Is it right to remove Sourav?
The arrival of IPL brings about dramatic changes in the thought processes of coaches and captains alike. John Buchanan stirred up team Kolkata Knight Riders with his multiple captain theory, a strategy inspired from his favourite book The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
KKR under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly had an abysmal end to their rather explosive start in IPL 2008. According to Castrol Index, Ganguly’s personal performance dipped after the initial burst only to stabilise in the 50s during the later half of IPL 2008. As a captain, he also logged two Man of the Match awards last year. However, as a team, under Ganguly’s leadership, KKR had a low success rate. Spurred by the events, Buchanan mooted the idea of leadership changes at the top.
On the contrary, captain of Kings XI Punjab, Yuvraj Singh ended up with a higher success rate though his performance never reached soaring heights. Sachin Tendulkar who missed the first half of IPL 2008 matches, also raked up a below par performance last year. The champion captain of IPL 2008, Shane Warne had a high rate of success but his personal performance barely matched his high leadership acumen.
Other teams of IPL 2009 have also changed their captains. Bangalore Royal Challengers has replaced Rahul Dravid with the flamboyant Kevin Petersen. VVS Laxman lost his captaincy to Adam Gilchrist.
If measured only by individual performance, is the leadership change obvious? What are the issues triggering the thought within the team managements. Is it only performance on the field? Or is age catching up with most of the icon players? Castrol Index digs into the different parameters and lays them bare for you to create your own analyses.
| Captain | Plays For | Age | Matches Led | Won | Winning Rate | Castrol Index |
| Shaun Pollock | Mumbai Indians | 35 | 6 | 5 | 83% | 54 |
| Shane Warne | Rajasthan Royals | 39 | 14 | 11 | 78.57% | 58 |
| Yuvraj Singh | Punjab Kings XI | 28 | 14 | 10 | 71.43% | 39 |
| MS Dhoni | Chennai Super Kings | 27 | 14 | 8 | 57.14% | 40 |
| Virendar Sehwag | DelhiDaredevils | 30 | 14 | 7 | 50% | 68 |
| Sourav Ganguly | Kolkata Knight Riders | 36 | 14 | 6 | 42.86% | 54 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | Mumbai Indians | 35 | 5 | 2 | 40% | 29 |
| Rahul Dravid | Bangalore Royal Challengers | 35 | 14 | 4 | 28.57% | 39 |
| VVS LAxman | Deccan Chargers | 34 | 6 | 1 | 14.29% | 30 |
| Adam Gilchrist | Deccan Chargers | 37 | 8 | 1 | 12.5% | 43 |
| Harbhajan Singh | Mumbai Indians | 28 | 3 | 0 | 0% | 59 |
Even otherwise sourav will be a Pawli/25% captain. So there is no point in discussing his physical presence on the ground.
Sourav is like a ‘Cobra’ without teeth.