IPL 2020: Aakash Chopra Rates All Eight IPL Team Captains

Aakash Chopra, the cricketer-turned-commentator, has rated captains of all the eight franchises of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The IPL 2020 has been postponed by the BCCI from March 29 to April 15 due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

Apart from it, the board has called off the India-South Africa ODI series. BCCI has also suspended all the domestic games until further notice.

Assuming 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.

Aakash Chopra Rates All Eight IPL Team Captains

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 eight, Chopra went for KL Rahul, who will be captaining an IPL franchise for the first time in the upcoming season. Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) named him the captain after Ravichandran Ashwin’s departure.

For number seven, Chopra 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 six, Chopra chose Australian opener David Warner, who has now been re-appointed as the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Warner missed the 2018 season due to his ban — to play any form of cricket imposed by Cricket Australia (CA) after a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

For number five, Aakash picked Dinesh Karthik, who led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) 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.

Interestingly, Aakash Chopra has allotted the number four spot to Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

The Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have never won the tournament until now.

However, they have reached the final thrice but have failed to deliver when it mattered the most.

Chopra picked Rajasthan Royals’ Steve Smith for the third spot. Smith has returned to IPL after facing a ban from Cricket Australia for the ball-tampering scandal.

Rajasthan have won the competition once and will look forward to their second IPL title this year.

Aakash has bestowed the number 2 spot to Mumbai Indians’ skipper, Rohit Sharma. Mumbai Indians are the most successful franchise of the competition so far. They have won five titles till date and are chasing their fifth title of the competition.

Rohit Sharma has won the competition thrice as a captain and once as a player.

Aakash Chopra has given the first place to the skipper of the Chennai Super Kings, MS Dhoni. Dhoni has been a legendary figure for the southern giants. He is Chennai’s own son and has won a lot of games for the franchise.

CSK have entered the playoffs every time they have played in the competition. In terms of winning games, CSK has the best win percentage among all teams.

This has been possible because of one man, MS Dhoni. This is why Chopra has ranked him the best IPL captain.

Chopra gave the reason behind picking Dhoni over Rohit, stating that MSD has far better resources than Rohit.

The opening game of IPL 2020 was supposed to be played between reigning champions Mumbai Indians (MI) and runner-ups of last season Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Wankhede Stadium.

Also Read: BCCI Gives IPL Franchise Five Dates To Start The Tournament