Strongest all-time IPL XI featuring only captains 

#9 Shane Warne (Rajasthan Royals)

Captaincy Record: Matches - 55, Won - 30, Win percentage - 55.45

Shane Warne

Until 2008, Shane Warne was recognised for his extraordinary bowling skills on the field and sometimes for the antics off the field. Interestingly, he has captained Australia in 11 ODIs and won 10 of them in 1998/99.

Handing over the captaincy of Rajasthan Royals to Warne had actually surprised many in 2008. It must be said that Warne later did surprise everyone as the inaugural tournament took its shape. Warne’s team triumphed against more favourite teams like CSK, RCB and MI.

Warne's captaincy went beyond field placing or on-field strategies. He had a good eye of picking young talents like Ravindra Jadeja, Swapnil Asnodkar, Kamran Khan and handed them responsibilities. Those unheralded players were motivated to step up to the stars they were playing around and they rightly did. Warne also provided a good platform for the more experienced players like Shane Watson and Sohail Tanvir to express themselves with both bat and ball.

Warne as a bowler was not as intimidating as we had seen in Test cricket. But, he still held his fort in T20s. He grabbed 57 wickets in the 55 matches with a miserly economy rate of 7.27. As a mentor and ace spinner, the legendary cricketer deserves to be in the all-time captain’s XI.