. But, in one of the match which was shortened by rain, he was asked to open the innings and he batted in his trademark aggressive style resulting in quick runs. And, since then, partners at other end have changed but he has been the first choice opener for Rajasthan Royals. It was only because of his outstanding display of batting against Kings XI Punjab on Tuesday that Rajasthan managed to pull of a victory in a must-win game.
