India, April 27 -- There was a time when captaincy in the IPL felt preordained. The mantle belonged to the biggest name in the room-to MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, and occasionally an overseas import like David Warner. Leadership, like stardom, was something you arrived with. Now, increasingly, it's something you grow into.

Across the IPL's recent seasons, franchises have begun to tilt away from celebrity leadership. In its place is a more deliberate experiment: appointing captains who are not regular fixtures of India's international setup. Take the current lot: barring Axar Patel or Hardik Pandya, the rest-Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar, Shubman Gill, Riyan Parag and Rishabh Pant-do...