'Hardik Pandya- Amateur, KL Rahul- Exceptional': Rating IPL captain's leadership so far in IPL 2024

IPL 2024 is in full swing, and the usual cat-and-mouse race among the teams has begun. Some teams are performing exceptionally well, whereas others are languishing at the points table. With one-third of the tournament already in the books, now is the ideal time to assess how the ten captains are faring in the tournament. The rating will be done based on how their teams have performed in the 17th edition of the  IPL.

Almost all the teams went through a transition phase ahead of the start of the IPL 2024. The biggest headlines came from the CSK camp, where MS Dhoni stepped down as the captain and the board appointed Ruturaj Gaikwad as the new leader. Something similar of the sort took place in the MI camp, where 5-time trophy-winning captain Rohit Sharma was replaced by Hardik Pandya, inducing change at Gujarat Titans as well, where Shubman Gill was picked as the new skipper. Continuing with the flow, Sunrisers Hyderabad brought World Cup-winning captain Pat Cummins to the forefront, and Delhi Capitals had their first-choice skipper Rishabh Pant back on duty.

The franchises showed immense trust while recruiting their leaders, thus let's take a quick peek at their performance and find whether they lived up to the expectations and delivered for their side, let's find out.

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Rishabh Pant

The Delhi Capitals captain made a brave return after enduring excruciating lacerations from an almost fatal car crash. He is slowly returning to form with the bat but hasn't been able to produce ideal results as a captain. Delhi Capitals have till now won only one match in IPL 2024, hence, their situation is precarious and not raising Pant's stature as a captain.

Rating: Mediocre

Hardik Pandya

Mumbai Indians brought Hardik Pandya back and gave him the captaincy post. Hardik's stint as MI captain started on a horrible note. The team lost three matches on the trot. Meanwhile, they were also hammered for 277 runs against SRH, the most conceded by any team. After the set of three losses, the Team bounced back with a couple of victories, now let's see how far they will go.

Rating: Amateur

Faf du Plessis

RCB are not faring well under Faf du Plessis. The team has lost four of its 5 matches and needs an uplift from anywhere. So far, it has been the bowling that has let the team down, but with the losses compounding it is turning out to be yet another usual season for RCB.

Rating: Forgettable

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Shikhar Dhawan

Punjab has had a so-so season till now, but Shikhar Dhawan has been able to marshall his troops well. Punjab Kings are hovering in the middle of the table but have the blend of young talent and experience to get some Ws on the board.

Rating: Good

Shreyas Iyer

KKR have a well-balanced side and firing under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer. If the team continues to perform and keep extracting results then they could go all the way down to the last stage.

Rating: Decent

Ruturaj Gaikwad

Following MS Dhoni's relinquishment, all the attention is on Ruturaj Gaikwad to fill the shoes of the great man. Gaikwad started the captaincy stint with a couple of wins, but setbacks followed up and CSK are looking to find solutions.

Rating: Average

Shubman Gill

Hardik Pandya returning to Mumbai Indians left the captaincy slot in Gujarat Titans open. GT management took the call and put the responsibility on the shoulders of Shubman Gill. So, far he has had fine start at the role and could deliver even better as the tournament progresses.

Rating: Brilliant

Pat Cummins

After leading Australia to the glory in the ICC ODI World Cup 2024, Pat Cummins is now given the job to repeat the heroics with SRH. He has had a good start as the captain of the SRH but it will be intriguing to see whether he could get the wins under the sleeve consistently.

Rating: Excellent

KL Rahul

KL Rahul is quietly doing his job with Lucknow Super Giants. Like the past two seasons, LSG once again had an impressive start to the campaign. It will be interesting to see whether this time Rahul will be able to take his side one step further. All to look forward to.

Rating: Exceptional

Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson has matured as a captain and the positive results Rajasthan Royals are yielding are a testament to that. Samson's RR is leading the IPL league table after 25 matches, hence he deserves some props for the performance of his side.

Rating: Superb

So, that was it as far as ratings are concerned. However, do note that these remarks are subject to change as the majority of the tournament is yet to take place.