2 weeks Ago By Firstpost
It’s been nearly a month since the brand new season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) got underway with a star-studded opening ceremony at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens that was followed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s lopsided victory over defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders. A total of 36 matches have taken place since then, the latest taking place in the double-header on Saturday in which Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants defeated Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals respectively. Quite a few trends have been observed so far in the 18th IPL season, which hits the halfway mark on Sunday.
The IPL has once again unearthed hidden gems from Indian cricket this season , from Punjab Kings’ Priyansh Arya and Mumbai Indians’ Ashwani Kumar to Rajasthan Royals sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who made history on Saturday by becoming the youngest player in IPL history at the age of 14. And after witnessing the batters thrive in the first half of the season with some tall scores, including 286 by Sunrisers Hyderabad , being posted, the bowlers have gradually fought back as the weeks passed with fans being treated to some low-scoring thrillers in recent weeks. The IPL, after all, had witnessed another historic moment last week after PBKS successfully defended 111 against KKR – the lowest in the tournament till date.
One could, however, argue that the most defining trend of the season so far has been that of captain-coach pairings and how the relationship and understanding between the two most important members of a team have influenced results so far. One look at the IPL 2025 points table would be enough to understand this point. Punjab Kings are a team that has reached the playoffs/semi-finals just twice in the IPL and have not secured a top-four finish since finishing runners-up in 2014.
And they are sitting level on 10 points with Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals in the top half of the table, with the Titans currently in the lead due to a superior Net Run Rate. The chief reason behind PBKS, a team that has earned the tag ‘perennial underachievers’, winning five out of seven matches so far this season would likely be the change in leadership, with Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting calling the shots at the franchise. Iyer and Ponting had quite a successful partnership at DC, where the two were responsible for steering the side into the IPL playoffs for the first time in seven years in 2019, and helped them reach their maiden final the following year.
Ponting, after all, had led Australia to two World Cup triumphs (2003 and 2007) while Iyer proved his credentials as a leader by guiding KKR to the title last year. And with these two at the helm, Punjab appear a vastly different team, one that is able to produce miracles on the field somewhat similar to the one against the Knight Riders in Mullanpur on Tuesday. Punjab Kings couldn't have asked for a more impressive start from new skipper Shreyas Iyer.
Both with the bat and his leadership. Will the link with Ricky Ponting be the combination that brings PBKS their first trophy? #ShreyasIyer pic.twitter.
com/9YMJARqhl5 GT head coach Ashish Nehra had shared a similar relationship with Hardik Pandya when the all-rounder was in charge of the franchise. The Pandya-Nehra pair had helped the Titans win the title on debut in 2022 and finish runner-up the following season. Gujarat had failed to reach the playoffs for the first time last year, with Shubman Gill taking his time to adjust to the high-pressure job following Pandya’s shock trade to Mumbai Indians in late 2023, with the side finishing 8th out of 10 teams.
Gill, however, appears to have settled into the role by now and might have been successful in recreating the kind of bond Pandya had with Nehra earlier, which might be the primary reason behind the team’s strong response after suffering a defeat in their opening game. At the other end of the spectrum is Rajasthan Royals, who sit at the eighth spot after losing six out of the eight matches that they have played so far this season, and are in all likelihood out of contention as far as the playoffs are concerned. And as far as a captain-coach relationship in the IPL is concerned, Sanju Samson and Rahul Dravid appear to be on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to Iyer and Ponting, with the two appearing to share frosty relations at the moment .
Samson is a tried-and-tested captain, having led the Royals into an IPL final for the first time since they won the inaugural edition in 2008 under the captaincy of late spin legend Shane Warne. The Kerala wicketkeeper-batter had also led the side to the playoffs last year, with the team going as far as Qualifier 2. And Dravid has the legacy of helping the Indian team finish runner-up in the 2023 ICC World Cup and win the 2024 T20 World Cup as coach.
And yet the Royals find themselves going through their worst season in four years. Granted, it has been a start-stop season for Samson, who had played only as an Impact Player in the three matches of the season and also missed the team’s most recent clash on Saturday due to injury. However, the video clip that went viral on social media which showed Samson ignoring Dravid’s instructions while the latter was addressing the rest of the squad highlights the fact that not all is well in the RR camp at present.
A similar case could be made for other teams as well; MI have not been able to recreate the magic that former captain Rohit was able to with current head coach Mahela Jayawardene. And fellow five-time champions Chennai Super Kings too haven’t reached the playoffs since MS Dhoni stepped down as captain ahead of the 2024 season, with Ruturaj Gaikwad finding it tough to deal with the massive burden of expectations. The importance of the captain-coach relationship, however, isn’t limited to the IPL.
Indian cricket has had its fair share of legendary duos, from Sourav Ganguly and John Wright (2000 to 2005) and MS Dhoni and Gary Kirsten (2008 to 2011) to Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri (2017 to 2021) and Rohit and Dravid (2021 to 2024). The trend has been observed with other teams as well, with Ponting having had quite the successful relationship with John Buchanan for the better part of the 2000s that led to two World Cups for the mighty Aussies along with a world record 16 consecutive Test wins and a 5-0 Ashes whitewash at home. South Africa has had its fair share, from Hansie Cronje forming a legendary partnership with Bob Woolmer in the ‘90s and Graeme Smith having a similar run with Mickey Arthur in the latter half of the following decade.
And Dav Whatmore association with the Arjuna Ranatunga-led Sri Lankan team led to their triumph in the 1996 World Cup, which transformed what had been minnows until then into world beaters. PBKS’ red-hot run this season thus hardly comes as a surprise when revisiting such partnerships in international cricket. And it might not come as a surprise either if they end up going the distance in IPL 2025 and finally ending their 17-year wait for a maiden title.
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