Confessions of captains whose teams failed to reach the IPL final

By K.R. Nayar

Remarks on the need to be responsible and have better attitude on the field, be it super stars or regular players, come to the fore

Every Indian Premier League ends with teams learning a new lesson. They carry these lessons into the next IPL to strengthen their teams. This could be one reason that this IPL was keenly contested with hardly any difference between the teams. Any team, even the squad that finished last, was capable of beating another team on their day.

The plan will be to ensure to make it their day in all matches in the next edition. It is here that captains will play a significant role. They should lead from the front through an inspiring performance.

A study on what the losing captains felt about their defeats is worth examining. Let’s begin with Rajasthan Royals captain Steve Smith, whose team finished last after a promising start. “We were inconsistent in the middle and didn't take enough responsibility,” was his remark after their last match defeat. It is a fact that the superstars in their team did not perform when it mattered most. Their lesson is - big names don’t win matches but the willingness to take responsibility is what counts.

Chennai Super Kings finishing second from the bottom was the biggest shock of this IPL. “I don't think we played to our full potential. We committed a lot of errors at different points in the tournament,” confessed skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Why were his players, who have almost always played to their potential, not able to do it this time? Will stars like Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh be included back after their pull out?

Kings XI Punjab skipper K.L Rahul led from the front with tall scores and gave an emotional speech to his teammates after their exit. “A lot could have been different. If you look back, there were times where we had many of the games in our pockets; but we just couldn’t get over the line and finish,” said Rahul, resisting to name Glenn Maxwell for repeated failures. It was an instance of superstars like Maxwell, Sheldon Cottrell, and Chris Jordan not living up to their huge price tags.

Kolkata Knight Riders found their captain Dinesh Karthik hand over the captaincy to Eoin Morgan due to his poor form. Morgan then admitted: “We have been striving to get wins off the last couple of games; it didn’t quite work out.” Their superstar Andre Russell’s injury pulled them back. This only means they need another match-winner to back their promising youngsters.

Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli said: “It has been a strange kind of phase in the last four to five games. A couple of people have stood out and had a good season. The others contributed but just not enough.” Of course, the question remains as to why they, including Kohli, did not perform enough?

David Warner, who led Sunrisers Hyderabad candidly hit out at the attitude of his players: “The main thing is our attitude in the field. You can't win if you don't take catches; we will have to do much better next time. It is our attitude on the field that let us down in this tournament.” The message was loud and clear that this is a cash-rich tournament and rich contributions will be needed from players to be a part of it.