Captaining a team in the Indian Premier League 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.
The best team should have the right captain, who can cultivate a strong team culture and build a core team to bring him results.
So what makes a captain the right candidate for an IPL team?
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, Steve Smith, David Warner, Virat Kohli, Daniel Vettori, and 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 top-10 successful captains in the IPL history who has captained their team for the most wins.
Not surprisingly, there are 4 Indians in the list with a foreign skipper.
Let’s dive into that right away, followed by a list of top 10 captains in IPL history.
Most Successful Captains in IPL history (Captaincy Records)
| PLAYER | MATCHES | WON | LOST | TIED | NR | WIN % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS Dhoni | 226 | 133 | 91 | 0 | 2 | 58.84 |
| 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 |
| David Warner | 83 | 40 | 41 | 2 | 0 | 48.19 |
| Shreyas Iyer | 70 | 38 | 29 | 2 | 1 | 54.28 |
| Adam Gilchrist | 74 | 35 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 47.29 |
| Sanju Samson | 61 | 31 | 29 | 0 | 1 | 50.81 |
| KL Rahul | 64 | 31 | 31 | 2 | 0 | 48.43 |
| Shane Warne | 55 | 30 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 55.45 |
Let’s talk about the top five successful captains in the league!
1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
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 in 2008 for the 1st IPL for a record price (then) of 7 Crores and what happened after is a miracle. The former Indian captain is now the only captain from the inaugural edition in 2008 to still captaining a team in IPL.
They have won the trophy four times and been the runners-up 5 times in IPL. That’s some achievement as a skipper!
Dhoni holds the record in IPL for “Most Matches” and “Most Wins” as Captain. Also, his win% stands around 60, which shows his expertise in leadership.
2. Rohit Sharma
If you can decide on the best captain in the IPL by counting the IPL Trophies they have won, then picking Rohit Sharma is an easy choice. Rohit, who was picked to captain Mumbai Indian after Sachin Tendulkar’s time in the field, took his team to places by winning 4 trophies in a period of just 7 years.
Rohit Sharma’s win% stands around 60 too and Mumbai Indians has won 5 IPL Trophies under him in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, & 2020.
3. Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli must be pushing himself hard to win the trophy this time. The master batsman has never won an IPL Trophy with his team RCB. He is the only one on this list without IPL Trophy.
But anyhow, his IPL captaincy has not gone down as he has proved himself on the winning side almost half of the matches he played as a captain.
Virat’s IPL Captaincy won his team a 48% of the games playing under him.
4. Gautam Gambhir
One can say, Gautam Gambhir became a different player when he started to lead Kolkata Knight Riders. His stint as captain in KKR camp has helped the team claim a very important place in IPL itself.
Under him, KKR has won 2 Championships in IPL.
Also, his batting has gone high with the responsibility as captain.
After Dhoni, Gambhir was the 2nd captain to lead his teams (DD & KKR) for more than 100 games in IPL.
Gambhir’s captaincy stats show 71 wins in 129 matches –> 55.42%
5. Adam Gilchrist
You know how the Deccan Chargers team was lined up in the inaugural edition of IPL. They had a dream team that failed miserably under VVS Laxman.
And the next year, DC management decided to shift the skipper role to the Australian Wicket Keeper, Adam Gilchrist.
It was a gamble choosing a player who has only played as Vice-Captain throughout his career. But Gilchrist proved himself with the captaincy stint in 2009, the year in which he won the IPL Trophy with a young team under him.
He showed immense patience and maturity in handling the young players on the road to their championship victory.
Adam Gilchrist’s captaincy stint then carried on till 2013 with DC winning 35 of 74 matches. His win% – 47.29.
Wrap-Up
Adding to these names, Shane Warne, David Warner, Sachin Tendulkar, & Virender Sehwag are the other few skippers, who have also enjoyed captaining in IPL with more than 50 matches & a 50% winning rate.
