4 Players Won IPL In Their Debut Season As Captain: 18 seasons of the IPL have passed by, and most recently, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally ended their long wait, and so did the megastar Virat Kohli, to lift the IPL trophy.
The IPL began in 2008 and has undergone plenty of changes. From the number of teams growing from eight to ten, to changes in rules, most crucially, the introduction of the Impact Player, which essentially makes the matches 12 vs 12 instead of 11 vs 11.
Over the past five years, the stock of the IPL has grown exponentially, and it has become one of the biggest sporting leagues in the world across all sports. In terms of per-match value, the IPL is the second-most valuable sporting league, only behind the National Football League (NFL) of the USA.
Captains of the winning teams have played a huge role in shaping the structure of the team and bringing calmness in the dressing room. What’s been remarkable is that four players have won the IPL title while captaining for the first time in the IPL.
Let us see the four players who won the IPL trophy in their debut season as a captain.
4 Players Won IPL In Their Debut Season As Captain
Shane Warne – Rajasthan Royals, 2008
The former Australian legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne created history when he led the underdogs Rajasthan Royals (RR) to the IPL 2008 title in the inaugural season of the league.
RR beat favorites Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on the last ball of the final in Mumbai. Yusuf Pathan was the Man of the Match for his sensational all-round performance of 56 (39) and 3/22.
Rohit Sharma – Mumbai Indians, 2013
Mumbai Indians (MI) bought Rohit Sharma in the IPL 2011 mega auction. In 2013, Ricky Ponting stepped down from the captaincy position midway through the season after a poor start to MI’s campaign.
A young Rohit was handed the captaincy, and he propelled MI to their maiden IPL title. Mumbai beat MS Dhoni’s CSK in the final in Kolkata to clinch their first IPL trophy and stopped CSK from making a hat-trick of IPL titles. Rohit led MI to four more IPL titles.
Hardik Pandya – Gujarat Titans, 2022
Hardik Pandya was with the Mumbai Indians from 2015 to 2021, but the all-rounder was released ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. Gujarat Titans, who were a new entrant in the IPL, saw this great opportunity and roped in Pandya and made him their captain.
Hardik and head coach Ashish Nehra stunned everyone as GT won the IPL 2022 title. They beat Rajasthan Royals in the final at their home ground, the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Hardik produced a terrific, all-round performance, 3/17 and 34 (30), and bagged the Man of the Match award in the final.
In IPL 2023, he led GT to the final once again, but this time they lost to CSK on the last ball.
Rajat Patidar – Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 2025
Rajat Patidar will go down in history as the captain who ended an 18-year wait of RCB, Virat Kohli, and their fans of winning the IPL trophy. He did it in his debut season as captain.
RCB beat Punjab Kings in both Qualifier 1 and the final. The final was a tight affair in Ahmedabad as it went down till the last over, in which RCB emerged victorious, defending their total of 190, which seemed under par for the conditions and the opposition at the halfway point.
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