IPL 2025: Captains of all 10 teams

All 10 captains for IPL 2025 have been confirmed.

The much-awaited season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 will start on Saturday, March 22. Ten teams will compete in the season. This season, just like the previous ones, will see some new players joining the competition.

The mega auction before this year’s IPL proved out to be a big one as it changed outlook of most of the teams. Not just big stars; a number of franchises also released their captains, and only five teams will have the same captain in IPL 2025 who led them last season.

There will be some new faces to lead the other five teams in the IPL this year. In this article, we will talk about all ten captains of the teams for the 18th edition of the IPL.

List of all Captains of ten teams in the IPL 2025

1. Chennai Super Kings – Ruturaj Gaikwad

Ruturaj Gaikwad became the captain of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2024 and led the team. He won seven out of 14 games last season and was very close to making it to the playoffs, but missed on virtue of lower Net Run Rate (NRR).

Gaikwad will be leading the five-time champions once again in IPL 2025 and will be looking to do well this time around.

2. Mumbai Indians – Hardik Pandya

The biggest controversy of the IPL 2024 was the trade of Hardik Pandya to Mumbai Indians (MI). Following that, the franchise replaced Rohit Sharma with Hardik as the captain. But this move backfired for them, and they were horrible throughout the season.

Hardik also faced a lot of criticism from the fans. But a lot has changed since then, and Hardik’s stature after winning two ICC titles has certainly increased more. He will be looking to take MI to their sixth IPL title this year.

3. Sunrisers Hyderabad – Pat Cummins

The IPL 2024 saw some incredible moments, and one of them was the approach of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), which came with Pat Cummins as the new captain.

SRH won nine out of 16 games under him in 2024 and ended as runners-up. Cummins will be back again leading the Orange Army and will look to end the unfinished business they had last season.

4. Rajasthan Royals – Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson will be in action once again as he will lead Rajasthan Royals (RR) in IPL 2025. RR qualified for the playoffs last year, but crashed out in the second qualifier game, and are still in search for their second IPL title.

Since then, Samson had a great run in international cricket, winning the ICC T20 World Cup and then having a purple patch in T20Is, where he hit three hundreds. Under him, RR have won 31 of the 60 IPL games with a win percent of 50.81.

5. Gujarat Titans – Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill made his captaincy debut in the IPL last season. He became Gujarat Titans’ (GT) captain after Hardik was traded to MI. Gill, as a batter, had a great season with 426 runs, but he couldn’t do much as a captain.

GT couldn’t qualify for the playoffs and finished seventh in the league stage after winning only five of the 14 group matches. Following that, Gill was named vice-captain of India’s white-ball sides and even captained India in a five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, where his led side won the series 5-0. He will be looking to carry on that confidence while leading GT in IPL 2025.

6. Kolkata Knight Riders – Ajinkya Rahane

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had a great campaign in the IPL last year and won their third IPL title under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer. However, the franchise didn’t value Iyer much and released him prior to the mega auction. The franchise had a great haul at the auction and secured many players while hunting for a captain as well.

While KKR had a number of choices to appoint captain, they went with veteran Indian cricketer Ajinkya Rahane as the captain to lead them in IPL 2025, while most-speculated Venkatesh Iyer was named his deputy.

Rahane has led Rajasthan Royals and Rising Pune SuperGiants previously in the IPL and his experience is perfect to lead the defending champions.

7. Punjab Kings – Shreyas Iyer

It came as a shock to many when Shreyas Iyer was released by KKR, despite leading them to the title last year. But, that is what you witness in this highly competitive tournament. But it came as a blessing in disguise for Iyer as he secured a whopping deal of INR 26.75 crores from Punjab Kings (PBKS).

PBKS, coached by Ricky Ponting, broke their bank on him because they wanted a new captain after Shikhar Dhawan’s retirement. Hence, they spent a massive amount to get the expertise of Iyer for their team. Iyer will have a task to lead the franchise to their first title. Notably, PBKS have not qualified for the playoffs in the last 11 seasons.

8. Royal Challengers Bengaluru – Rajat Patidar

Rajat Patidar has established himself as a dasher in the IPL, who is unstoppable when he gets going. But his consistency makes him a reliable player, which is why Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) made a massive decision of appointing him as the captain.

Patidar joined back RCB in 2021 as a replacement and will be leading them in IPL 2025. It will be a proud moment for him to lead such a big franchise and the fanbase.

9. Delhi Capitals – Axar Patel

Axar Patel has been part of Delhi Capitals (DC) since 2019 and has been retained since then. There were a few other choices for captaincy among new signings, such as KL Rahul and Faf du Plessis, but the franchise showed trust in the all-rounder and appointed him as the captain for IPL 2025.

The all-rounder has shown a great maturity as a cricketer and achieved success with Team India, which might help them in the IPL 2025.

10. Lucknow Super Giants – Rishabh Pant

Last but not least, we have the most expensive player in IPL history, Rishabh Pant. The star keeper parted ways with DC, and then a number of franchises targeted him at the mega auction.

Finally, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) signed him at a whopping price of INR 27 crores, and now he will be leading the franchise. Pant led DC from 2021 and has loads of experience leading an IPL franchise. The Super Giants are only the second team that Pant will represent in his IPL career, which started back in 2016.

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