The Indian Premier League has come a long way. What began as an experiment ten year ago in 2008, has now transformed into the biggest cricket league in the world. Over the past decade, it has survived several ups and downs such as match fixing, corruption charges and changes in five teams either through suspension or takeover.
But what has remained constant through all these years is the top brand of cricket from only the big names but also from the little known domestic players. With so much at stake in this lucrative league, the players are bound to do well at every possible opportunity or otherwise they risk being dropped from the team.
So, one can easily understand the pressure on the captain of an IPL outfit. But over the years, the league has been graced by some brilliant captains who have been very successful in leading the teams.
So here we are looking at top 5 most successful captains in the history of the Indian Premier League:
5. Adam Gilchrist (35 wins):
The legendary wicketkeeper-batsman began his IPL career with the now-defunct Deccan Chargers and led the team in the second half of the league in the absence of regular captain VVS Laxman, who was ruled out for the rest of the tournament due to injury. Gilchrist did not enjoy a successful outing as a skipper as his team came last, winning only two of 14 matches.
In the 2009 season, he was installed as captain in place of Laxman and the decision turned out to be a masterstroke as he led the Hyderabad-based outfit to their maiden IPL title. In the third season, he led the team to the semifinals before moving to Kings XI Punjab in the following season. He retired from the IPL in 2013.
Overall, he led in 74 matches and won 35 of them while losing the other 39. Gilchrist’s win percent in the IPL was 47.29.