Captaining a team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is a big responsibility as you will have to bear millions of eyes and hopes on you. Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni have been the best duo in leading their respective IPL teams successfully for a long time.
But what makes a captain the right candidate for an IPL team?
The best team should have the right captain, who can cultivate a strong team culture and build a core team to bring him results.
IPL has seen plenty of international captains captaining the sides.
The names include Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Steven Smith, David Warner, Virat Kohli, Daniel Vettori, and a few more.
But, to be honest, only a few have lived up to their names in this league.
So, what makes one a successful captain in IPL?
Here, we came up with an analysis and listed the successful captains in IPL history who have captained their team for the most wins.
Not surprisingly, there are seven Indians in the list along with three Australian skippers.
Let’s dive into that right away, followed by a list of the top 10 captains in IPL history.
Most Successful Captains in IPL history (Captaincy Records)
| PLAYER | MATCHES | WON | LOST | TIED | NR | WIN % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS Dhoni | 234 | 135 | 97 | 0 | 2 | 57.69 |
| Rohit Sharma | 158 | 87 | 67 | 4 | 0 | 55.06 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 129 | 71 | 57 | 1 | 0 | 55.42 |
| Virat Kohli | 143 | 66 | 70 | 3 | 4 | 46.15 |
| Shreyas Iyer | 82 | 46 | 32 | 2 | 2 | 56.09 |
| David Warner | 83 | 40 | 41 | 2 | 0 | 48.19 |
| Adam Gilchrist | 74 | 35 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 47.29 |
| Hardik Pandya | 57 | 34 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 59.64 |
| Sanju Samson | 67 | 33 | 32 | 1 | 1 | 49.25 |
| KL Rahul | 64 | 31 | 31 | 2 | 0 | 48.43 |
Key Insights
MS Dhoni is the best captain when it comes to consistency and bringing out the best out of his players. He was picked by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2008 for the first IPL for a record price (then) of seven crores and what happened after is a miracle. CSK won the trophy five times and were the runners-up five times in the IPL under his capaincy. That’s some achievement as a skipper!
Dhoni holds the record in the IPL for most matches and most wins as captain. Also, his win% stands around 60, which shows his expertise in leadership.
Rohit Sharma, who was picked to captain Mumbai Indians (MI) after Sachin Tendulkar’s time in the field, took his team to places by winning five trophies in a period of just seven years.
Rohit Sharma’s win% stands around 55, and Mumbai Indians won five IPL Trophies under him in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020.
Virat Kohli, as IPL captain, won his team 46% of the games played under him.
One can say, Gautam Gambhir became a different player when he started to lead Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). His stint as captain in the KKR camp helped the team claim a very important place in the IPL itself.
Under him, KKR won two championships in the IPL. Also, his batting went up with the responsibility as captain.
After Dhoni, Gambhir was the second captain to lead his teams (DC and KKR) for more than 100 games in the IPL, followed by Kohli and Sharma.
Gambhir’s captaincy stats show 71 wins in 129 matches –> 55.42
The Australian wicketkeeper, Adam Gilchrist, showed immense patience and maturity in handling the young players on the road to Deccan Chargers’ maiden championship victory.
Adam Gilchrist’s captaincy stint then carried on till 2013, in which he led the Chargers and Punjab Kings to 35 wins in 74 matches. His win% – 47.29.
Wrap-Up
Adding to these names, Shane Warne, David Warner, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virender Sehwag are the other few skippers who also enjoyed captaining in the IPL with more than 50 matches and a 50% winning rate.
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