It was only three-four days back that IPL 2021 was going on with full vigour and enthusiasm before it had to be called off. The sudden surge in the COVID-19 cases across teams forced the officials to postpone the extravagant T20 league for an indefinite period. With the current season being at a halt, fans are already looking forward to the next edition of the league.

The IPL 2022 is expected to hold a mega auction and a lot of players will move here and there. The two new teams are likely to join the competitive T20 league and therefore, we all will see two new players taking up the command of their teams. A lot of players are skilled enough to take charge of the respective new teams and let’s take a look at some options.

5 possible skippers for two new teams in IPL 2022

1. David Warner

The star batsman of Sunrisers Hyderabad led his team to their only title in the year 2016. Also, he has been constantly amid runs in the last few years but he saw something purely shocking in the 2021 edition. SRH skipper got sacked from his position and was also omitted from their last match against RR.

The team management conveyed that they are looking for a perfect team combination and will have to drop Warner to get that. Hence, it is quite probable that the team will release him the next year. And, if it happens, he can be a great option for leading the new side.

With so much experience of the IPL, the skilled batsman can give his best if given a chance with another new team. Talking about his IPL stats, the skilled batsman has played 148 matches while producing whopping 5447 runs at an average of 42.22 and a strike rate of 140.13.

2. Quinton de Kock

Quinton de Kock has been the premier batsman of Mumbai Indians for so many years. He was among the highest run-getter for his team in the last season of the T20 league also. However, Rohit Sharma and company will have tight hands on the 2022 auction table.

While retaining their main players like Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, and Pollard, MI might have to let go of De Kock in due process. However, with fine batting and wicketkeeping skills under his belt, De Kock can make an impact as a captain for the new IPL franchise.

In addition, De Kock has substantial experience of captaining his national side in all three formats of the game. In fact, his numbers are good enough for his national side, and also has experience of plying his trade in 47 T20I games with an average of over 30. Hence, he can be a great contender for leading the new side in IPL 2022.

3. Suresh Raina

Raina has been the batting mainstay for Chennai Super Kings for so many years now. In fact, his no. three spot was fixed until Moeen Ali made a place this year. He bolsters the middle order of the yellow army perfectly and in his absence in the 2020 edition, the team suffered from the same issue.

He has a bag full of experience while plying his trade in IPL and being MS Dhoni’s deputy for so many years, he has acquired the leadership skills well enough. He is unlikely to remain with his team for the next year and the same might see him catching up with the new franchise.

The idea of giving the captaincy to Mr. IPL won’t look bad to the management. In fact, he has a lot of cricket left in him for now and would look forward to ace this role with his new team members. Given his international and IPL exposure, he would be good enough in his role.

4. Steve Smith

Smith is known as one of the best batters in the cricket world currently. He has been dominating the batting charts for many years now. He was the Test skipper of the national Australia team before the Sandpaper gate saga tarnished his image in the cricketing world.

His records in limited-overs format are decent enough to trust him with the captaincy role. He is currently with the Delhi Capitals and failed to fire for them even once. In IPL 2020, he was leading the RR side but they dropped him the next auction and gave the captaincy to young Sanju Samson.

It is a fact that Smith doesn’t have outstanding records in IPL but his rich experience of various T20 leagues and international outings makes his case strong for the role of captaincy. If a new team wishes to rope him as a skipper, it will not be a bad idea.

5. Aaron Finch

Finch is the current skipper of Australia in the limited-overs format and has two of the three highest individual scores in T20I cricket to his credit. His average of 38.45 in T20I cricket justifies his candidature in the format. However, he didn’t remain amid runs in the last season of IPL with RCB.

As a result, he was released by RCB ahead of the 2021 auction and went unsold to add to the misery. However, the Australian batter has a good experience of plying his trade in the Indian T20 league alongside various franchises. A new team in IPL can open many prospects for him.

His records as a batsman in the short format of the game are also great as he ran past David Warner to become Australia’s highest run-scorer in the T20I format in March 2021. He might see a new team in IPL 2022 mega auction and trusting him with leadership capabilities would be a fine idea.