Some really good cricket players have led teams in the IPL. We’re listing our top five captains ever in the tournament.
Here’s the list of 5 most successful IPL captains:
5. David Warner
Some might be surprised to see Warner on this list, but he’s done really well as a captain in the IPL.
In 2015, his first year as captain, Warner scored the most runs and his team, Sunrisers Hyderabad, almost made it to the playoffs.
The next year, Sunrisers won their first IPL title with Warner as captain. Then in 2017, they made it to the playoffs again, and Warner was the top scorer once more.
For 2018 and 2019, Kane Williamson was captain instead of Warner. But Warner got the captaincy back in 2020 and led Sunrisers to the playoffs again, this time in the UAE.
However, there was some trouble in 2022, and Warner left Sunrisers and went back to Delhi, where he began his IPL career. In 2022, he was Delhi’s top scorer. He’ll be their captain in 2023 because Rishabh Pant is injured.
In the 69 IPL matches he captained, Warner won 35 of them, which is the fifth-best record in IPL history.
4. Shane Warne
Warne never got to be the leader of Australia’s international team, but he showed he was a good leader with the Rajasthan Royals.
In 2008, he became the captain of the Royals. People thought the Royals were the weakest team, but Warne led them to win the tournament.
After that, the Royals didn’t do as well. They didn’t make it to the playoffs for three years. But winning in 2008 was a big deal.
Nobody thought they would win, but Warne, who got 18 wickets, led them to victory.
While Warne was the Royals’ captain, they won 55.54% of their matches. This shows he was one of the best IPL captains ever.
3. Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir is one of the few captains who led his team to win the IPL more than once. He ranks third on our list of great captains.
He started with the Delhi Daredevils and played there for three seasons, one of which he was the captain. Then he moved to the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2011 for $2.4 million.
In 2012, Gambhir led Kolkata to their first IPL win by defeating Chennai Super Kings. Although they struggled in 2013, they bounced back in 2014, winning their second title in three years.
Under Gambhir’s leadership, Kolkata reached the playoffs in 2016 and 2017. He then returned to Delhi for one last season before retiring.
2. MS Dhoni
Some people might think it’s not fair to rank Dhoni as number two.
Dhoni is a famous cricket player from India. He led the Chennai Super Kings team and won four IPL championships with them in 2010, 2011, 2018, and 2021.
When the Chennai team couldn’t play for two seasons, Dhoni became the captain of the Rising Pune Supergiant team. He led them to the final match in 2017.
Dhoni has been the captain in 210 IPL games, more than anyone else. He won 123 of those games, which is a 58.6% winning rate.
What’s really impressive about Dhoni is that he has been the captain in every IPL season so far and has kept up a great record throughout.
1. Rohit Sharma
Sharma beat Dhoni to become the best because he won a lot of trophies.
Sharma started leading the Mumbai Indians in 2013 after Sachin Tendulkar. Under his leadership, they won the IPL five times.
They won in 2013, then again in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020.
Sharma played really well too, scoring a lot of runs. He’s now fourth on the list of all-time top run-scorers with 5,879 runs.
Dhoni is also a good leader and has had a successful career. But winning five IPL titles in eight seasons is amazing. So, Sharma is now considered the best IPL captain ever.
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