3 IPL teams which have been led by the most number of captains

The Indian Premier League, since its inception back in 2008 has manifested into a platform for budding cricketers to carve out a career in the sport. With big names from across the world taking part in the league, there are quite a few players who have made a name from the IPL.

Over the years, teams have been led by numerous captains with the exception of the Chennai Super Kings among the currently active teams, with CSK having been led by only MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina (four matches) in the past.

Close to 25 foreign players have captained IPL teams in the past 12 editions of the IPL, while there have been a total of about 60 different captains overall. In this article, we have a look at three teams which have been led by the most number of captains in the cash-rich league.

*Note: Delhi Daredevils/Delhi Capitals and Deccan Chargers/SunRisers Hyderabad have been considered as one team since a chunk of the players continued in the side despite the change in ownership.

*Note: Only players who have captained IPL teams in three or more matches have been considered in the list.

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#3 Kings XI Punjab - 9 captains

Yuvraj Singh was the captain of KXIP in 2008 and 2009

India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh was the first captain of the Kings XI Punjab, having led the franchise in two seasons, 2008 and then 2009. Yuvraj led KXIP to the semifinals in 2008, but the side failed to make the last four in 2009 and finished on 5th place.

For IPL 2010, Kumar Sangakkara was appointed as the captain. However, the team fared horribly in that season, picking up just four wins from 14 matches and finished at the bottom of the points table.

Gilchrist took over the reigns in 2011, and in that season, KXIP looked solid but just missed out on a place in the playoffs to finish fifth on the points table with seven wins and an equal number of losses from 14 matches.

The Aussie wicketkeeper continued to lead the side even in IPL 2012, but picked up an injury midway through the tournament. David Hussey was named as the stand-in skipper for nine matches before Gilchrist returned for the last two home games.

Gilchrist led KXIP in IPL 2013 as well, with Hussey filling in for the wicketkeeper in a few games. KXIP finished 6th that season with eight wins and eight losses and at the end of the tournament, Gilchrist announced his retirement from the IPL.

Post the departure of Gilchrist, his compatriot George Bailey was roped in as the captain of KXIP. Bailey led the side to a win from each of their first five matches and at the end of the group stages, Punjab topped the points table with 11 wins from 14 matches.

They even made the final of that season but lost to the Kolkata Knight Riders. However, KXIP failed to replicate their performance in the next season, falling to 11 losses from 14 matches that saw them finish rock-bottom on the points table.

KXIP released Bailey ahead of IPL 9 and named David Miller as the captain. However, the South African big-hitter could not inspire his side as they succumbed to 10 losses in 14 encounters and finished last for the second successive time.

Interestingly, Miller was sacked as captain after KXIP lost five of their first six games and opener Murali Vijay was named as the skipper for the remaining games. Ahead of IPL 2017, Glenn Maxwell was picked as the captain and under his leadership, KXIP finished fifth with seven wins and seven losses.

India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin led KXIP in IPL 2018 and IPL 2019 but did not taste too much success as he led the team to 12 wins from 24 matches as captain.

KXIP captains - Yuvraj Singh, Adam Gilchrist, David Hussey, Kumar Sangakkara, George Bailey, David Miller, Murali Vijay, Glenn Maxwell, Ravichandran Ashwin.

#2 SunRisers Hyderabad / Deccan Chargers - 9 captains

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and David Warner have led SRH in the past

In the inaugural edition of the IPL, the Deccan Chargers named VVS Laxman as the captain of the side. The Chargers had a poor start to the season with just one win from six matches and a further injury to Laxman saw Adam Gilchrist appointed as captain for the rest of the season.

However, the Australian wicketkeeper couldn't do much as DC finished at the bottom of the points table from IPL 2008. In 2009 though, the fortunes reversed considerably as Gilchrist led the batting charts for his side with 495 runs from 16 matches and guided his side to the title.

In IPL 2010, Gilchrist continued as captain and led his side extremely well as the Chargers finished second on the points table with eight wins from 14 matches. However, they could not retain their title as they lost to CSK in the semifinal.

DC released all their players ahead of the IPL 2011 auction and before the season, they named Sri Lankan star, Kumar Sangakkara as the captain. That season the Chargers picked up just six wins from 14 matches and did not make the playoffs.

The Chargers had a poor start to IPL 2012, failing to win even one of their first six matches. They won two of their next three encounters but fell to five losses on the trot which knocked them out of the competition. DC finished on 8th place with just four wins from 16 matches.

In December 2012, BCCI announced the termination of the Deccan Chargers which was followed by the declaration of IPL's newest franchise, SunRisers Hyderabad.

Sangakkara was named as SRH's first captain, and he led the side for nine games before being replaced by Australian batting all-rounder, Cameron White. Ahead of IPL 2014, SRH named Shikhar Dhawan as the team captain and he led the side for nine matches.

Citing poor form with the bat as a reason, Dhawan was asked to step down as captain and was replaced by Daren Sammy. However, SRH failed to qualify for the playoffs in IPL 8.

For IPL 2015, SRH changed strategy and appointed David Warner as the captain. The franchise endured a mixed bag of fortunes with seven wins and an equal number of losses, which meant that they didn't make the playoffs.

SRH had their best season in IPL 2016 as Warner led from the front, finishing with 848 runs from 17 matches as he led his team to their maiden title. The dashing opener led SRH for the third season in a row as part of IPL 2017, but the team could not defend theirr title as they lost to KKR in the eliminator match.

In 2018, Warner was banned from the IPL and as a result, Kane Williamson captained SRH in that season. Although the SunRisers lost in the summit clash, Williamson was a shining light with 735 runs from 17 matches which saw him take home the Orange Cap.

An injury to Williamson in the first half of IPL 2019 meant Bhuvneshwar Kumar led SRH in a handful of matches, before the NZ batsman returned to lead his side for the latter part of the season.

DC/SRH captains - VVS Laxman, Adam Gilchrist, Kumar Sangakkara, Cameron White, Shikhar Dhawan, Daren Sammy, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

#1 Delhi Capitals / Delhi Daredevils - 10 captains

Delhi Daredevils

For a side that boasted of big names such as Virender Sehwag, David Warner, AB de Villiers among others, it comes as a huge surprise that the Delhi Daredevils never won a title.

The dashing opener, Virender Sehwag was the captain of the Daredevils for the first two seasons before he handed over the duties to Gautam Gambhir in the third season to concentrate on his batting. However, after just one season, Sehwag was re-instated as the captain for the IPL 4.

IPL 2012 brought about Delhi's best performance as they topped the points table, but surprisingly Sehwag stepped down from captaincy at the end of the season. Sri Lankan batsman, Mahela Jayawardena was appointed as the captain of DD for the Champions League T20 competition.

Jayawardena led Delhi in IPL 2013, before midway through the season, David Warner led the side for two games. DD finished at the bottom of the points table in IPL 2013 which saw the franchise opt for a complete rehaul of the team. Kevin Pietersen was named captain of the new look team, and Dinesh Karthik was named as his deputy.

However, an injury to Pietersen delayed his DD debut which saw Karthik lead the side in the first two games. The Englishman returned for the third game and captained the side for the rest of the season. Fortunes did not change for DD though, as they finished at the bottom of the pile with just 2 wins from 14 games.

JP Duminy was named as the new captain for IPL 2015, but he could not reverse DD's fortunes as they ended up in the bottom half of the points table with 5 wins from 14 matches.

Appointing Zaheer Khan as captain in IPL 2016 seemed to work for DD early on in the season as the franchise collected 5 wins from their first 7 matches. However, the Daredevils soon slacked off and picked just two more wins that season, finishing 6th overall.

In IPL 2017, DD started poorly with only 2 wins from 5 matches and their woes were further compounded with skipper Zaheer ruled out of a few games owing to an injury. The pacer returned at a later stage but eventually, Delhi finished 6th yet again.

Gambhir's return to DD in 2018 saw him being named captain, however, six matches into the season, the southpaw stepped down from his role. Shreyas Iyer took over the reigns and led them for the rest of the tournament.

After a re-branding ahead of IPL 2019, the Delhi Capitals were led into the playoffs under the leadership of Iyer but unfortunately lost out on a spot in the final courtesy of a Qualifier 2 loss against CSK.

Notably, Australian all-rounder James Hopes captained DD in three games towards the end of IPL 2011.

DD/DC captains - Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, James Hopes, Mahela Jayawardena, Dinesh Karthik, Kevin Pietersen, JP Duminy, Zaheer Khan, Karun Nair, Shreyas Iyer.