IPL teams captained by non-T20s

If I'm not mistaken, IPL is filled with the joys of T20 cricket. However, if the captains of all their eight teams featuring in the Indian Premier League since its inaugural launch in 2008 are considered, they have been less captained by T20 specialists and more by test and ODI specialists. In 2008, there were players namely Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Virender Sehwag who were termed as icon players and were entitled for a pay of 115% of the highest paid player in that particular squad. V V S Laxman was also termed as an icon player who rejected that offer so that no problems occur in terms of the team's budget.

If not for Virender Sehwag, no other player has made a name for himself in T20 cricket. None of the remaining 4 icon players have featured even in a single T20 game for India to be crowned as an icon player. Moreover, Anil Kumble had quit all forms of cricket a year before the IPL was even thought about. The fun factor in them is that they are not only found playing T20 in the IPL but also found captaining the same. It is not that these players are not fit to play in the the IPL or T20 cricket. But, it the fact that they are made to captain something that they have had least interest for.

Added to that is that, even most of the remaining teams are also found following suit when they are captained by non-T20 players. There are at present only 3 teams who are captained by T20 players namely the Chennai Superkings - who are captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Kings XI Punjab - who are captained by Kumara Sangakkara and the Delhi Daredevils - who are captained by Virender Sehwag. The remaining 5 teams are captained by non T20 players. Though Adam Gilchrist has played in the inaugural T20 world cup, he has been more of a test and an ODI batsman rather than a T20 specialist.

And, Rajasthan Royals are being captained by Shane Warne who - forget about having a T20 experience behind him, but has last played limited overs cricket way back in 2003 before he was banned for a year from all types of international cricket. And then, as mentioned earlier, the Royal Challengers are captained by Anil Kumble whose first T20 game was in the IPL. The year 2008 saw the Deccan Chargers team captained by V V S Laxman who has been a forgotten episode when it comes to even limited overs game and is slightly better than Shane Warne. Finally and fortunately, the DCs realized their mistake and crowned Gilchrist as their captain.