IPL Winners List All Season with Captain (2008 to 2026)

The IPL winners list all season with captain covers every champion from Rajasthan Royals in 2008 to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2026. Eight different teams have lifted the trophy. MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma lead all captains with five titles each.

IPL Winners List All Season with Captain: Complete Table (2008 to 2026)

This is the full, season-by-season record of every IPL champion, the captain who led them, the runner-up, and where the final was played. Every season from 2008 to 2026 is covered below.

Most Successful IPL Teams by Title Count

Eight franchises have won the IPL title across 19 seasons. Two teams sit well clear of the rest.

What's worth noting here is that four of the eight title-winning teams have only done it once. The gap between MI and CSK at the top, and everyone else below, is considerable. Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals are the only active teams that have featured since 2008 without winning a single title.

Most Successful Captains in IPL History

Captaincy in the IPL tells a very different story from just team success. Some captains inherited strong squads; others built winning cultures over years. The table below shows every IPL-winning captain ranked by titles won, alongside their match record as captain.

MS Dhoni: 5 Titles, Most Matches as IPL Captain

Dhoni led CSK in 235 matches across his IPL career, more than any other captain in the tournament's history.

According to BBC Sport, Dhoni is the most successful IPL captain in terms of wins, with more victories than any other leader in the league's history. Five of those seasons ended with a trophy.

What makes his record unusual is the consistency across different time periods: his wins span 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, and 2023, which means he kept delivering at the top level well into his mid-forties. CSK were also runners-up five times under him, meaning Dhoni took the franchise to the final on ten separate occasions.

Rohit Sharma: 5 Titles, All with One Franchise

Rohit won all five of his IPL titles with Mumbai Indians, a fact that sometimes gets glossed over. No other captain has won five or more titles with a single franchise. His wins came in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020, a run that covers eight seasons of sustained dominance.

MI under Rohit were particularly strong in knockout cricket, routinely doing enough in the league stage and then converting under pressure.

Gautam Gambhir: 2 Titles, Same Team, Two Eras

Gambhir won in 2012 and 2014, both with KKR. What's interesting is that these weren't back-to-back wins; 2013 fell to MI in between. He led KKR in 129 matches total, finishing with a 55.42% win rate. His style of captaincy was widely noted for being tactically aggressive, and KKR's success in those years coincided with a squad that had several strong performers around him.

Rajat Patidar: Back-to-Back Titles (2025 to 2026)

Patidar led RCB to back-to-back titles in just 28 matches as captain, with a 71.42% win rate, the highest among all IPL-winning captains by percentage. RCB's 2025 title was their first ever, ending an 18-season wait. Retaining the title in 2026 made them only the third team in IPL history to win in consecutive seasons.

Other Winning Captains: One-Title Champions

Shane Warne (RR, 2008), Adam Gilchrist (Deccan Chargers, 2009), David Warner (SRH, 2016), Hardik Pandya (GT, 2022), and Shreyas Iyer (KKR, 2024) each won the IPL once as captain. Warner's win rate as captain across 83 matches was 49.39%, making his 2016 title a strong playoff run in a season where SRH peaked at the right time.

IPL Title Defence Record: Teams That Won Back-to-Back

Only three combinations of team and captain in 19 IPL seasons have successfully defended the title the following year.

Mumbai Indians won five titles but never in consecutive seasons. Gujarat Titans won in 2022 and reached the final in 2023 but lost to CSK. Defending an IPL title is genuinely hard given the auction system, squad rotation, and the format's unpredictability.

In practice, most cricket analysts note that retaining core players and keeping the captaincy stable are the two biggest factors in back-to-back success.

Notable IPL Season Context: Captains and Conditions

The 2009 IPL: Only Edition Played Entirely Outside India

The 2009 IPL was shifted to South Africa because of a scheduling conflict with India's general elections.

As documented by Wikipedia, the Indian government declined to provide security for the tournament, citing that central security forces would be engaged during the election period, which led the BCCI to relocate the entire season to South Africa. Deccan Chargers, under Adam Gilchrist, won that edition. It remains the only IPL season played entirely outside India.

Gilchrist's squad was not heavily fancied going in, which makes the win one of the more surprising results in IPL finals history.

The 2020 and 2021 IPL: UAE Editions

Both the 2020 and 2021 seasons were held in the UAE because of COVID-19 restrictions in India. Rohit Sharma led MI to the 2020 title in Dubai. MS Dhoni then brought CSK back in 2021, also in Dubai, after CSK had missed the playoffs entirely in 2020. Two different captains, two UAE titles, two very different team stories.

Virat Kohli: Won as Player, Not Captain, in 2025

This distinction matters because it comes up often. Virat Kohli did not captain RCB when they won their first IPL title in 2025. Rajat Patidar was the captain. Kohli played as a senior batter under Patidar's leadership. Kohli had previously captained RCB in 143 matches between 2011 and 2023 without winning a title. The 2025 win came after he stepped down from captaincy.

IPL Orange Cap and Purple Cap Winners: Season Wise

Orange Cap Winners (Highest Run-Scorer Each Season)

Purple Cap Winners (Highest Wicket-Taker Each Season)

Quick IPL Champion Facts

• First IPL winner: Rajasthan Royals (2008), captain Shane Warne
• Most titles: Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, five each
• Most successful captains: MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, five titles each
• Only IPL outside India: 2009, South Africa, Deccan Chargers under Adam Gilchrist
• Back-to-back champions: CSK (2010 to 2011), RCB (2025 to 2026)
• Only team to win in debut IPL season: Gujarat Titans (2022)
• Longest wait for first title: RCB, 18 seasons (2008 to 2025)
• Active teams without a title: Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals

Conclusion

From Shane Warne's unexpected 2008 win to Rajat Patidar's back-to-back titles in 2025 and 2026, the IPL winners list reflects both consistency and surprise. MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma remain the benchmark for IPL captaincy with five titles each.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who has won the most IPL titles?

Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings have each won five IPL titles, making them the joint-most successful franchises in the tournament's history.

Who is the most successful IPL captain of all time?

MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma each hold five IPL titles as captain. Dhoni led CSK across 235 matches; Rohit led MI across 158 matches.

Which IPL season was played outside India?

The 2009 IPL was held in South Africa due to India's general election schedule. Deccan Chargers, captained by Adam Gilchrist, won that season.

Which teams have won back-to-back IPL titles?

Chennai Super Kings won in 2010 and 2011 under MS Dhoni. Royal Challengers Bengaluru won in 2025 and 2026 under Rajat Patidar.

Did Virat Kohli captain RCB when they won in 2025?

No. Rajat Patidar was RCB's captain in both 2025 and 2026. Kohli played as a batter and had stepped down from captaincy before the 2025 title win.