IPL is such a performance-oriented tournament that if you are not delivering the results as a captain, it’s really difficult for you to retain your position as all the franchises are looking for the trophy.
That is the reason why most of the players, who have captained in the IPL for a long time, have done so by delivering the results.
Here are the players with most matches as captain in the IPL –
#1 MS Dhoni:
MS Dhoni has captained in 174 IPL matches so far which is the most for any captain in the history of the tournament.
There has been only one IPL season where Dhoni has not captained. He didn’t have a great time as the captain of the Rising Pune Supergiant in IPL 2016 and he was replaced by Steve Smith for the next season.
Dhoni, however, was back as captain again for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2018 and made a mark as a leader with another IPL trophy to his name. CSK has, so far, won three IPL trophies under Dhoni.
#2 Gautam Gambhir:
Gautam Gambhir has also been one of the most charismatic leaders in the history of the IPL. The left-hander took over as the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2011 and captained them for the next 7 years very successfully.
Gambhir captained KKR to their first ever IPL title in 2012 and then led them to the trophy for the second time again in 2014.
Gambhir, thereafter, captained Delhi Capitals for a few games as well towards the end of his IPL career, however his captaincy stint at Delhi wasn’t as successful as it was at KKR. Gambhir finished his IPL career with a total of 129 games as captain.
#3 Virat Kohli:
Virat Kohli is the only player who has captained in more than 100 IPL games without winning a single IPL trophy. He has guided RCB to the IPL final once, but the trophy has eluded Virat so far.
RCB has, however, retained Virat as captain for the next season of the IPL and he will be seen leading the men in red again if the IPL takes place later this year. Kohli has captained RCB in a total of 110 games till now.
#4 Rohit Sharma:
The fourth in the list is Rohit Sharma who is the most successful IPL captain ever. Rohit took over as captain in the middle of the 2013 IPL season and guided the Mumbai Indians to the title in his very season itself.
Rohit, since then, has not gone for two consecutive IPL seasons without winning the trophy. After winning the trophy for the first time in 2013, he won the trophy again in 2015 before achieving the feat in 2017 and 2019 as well.
Rohit has captained Mumbai Indians in a total of 104 IPL games as yet.
