Shreyas Iyer Captain; Virat-Rohit Sharma To Open, MS Dhoni In: Best XI Of Captains In IPL’s History

Shreyas Iyer will lead the all-captain team. Photo: BCCI

MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma are the two most successful captains in IPL. Dhoni, who took over the charge of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2008, led the team to five IPL title wins during his full-time run as the captain. He stepped down following IPL 2023. Rohit captained Mumbai Indians (MI) to 5 IPL titles before getting sacked. They have played for their respective teams for 15 years and more. When it comes to making a playing XI including only IPL captains, these two would lead the race for captaincy.

But there is one captain who has done wonders wherever he has gone. Shreyas Iyer captained Delhi Capitals (DC) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) to the final while he won an IPL title with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Iyer’s continued success in IPL as captain and him taking not one or two, but three IPL teams to an IPL final make him the captain of our IPL XI of only captains. Here, we have a look at the complete squad –

Openers

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will face the new ball. Rohit started his IPL career with Deccan Chargers. He joined MI in the IPL 2011 mega-auction and has been with them since then. Virat has been part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) since the league’s inception. He is a one-time IPL winner. Though he couldn’t lead RCB to an IPL title win as the captain.

Middle-order

Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav and Iyer will bat in the middle order. Pant can bat at number 3. He will be followed by Suryakumar. Pant leads Lucknow Super Giants in IPL. He replaced Iyer as Delhi Capitals’ (DC) captain before IPL 2021. Suryakumar has captained MI in two matches in IPL.

All-rounders

Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan will be two all-rounders. Hardik has proven himself in white-ball cricket while Rashid has also done well. Both have captained Gujarat Titans (GT). Hardik now leads MI. Rashid has led GT on a stand-in basis.

Bowlers

Pat Cummins, who captained Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to IPL 2024 final, will lead the pace attack along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Anil Kumble will also be part of the squad. Kumble captained RCB to their maiden IPL final in 2009.

All-time best IPL XI team: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, AnilKumble, Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.