Updated October 2026 | All stats are as of the end of IPL 2026 (final played 31 May 2026).
Quick answer: Our all-time XI of the best IPL captains is MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Rajat Patidar, Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist, David Warner, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. Every captain who has won a title is in it, plus the two other captains with 50 or more matches and a win rate above 52 per cent. Dhoni leads the side.
| Player | Role | Matches as captain | Won | Win % | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS Dhoni | Wicketkeeper, captain | 235 | 136 | 57.87 | 5 |
| Rohit Sharma | Opener | 158 | 87 | 55.06 | 5 |
| Gautam Gambhir | Opener | 129 | 71 | 55.04 | 2 |
| Rajat Patidar | Middle-order batter | 28 | 20 | 71.43 | 2 |
| Shane Warne | Leg-spinner | 55 | 30 | 54.55 | 1 |
| Shreyas Iyer | Middle-order batter | 101 | 55 | 54.46 | 1 |
| Hardik Pandya | Pace all-rounder | 70 | 37 | 52.86 | 1 |
| Adam Gilchrist | Wicketkeeper-opener | 74 | 35 | 47.30 | 1 |
| David Warner | Opener | 83 | 40 | 48.19 | 1 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | Opener | 51 | 30 | 58.82 | 0 |
| Virender Sehwag | Opener | 53 | 28 | 52.83 | 0 |
This is an XI of leaders, not a team sheet. Six of the eleven are openers and only two are regular bowlers, so a real selector would have to rebalance it. Our most successful IPL captains page ranks the longest-serving captains, and our captaincy records hub has the full lists.
Selection Criteria and the Rules We Applied
Captaincy is hard to measure, because a captain is only as strong as his side. The figures on this page come from the captaincy records on this site, which run from 2008 to the 2026 final. The rules are simple.
- Rule one: a title. A captain who has won an IPL title is in. Nine captains qualify: Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Gambhir, Patidar, Warne, Gilchrist, Warner, Hardik Pandya and Shreyas Iyer.
- Rule two: a long record and a high win rate. A captain who has not won a title is in if he has led in at least 50 matches and won more than 52 per cent of them. That adds Tendulkar (58.82 per cent from 51 matches) and Sehwag (52.83 per cent from 53).
- Win percentage is wins divided by matches played. Ties and no results are not counted as wins, so figures can differ by a few hundredths from tables that treat them differently.
- IPL captaincy only. International captaincy is ignored.
- No batting order. We do not claim to know where each would bat, because six of the eleven are openers.
The result is exactly eleven. Rule one gives nine and rule two gives two, so no choice was needed between close cases. The cut-offs are our own, and the section on hardest calls shows who they leave out. Dhoni and Rohit account for ten of the 19 titles, more than half, and Kolkata Knight Riders are the only franchise to have won under two different captains, Gambhir (2012, 2014) and Iyer (2024).
A title is the clearest result a captain can produce, but it depends on the squad: Dhoni and Rohit led two of the most successful franchises for most of their careers. The second route, win percentage over a long record, brings in two captains who never won a title but did well in the matches they led.
The Best IPL Captains, Role by Role, With the Case for Each Pick
MS Dhoni: captain and wicketkeeper
Dhoni has led in the most matches, 235, and won the most, 136, with a win percentage of 57.87 over a span from 2008 to 2025. He has led in 10 finals, winning five (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023) and losing five (2008, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2019). His 235 matches are 77 more than anyone else’s, and his total includes the nine matches he captained in 2025 after Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out injured. He is the only captain with a title in three of the four five-season blocks. His playing record is on his career page.
Rohit Sharma: the best finisher in finals
Rohit has five titles from five finals, all with Mumbai Indians (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020), and he won every one. He needed 31.6 matches per title, against Dhoni’s 47.0, and his record is 87 wins from 158 matches, 55.06 per cent. His case is efficiency: five finals, five wins.
Gautam Gambhir: the unbeaten finalist
Gambhir led Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders, winning 71 of 129 matches, 55.04 per cent, and both finals he reached, in 2012 against Chennai and in 2014 against Kings XI Punjab. His percentage is almost identical to Rohit’s, which says something about how close the two are over a long record.
Shreyas Iyer: three teams, three finals
Iyer has won 55 of 101 matches as captain, 54.46 per cent, and is the only captain to take three different teams to a final: Delhi Capitals in 2020, Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024, when they won the title, and Punjab Kings in 2025. He is the only captain in the top five by matches who also led in 2026. See his career page.
Hardik Pandya: the title in the first season
Hardik won the title in 2022 with Gujarat Titans in their first season, and led them to the final again in 2023. He took over Mumbai Indians in 2024. He has won 37 of 70 matches, 52.86 per cent, and is the only player in this XI who also bowls seam. See his career page.
Rajat Patidar: the shortest record, the best percentage
Patidar has won 20 of his 28 matches, 71.43 per cent, and two titles, in 2025 and 2026, both with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. That is the highest percentage on this page and the shortest record. He passes rule one but would not pass rule two, because he has fewer than 50 matches, and that is why his place is the most debatable. See our Royal Challengers Bengaluru history page.
Shane Warne: the first champion
Warne won the first title in 2008 with Rajasthan Royals, a side built around young players, and finished with 30 wins from 55 matches, 54.55 per cent. He is the XI’s only specialist bowler. The final was won by three wickets against Chennai Super Kings.
Adam Gilchrist: Deccan Chargers to the title
Gilchrist captained Deccan Chargers from last place in 2008 to the title in South Africa in 2009, beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by six runs in the final in Johannesburg. His overall record, 35 wins from 74 matches, 47.30 per cent, is the lowest in the XI, and he is here because of the title.
David Warner: the 2016 title
Warner led Sunrisers Hyderabad to the title in 2016. As a captain he won 40 of 83 matches, 48.19 per cent, but he also has 6,565 runs at an average of 40.52 in the IPL. See his career page.
Sachin Tendulkar: the best win percentage
Tendulkar led Mumbai Indians in 51 matches and won 30, a win percentage of 58.82, the highest of any captain with at least 50 matches. He won the Orange Cap in 2010 and led Mumbai to their first final, which they lost. His record is the best case for the second rule: a high percentage over a sample that is large enough to mean something.
Virender Sehwag: the last place in the XI
Sehwag won 28 of his 53 matches, 52 of them for Delhi Daredevils and one for Kings XI Punjab, 52.83 per cent, which clears the 52 per cent bar by less than a percentage point. His place is secure only because the rule is a bright line.
Full Stats Table for the XI
| Player | Matches | Won | Win % | Titles | Finals led | Teams led |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS Dhoni | 235 | 136 | 57.87 | 5 | 10 | Chennai, Rising Pune Supergiant |
| Rohit Sharma | 158 | 87 | 55.06 | 5 | 5 | Mumbai |
| Gautam Gambhir | 129 | 71 | 55.04 | 2 | 2 | Delhi, Kolkata |
| Shreyas Iyer | 101 | 55 | 54.46 | 1 | 3 | Delhi, Kolkata, Punjab |
| David Warner | 83 | 40 | 48.19 | 1 | 1 | Delhi, Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| Adam Gilchrist | 74 | 35 | 47.30 | 1 | 1 | Deccan Chargers, Kings XI Punjab |
| Hardik Pandya | 70 | 37 | 52.86 | 1 | 2 | Gujarat, Mumbai |
| Shane Warne | 55 | 30 | 54.55 | 1 | 1 | Rajasthan Royals |
| Virender Sehwag | 53 | 28 | 52.83 | 0 | 0 | Delhi, Kings XI Punjab |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 51 | 30 | 58.82 | 0 | 1 | Mumbai |
| Rajat Patidar | 28 | 20 | 71.43 | 2 | 2 | Royal Challengers Bengaluru |
Between them the eleven have led in 1,037 matches, won 569 of them and won 19 titles, one for every season played, because the XI contains every title-winning captain.
Playing records of the XI
Five of the eleven have career pages on this site, so their numbers as players can be checked.
| Player | Mat | Runs | Avg | SR | Wkts | Econ | Titles as a player |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS Dhoni | 278 | 5439 | 38.30 | 137.45 | – | – | 5 |
| Rohit Sharma | 281 | 7329 | 29.91 | 132.92 | – | – | 6 |
| David Warner | 184 | 6565 | 40.52 | 139.77 | – | – | 1 |
| Hardik Pandya | 162 | 2955 | 27.88 | 146.29 | 82 | 9.36 | 5 |
| Shreyas Iyer | 147 | 4229 | 35.84 | 136.73 | – | – | 1 |
Rohit’s six titles as a player include the 2009 title with Deccan Chargers, before he began to captain Mumbai.
The Hardest Calls and Who Narrowly Missed Out
The rules leave five prominent captains out. The table shows what they achieved.
| Captain | Matches | Won | Lost | Win % | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virat Kohli | 143 | 66 | 70 | 46.15 | 0 |
| Rishabh Pant | 71 | 33 | 36 | 46.48 | 0 |
| Sanju Samson | 67 | 33 | 32 | 49.25 | 0 |
| KL Rahul | 64 | 31 | – | 48.44 | 0 |
| Ajinkya Rahane | 52 | 19 | – | 36.54 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not in our records, and we have not guessed it.
Virat Kohli
Kohli is the biggest omission. He has led in 143 matches, the third most, but with 66 wins and 70 defeats he is one of four captains in the top ten by matches with a losing record, and his one final, in 2016, was lost. He scored a record 973 runs that year, but a captain is judged on results. He is also the youngest captain in IPL history: he was 22 years and 187 days old when he first led Royal Challengers Bangalore, in 2011.
Samson, Pant and Rahul
Sanju Samson (33 wins, 32 defeats) is the closest to the 52 per cent bar, at 49.25. Rishabh Pant has 33 wins and 36 defeats, and KL Rahul has won 31 of 64. None of the three has won a title or a win rate above 50 per cent.
Ajinkya Rahane is in the table to show how wide the range is. His 19 wins from 52 matches, 36.54 per cent, are the lowest of the 15 captains with 50 or more matches.
Honourable Mentions
- Ravichandran Ashwin: captained Kings XI Punjab in 2018 and 2019. With no title and fewer than 50 matches as captain, he does not meet either rule.
- Ravindra Jadeja: began the 2022 season as Chennai Super Kings captain before handing the job back to Dhoni mid-season.
- Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly: both appear in our records for the oldest captains. Dravid was 40 years and 133 days old when he led Rajasthan Royals against Mumbai in 2013, and Ganguly was 39 years and 316 days old when he led Pune Warriors India against Kolkata in 2012.
- Steve Smith: led Pune Warriors India in 2012 at 22 years and 344 days, the only other captain to do it at 22 apart from Kohli.
The Bench and Impact Options
Under the Impact Player rule, a team names five substitutes and can swap one of them for a member of the XI. If the Captains XI had to name its five, we would choose these, because between them they cover the gaps in the XI. Our Impact Player guide explains the rule.
| Option | What he adds | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Virat Kohli | A top-order batter and the youngest captain | 143 matches as captain, 9,336 IPL runs |
| Sanju Samson | A second wicketkeeper-batter | 33 wins from 67 matches as captain |
| KL Rahul | An opener with the best average of the group | 5,815 runs at 46.15 in the IPL |
| Rishabh Pant | A left-handed wicketkeeper-batter | 71 matches as captain |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | A spinner who has captained a side | Punjab captain in 2018 and 2019, 187 IPL wickets |
Where Readers Will Disagree
- Kohli is not in the XI. This will be the main complaint. He has the third-most matches as captain, but no title and a losing record.
- Patidar’s record is short. Twenty-eight matches is a small sample, and two titles with one franchise do not settle his case.
- Team quality. Dhoni and Rohit led two of the strongest franchises for most of their careers. A weaker side could produce a worse record from the same skill.
- The XI cannot bowl. Only Warne and Hardik are regular bowlers. A balanced side would need several different names.
- Tendulkar and Sehwag. Both have records of just over 50 matches and no title. A cut-off of 60 matches would take them out and leave nine.
For the all-time team that is built for balance, see our all-time IPL XI and the greatest IPL XIs hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who would make an all-time IPL XI?
Our all-time IPL XI is Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, AB de Villiers, MS Dhoni, Andre Russell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sunil Narine, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal. This captains XI is a different exercise and picks the eleven best leaders.
Who is the greatest IPL player ever?
There is no single agreed answer. Virat Kohli has the most runs, Yuzvendra Chahal the most wickets, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma the most titles as captain (five each), and Sunil Narine is the only three-time winner of the IPL’s most valuable player award.
Who are the best IPL captains?
MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, with five titles each. Dhoni has led in the most matches, 235, and won the most, 136, and Rohit won all five finals he captained.
Which IPL captain has the best win percentage?
Among captains with at least 50 matches, Sachin Tendulkar has the best, 58.82 per cent from 51 matches. MS Dhoni is next with 57.87 per cent from 235 matches. Rajat Patidar has 71.43 per cent but from only 28 matches.
Why is Virat Kohli not in the captains XI?
He has won no title as captain and has a losing record, 66 wins and 70 defeats from 143 matches. He reached one final, in 2016, and lost it.
Which captain has led three different teams to finals?
Shreyas Iyer: Delhi Capitals in 2020, Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024, when they won, and Punjab Kings in 2025.