Indian Premier League is set to return with another high-voltage season, where fans will see their cricketing heroes fighting for the ultimate trophy. In the past 16 editions, the cash-rich league highlighted a few players’ leadership. In a lot of the best cricketing heroes from across the globe, a few emerged as the most reliable names, leading their sides to glory several times.
Captains with most wins in IPL
In this article, we will have a look at the captains who have led their sides to the most wins over the years.
MS Dhoni
Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has held the team’s helm since the inaugural season of the league. Dhoni has been retained by his side consecutively, and needless to say, he has enjoyed huge success as the captain of the Yellow Army. Under his leadership, CSK have become a force and emerged as the most consistent team in the history.
Dhoni-led CSK won their first IPL title in 2010, defending it in 2011. After that, Chennai had to wait for seven years, including a two-year ban to get the trophy home in 2021. The franchise won its fifth title, under Dhoni’s captaincy in 2023.
Talking about the number of matches, from 2008 to 2023, the 42-year-old led Chennai Super Kings and Rising Pune Supergiants in a total of 226 matches. Out of these games, the Ranchi-boy captain guided the side to another side of victory in 133 games.
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Rohit Sharma
India skipper Rohit Sharma is the second captain with the most wins in the Indian Premier League. The former Mumbai Indians skipper was part of the Deccan Chargers in IPL 2009 as they won their first title under the captaincy of Adam Gilchrist. Later in the 2011 season, he was bought by the Mumbai-based franchise, and that’s when the love affair between him and the franchise started.
The team purchased him for a whopping $2 million, which was around ₹9 Crore at that time. He then took over the captaincy from Ricky Ponting mid-season in 2013, and needless to say, his leadership changed the team’s fortune. Under his captaincy, the team won titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. While he is the most successful captain alongside MS Dhoni in terms of IPL trophies, Sharma sits at second spot in terms of matches. The 36-year-old guided his side to 87 wins out of 158 games he captained Mumbai Indians.
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Gautam Gambhir
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir was associated with Kolkata Knight Riders for seven consecutive seasons from 2011 to 2017. He took over the side’s captaincy after Sourav Ganguly’s exit and went on to win the KKR’s first IPL trophy in the second year of his tenure as the captain in 2012. Later in 2014, KKR won their second IPL trophy as they defeated Kings XI Punjab (Punjab Kings) in the finale.
After MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, Gambhir sits at number three in terms of number of matches he won as a captain. In his IPL career, Gambhir led Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders in 129 matches and guided the side to victory side in 71 matches.
