The Indian Premier League made its debut in the year 2008 and has completed 16 years, since. Over the years, numerous captains have led different franchises but only some of them could make their team successful in the cash-rich league.
Some players led the team well and went on to create a legacy, while some couldn’t help their team lift the trophy despite having the best players in their team.
On that note, let’s look at five captains with a stellar record in the Indian Premier League:
- David Warner:
David Warner played like a beast when he turned up for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. He was the leading run-scorer for the Orange Army in the year 2015, 2017, and 2019.
Warner had a successful portfolio as the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad. He led SRH to their first ever IPL title in 2016 edition of the Indian Premier League. Overall, he has led SRH in 83 matches and won 40 matches with a win percentage of 48.19.
- Hardik Pandya :
Gujarat Titans acquired Hardik Pandya as captain for their maiden IPL season in 2022. Ahead of the start of the season, many pundits questioned the franchise’s decision to make Pandya as captain.
However, the Indian all-rounder surprised each and every one with his leadership skills as he went on to lead the team to their maiden IPL title in their debut season. Hardik was phenomenal with the bat as well. In 15 matches, he accumulated 487 runs, finishing as the leading run-scorer for the team.
Next year, he, once again, took the team to their second consecutive final but, unfortunately, they lost the final against CSK. Hardik Pandya has an outstanding record as captain for Gujarat, having won 22 matches out of 31 games with a win percentage of 70.96.
In the upcoming edition of the IPL, he will be seen leading the Mumbai Indians.
- Gautam Gambhir :
There’s no denying that Gautam Gambhir’s most memorable years in IPL came with Kolkata Knight Riders. He led the franchise win the Indian Premier League title on two occasions in 2012 and then again in 2014.
Gambhir was a phenomenal leader and has an unmatchable success as the captain of KKR in IPL. Under his leadership, KKR played 129 matches and won 71 games with a win percentage of 55.03.
- Rohit Sharma :
Mumbai Indians have played all 16 seasons of IPL played so far and the best decision they took, over the years, was the appointment of Rohit Sharma as captain of the franchise back in 2013.
He went on to help Mumbai Indians become one of the strongest and most successful teams in the Indian Premier League. He led Mumbai Indians for 10 years from 2013 to 2023 and won titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
- MS Dhoni: The face of Chennai Super Kings-MS Dhoni doesn’t need any introduction. He has been the captain of the Chennai Super Kings franchise since the inception of the tournament. CSK didn’t play two seasons and Jadeja captained the side for half of the tournament in one of the seasons but despite that, Dhoni had led the franchise win five IPL titles. Under his leadership, Chennai Super Kings won titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023 editions. He captained the team in a record 226 matches and helped the team win 133 games with a win percentage of 58.84.
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