IPL is one of the most entertaining leagues in the world, where a considerable amount of money is involved, and the audience is interested. But above all, Cricket is a team game where everyone puts their franchise ahead of their interest. There are some selfless moments in IPL where the player stepped down from Captaincy for their franchise's sake.
1. Ravindra Jadeja
In IPL 2022, one of the most shocking news came from CSK, which was that Ravindra Jadeja would be the new captain of CSK. Under his Captaincy, CSK failed terribly and could only win one match. After seeing such a bad condition in his team, Ravindra Jadeja decided to step down from his Captaincy, and again, MS Dhoni became the captain of CSK. Under MS Dhoni's Captaincy, everything came on track, and CSK won many matches. Under MS Dhoni's leadership, CSK won the previous IPL as well.
2. Dinesh Karthik
In 2018, Dinesh Karthik was appointed as the KKR's captain. Under his Captaincy, KKR qualified for the playoffs of IPL 2018. After IPL 2018, KKR performed poorly and could not even qualify for the playoffs of 2019. After the disappointing performance of KKR in IPL 2020, Dinesh Karthik left his Captaincy and took the position of KKR's vice-captain. After Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan became the captain of KKR. As of now after the injury of Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana became the captain of KKR.
3. Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane is a current right-handed batsman from India. After getting a two-year ban, Rajasthan Royals and CSK made their comebacks in IPL 2018. CSK made a remarkable comeback in IPL 2018 and won the trophy. On the other hand, IPL 2018 was not a good season for the Rajasthan Royals. As a result, Ajinkya Rahane stepped down from Rajasthan's Captaincy, and Steve Smith overtook the Captaincy of Rajasthan Royals.
4. Kane Williamson
In today's era, Kane Williamson is one of the calmest players who remains calm under every intense situation. Kane Williamson is one of the most selfless players, and he showed the same selfless spirit in IPL 2019 when he dropped himself from the team. In IPL 2019, David Warner was returning from his ban, and there were some matches where Kane Williamson dropped himself to balance the team composition. There were even some matches where David Warner captained Sunrisers Hyderabad instead of Kane Williamson.
5. Gautam Gambhir
Like Kane Williamson, Gautam Gambhir also showed his selfless spirit in IPL 2018. In IPL 2018, Gautam Gambhir was appointed as a captain of Delhi Daredevils. But in that season, Delhi Daredevils performed poorly, and in the 1st half of the season, Gautam Gambhir stepped down from Delhi's Captaincy. After him, Shreyas Iyer got the opportunity to be the captain of Delhi Daredevils. In addition to leaving Captaincy, Gautam Gambhir should have taken his IPL salary of 2.8 crores. After leaving Delhi's Captaincy, he remained benched throughout that season.
6. MS Dhoni
In IPL 2016, there was the first time when MS Dhoni was playing for a franchise other than CSK. Due to a two-year ban, MS Dhoni played two IPL seasons for Rising Pune Supergiant, where he captained Pune in IPL 2016. However, Rising Pune Supergiants could not make their place into the playoffs and finished 2nd last in the points table. By looking at the team's condition, Pune's owners sacked MS Dhoni as the team's captain, and Steve Smith became the new captain of Pune Supergiants.
7. Shane Watson
Shane Watson is one of the finest all-rounders that has ever played IPL. Shane Watson was the kind of player who could win any impossible match, either with bat or bowl. He was one of the biggest reasons for Rajasthan's success in IPL. But in 2015, Shane Watson stepped down as the captain of Rajasthan Royals and handed over the Captaincy to Steve Smith. After IPL 2015, Shane Watson left Rajasthan's franchise and played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2016.
8. Ricky Ponting
Strangely, captains like MS Dhoni and Ricky Ponting left their IPL captaincy, but it is also a great example of selfless intention that every player must have towards his franchise, and Ricky Ponting did the same in 2013. In IPL 2013, he made a brave call to step down from Mumbai, India's Captaincy. After that, the team management and Ricky Ponting decided to make Rohit Sharma a permanent captain of Mumbai Indians, and that decision was the best for them as Rohit Sharma won the 5 IPL trophy for Mumbai Indians.
9. Sachin Tendulkar
The sign of every big player is that they always put their team ahead of themselves, and Sachin Tendulkar also did the same in IPL 2012. Before Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar stepped down from Mumbai's Captaincy, and Harbhajan Singh got the Captaincy. It was a day before IPL 2012 when Sachin Tendulkar made a prominent call to leave Mumbai's Captaincy as he was just at the last stage of his cricket career.
10. Daniel Vettori
Daniel Vettori is one of the most respected cricketers in the world. He is one of the calmest and most selfless players that has ever played this game. In IPL 2013, RCB's team faced an issue of team balance as only overseas players could play in playing 11. For this, Daniel Vettori decided to drop himself so that Muttiah Muralitharan could play in Playing 11. Not even his position in Playing 11, but Daniel Vettori sacrificed his Captaincy for his franchise's sake. After Daniel Vettori, Virat Kohli took command of RCB's captain from the mid-season of IPL 2023.
