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Former India and CSK batsman Ambati Rayudu recently ranked the top 5 greatest captains in IPL history. In his rankings, Rayudu made some surprising choices and chose recent captains over established names.
Rayudu himself has enjoyed a long IPL career spanning 15 seasons between 2009 and 2023. He played for only two franchises during this period and won a record 6 IPL trophies as a player.
Top 5 greatest IPL captains of all time as revealed by Ambati Rayudu
Rayudu was speaking to ESPN Cricinfo when asked to provide his rankings. Incidentally, all the five players he mentioned have won the IPL trophy as captain at least once.
5. Rajat Patidar
Rayudu took the name of current RCB captain Rajat Patidar at number 5. Last year, Patidar led RCB to their first IPL trophy in his first season as captain.
This year he has already taken the team to the first position in the points table. “He has captained an RCB team that was trophy-less. He has got a different culture in the team, which is much more positive and selfless,” Rayudu said.
4. Shreyas Iyer
Outgoing Punjab Kings captain, Shreyas Iyer, was Rayudu’s No. 4. Iyer’s first stint with captaincy came in IPL 2019 when he led Delhi Capitals to the playoffs after a gap of 7 years.
The following year, he led that team to runner-up finish. After leading KKR to the IPL title in 2024, he joined PBKS in 2025 and led that team to the top four after a gap of 11 years. Iyer is the only captain to take three different teams to the IPL final, even though he lost two of them.
“He has been a title winner with KKR, but he has also been a finalist with DC and Punjab. He always brings a lot of calmness to his captaincy. He looks like a great man manager,” Rayudu said.
3. Gautam Gambhir
Although the current Indian national team head coach started his IPL captaincy career with the Delhi Capitals (or Delhi Daredevils, as they were known at the time), he is most associated with KKR.
Gambhir served as the captain of KKR between 2011 and 2017, and led the team to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014. “He has been a two-time winner, and his aggressive captaincy came to the fore during his KKR days. We could feel his authority on the field when playing against him and he is a brilliant captain,” Rayudu said.
2. Rohit Sharma
Sharma first took over the captaincy from Australian legend Ricky Ponting in the middle of the 2013 IPL season. He fulfilled this expectation amazingly and led Mumbai Indians to their first IPL title that year.
In the next 7 seasons, captain Rohit Sharma and MI added 4 more trophies to their cabinet. Rayudu himself was a part of three of these five IPL titles.
“He has been a consistent winner with Mumbai Indians and he has become a legend of the game. He is also a great captain of Indian cricket. And in the IPL, he has been very successful not only because of the great teams he has had, but also because of the way he has managed the stars in those teams,” Rayudu said.
1. MS Dhoni
Like Rohit, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is also a five-time IPL winning captain. Dhoni was the captain in all five trophies won by Chennai Super Kings and Rayudu was in the team for three of them.
Rayudu concluded, “He has been consistent throughout his IPL career. He brings a different kind of leadership in the dressing room and on the field. And many of the captains I mentioned earlier have learned from him.”
Ambati Rayudu names his top five IPL captains – any surprises? pic.twitter.com/mjD7L2rVYj
– ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) 26 May 2026
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