10 national captains who failed to perform in the IPL

Modified Dec 18, 2018 16:39 IST

3. Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly is arguably one of the most successful captains in the history of cricket. His feats with the bat are also commendable. However, the ‘Prince of Calcutta’ struggled to adjust to the T20 version of the game.

He was set to lead the KKR team in the inaugural edition of the IPL. While he managed to score a few runs, his strike-rate was too low (113.68) and this affected his team’s run-rate. He ended the season with 349 runs in 13 games. It wasn’t just his batting that came under scrutiny, but his captaincy was criticized as well.

Despite this, KKR retained him and decided to diversify leadership roles by appointing separate captains for batting, bowling and fielding. This was perhaps done so that Ganguly could focus more on his batting. It didn’t help as he had one of his worst seasons in the IPL scoring only 189 runs in 13 matches at a very poor average of 17.18.

He was still retained by KKR for one more season in 2010. This was his best season with the franchise. He scored 493 runs in 14 matches. It seemed as if ‘Dada’ was back to his old form.

However, his slow scoring rate proved to be a problem for KKR and they released him in 2011. After his release from KKR, he went on to play a couple of seasons for Pune Warriors India but still couldn’t captivate audiences with his performances. He left the IPL for good after the 2012 season.

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