Ajinkya Rahane to Ruturaj Gaikwad: Players Who Became India Captain Without Leading An IPL Team

The men’s cricket event at the Asian Games 2023 is scheduled to be played in the T20 format and will take place from September 28 to October 8 with all the matches set to be played at the Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field.

With the first-choice option Rohit Sharma set to lead the Indian team that will included most of the regulars like Virat Kohli and others, in the ODI World Cup, scheduled to start on October 5, BCCI has named second-string side for the Asian Games.

Gaikwad will lead the squad that also includes the likes of Rinku Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Tilak Varma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi and many other IPL stars. The only player to have represented India in all three formats from the squad is Washington Sundar.

Asian Games 2023: Ruturaj Gaikwad To Lead Indian Cricket Team; IPL Stars Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube Rewarded

The 26-year-old Gaikwad will lead the country for the first time despite never leading a side in the IPL or other higher-level tournaments. He, however, has captaincy experience, having earlier led Maharashtra U-19 and the senior team across all formats in domestic cricket.

Gaikwad, who is a number one pick at CSK, has played 1 ODI and 9 T20Is for the national team and will become the third cricketer to lead the national team before captaining a team in the IPL.

Since 2008 when the IPL was founded, several players have led the national side across formats with MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, holding the leadership role the longest and Rohit taking over the reigns in full time capacity last year.

Dhoni was already the Indian captain when he was named the skipper of CSK, while Kohli was named skipper after few seasons as captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore. And Rohit took over the reigns after several years of leading Mumbai Indians to the title.

Similarly Hardik Pandya was named skipper after he showcased his ability as captain of Gujarat Titans. There are a few more examples like KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Shikhar Dhawan. But there have been few like Gaikwad, who were named skippers without any IPL leadership experience.

Players to lead India team without leading IPL team

The only other players to take over the reigns in the national team without leading a team in the IPL are Ajinkya Rahane, who has been part of the cash-rich league, playing for different franchises since 2008, and Jasprit Bumrah, who has been part of the Mumbai Indians team since 2013.

While Bumrah was named skipper of the Test team, Gaikwad will be the second player to lead a T20 side without prior IPL captaincy experience after Rahane, who was named captain in 2015 before he could lead Rajasthan Royals in 2018. Rahane also led India in Tests in 2017 as stand-in skipper.