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IPL’s Changing power structure, coach treads on captain’s toes
David Warner is a cricket comet that streaks across the IPL system every year--in his 12 annual visits (and 148 games) the T20 legend has smashed 50 half-centuries, more than anyone else. et his bright run was snapped when SRH stripped him of captaincy and dropped him from the eleven. The decision of the team management (Tom Moody, Trevor Bayliss, VVS Laxman, Muttiah Muralitharan, Brad Haddin) apparently left Warner "shocked and disappointed".
Considering the unfolding dynamics of power within the IPL, a sudden purge of this nature is not surprising. The IPL demolished cricket's traditional power structure when team owners replaced the "Board" and high-profile ex legends were appointed in key positions.
This reduced the captain’s role and this season we saw them getting marginalized, clear evidence of a shift in the traditional power structure. One glaring example was Ricky Ponting handing Rishabh Pant a public dressing down instead of having a quiet word with him in the dressing room after a defeat. Ponting's rebuke confirms a home truth of T20 cricket: as the game shrinks so does the role of the captain. No more the boss, he is pushed into a corner and his mandate is limited to 'execute' plans decided by the all-powerful coach, the master strategist, and at the same time a defector.
