Captaincy is a dangling carrot in cricket. The captain enjoys the maximum attention but this could be detrimental to the player’s performance as well. There have been many cricketers who couldn’t perform the dual role of leading and playing for their respective sides. While there have been a chosen few who have excelled after becoming leaders of their side.
We at StumpsandBails bring to you 5 batsmen who have made the most runs as a captain of an IPL team:
#5 David Warner (2931 runs)
David Warner is the driving force of Sunrisers Hyderabad. The whole team feeds on Warner’s presence on the field. He is a player who leads by example. Warner was handed over the captaincy reigns of SRH in 2015 and there has been no looking back ever since. He helped SRH win their maiden IPL title in 2016 wherein he alone had scored a whopping 848 runs. Warner has won the orange cap in 2015, 2017, and 2019. His consistency knows no bounds when it comes to leading SRH.
#4 Rohit Sharma (3251 runs)
Rohit Sharma was handed the captaincy of the Mumbai Indians midway during IPL 2013. The MI team didn’t have a single IPL trophy in its cabinet until 2013. But enter Rohit Sharma and the entire scenario changed for MI. They went on to win 5 titles in 8 seasons. Mumbai Indians managed to win in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020. Sharma has been a key contributor to MI’s success as a batsman too. He started off playing in the middle-order before taking up the opener’s slot in the last few years. There isn’t anyone better than championing a team from the front like Rohit Sharma.
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#3 Gautam Gambhir (3518 runs)
Gautam Gambhir had a brief IPL captaincy stint in 2009 for Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals). He was given complete responsibility in 2010. But Gambhir was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders in 2011. The KKR team hadn’t even qualified for a playoff until 2011 forget winning the title. But Gambhir’s entry as a leader of KKR made them a world-beating side. KKR won two titles in 3 years (2012 and 2014). They had a golden run under Gambhir’s tenure as captain. Gambhir opened the batting for KKR and plundered runs at will. He scored 3518 runs as a captain in the IPL
#2 MS Dhoni (4475 runs)
In his 13-year long IPL career, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has led in 196 IPL matches scoring a mammoth 4475 runs. His numbers when it comes to the IPL is insane. He led Chennai Super Kings to 3 championship wins in 2010, 2011, and 2018. Dhoni has murdered many IPL bowling attacks for fun. He has been the best finisher of the tournament by a distance. His last ball and last over heroics became a cult from the time he started playing for CSK.
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#1 Virat Kohli (4810 runs)
Virat Kohli is a passionate captain. He wears his emotion on his sleeves. Kohli’s burning desire is to help Royal Challengers Bangalore win a maiden IPL title. He has been with RCB right since the first season. He was first given the captaincy duties in 2012 and since 2013 he has been the regular skipper of the side. Kohli has scored a truckload of runs for RCB, both as a player and as a captain.
He is the only IPL captain to have more than 4800 runs to his name. Kohli in 2016 went on overdrive when he amassed 973 runs in a single season scoring 4 centuries. It is very difficult to imagine any other captain batsman to surmount the feat that Kohli has achieved.
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