IPL 2020: ‘I got three ducks in a row,’ Gautam Gambhir recalls his ‘worst phase’

When it comes to the most successful IPL captains, the two names that automatically come to mind are that of Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni, but surprisingly, Gautam Gambhir’s name finds no mention. Besides Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma and Dhoni on Chennai Super Kings, Gautam Gambhir is the only other captain to have lifted an IPL title more than once, leading Kolkata Knight Riders to victory in 2012 and 2014.

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This year, with Dinesh Karthik giving up KKR’s captaincy to Eoin Morgan in the middle of IPL 2020, in order to focus on batting, was a call that generated mixed reviews. Former skipper Gambhir was not entirely in favour of the move, believing that KKR would have been better off without the change in guard. Citing his own example, Gambhir explained how the additional responsibility of captaincy can help get better out of a batsman.

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“It just shows the mindset. You left captaincy because you wanted to concentrate on batting, but then it hasn’t worked, so probably sometimes it’s good when you take up responsibilities,” Gambhir told Cricket.com. “What I’ve realised when I was through a worse phase in 2014. I got three ducks in a row when we started the tournament. It was captaincy that helped me that I could get back into form.

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“And the reason why because when I was not batting, I was thinking about how to make the team win through my captaincy and the decision making. But when you’re not captaining, you’re thinking even more about your batting.”

Despite the presence of renowned skippers such as Dhoni and Morgan, Gambhir has gone ahead with a completely different player as his pick for captain of his fantasy team for Match 49 of the 2020 Indian Premier League between CSK and KKR on Friday.

CSK may be eliminated from the IPL 2020 but can act as party spoilers for KKR, who are currently placed fifth and need to win the remaining two games to have a shot at the IPL playoffs. With so much on stake, Dhoni and Morgan’s team would be eager to outdo the other. Dhoni and Morgan are both World Cup winner captains, taking their teams to World Cup titles in 2011 and 2019 respectively.

But Gambhir, a former two-time IPL winning captain with KKR in 2012 and 2014 has picked all-rounder Sunil Narine as the captain of his fantasy team. Gambhir did include Dhoni in his XI, but as the team’s wicketkeeper batsman over Dinesh Karthik.

“The reason why I picked MS Dhoni is that he can captain the side better than Eoin Morgan and at the same time he’s in a reasonable better form than Dinesh Karthik,” Gambhir said.

Narine roared back to form in KKR’s game against Delhi Capitals, smoking 64 runs, even though his form with the ball has been a bit of a concern.