Crowning the IPL Captains

A total of 49 captains have adorned the leading cap in the IPL so far. KL Rahul will be the 50^th if and when the next IPL takes place, given no new guy is given the responsibility of leading the side. Let's look at the overall performance of the prominent leaders in the history of the league in terms of Win% and more.

1. The King of Win%: MS Dhoni
   (Overall Wins)
   
   Dhoni leads the pack in Overall Wins with a staggering 60% win rate in as many as 173 matches. Rohit & Gambhir have done commendable too on numbers, both playing over 100 matches and winning the trophy more frequent than others. Steve Smith gets a special mention for his solid 66% wins in 29 matches alongside taking a team with limited resources to the Finals of 2017 season and missing the trophy by just 1 run after having a horrendous 2016 season under Dhoni where they had finished second last.
   
   
2. The King of Luck: Adam Gilchrist
   (Toss Wins)
   
   With 74 games and 59% tosses wins, Gilly has been the luckiest captain in IPL in terms of calling the coin. Credit to Yuvraj for winning all 5 Head to Head vs Gilchrist’s side. Watson has been supernatural with 70% right calls but has captained only 24 games. Gambhir(55% from 129 games) and Dhoni(53% from 173 games) have also been luckier than the rest.
   
   
3. The King of Mammoth Scores: Virat Kohli
   (scoring 200+)
   
   Even though Dhoni’s team has scored 200+ most times(16) followed by Kohli’s (15), the fewer number of matches make latter the ace in this category. Kohli’s side scores 200 or more 14% of the time which is only next to Karthik who manages 19% with 1/3^rd of the games played. Many might give this credit to Chinnaswamy more than the side, but we can’t ignore the fact that RCB has been the most imperious batting side in IPL with Gayle, AB & Virat unleashing themselves in the shorter format. Evidence can be seen in Kohli’s numbers with the bat where he averages 65 at an unreal strike rate of 160.
   
   
4. The King of Blocking: Sachin Tendulkar
   (conceding less than 100)
   
   The Master Blaster has been fairly better at stopping the opponents from going over 100 tally on the scoreboard with 6% from 51 games. Dhoni has done well himself with over 4% in 173 games, the nature of the home pitch advantage has to go to Sachin. Also, 50 matches are fairly above the default filter of 30. Yuvraj, Bailey, Raina & Karthik haven’t stopped the opponent under 100 even once.
   
   
5. The King of KnockDowns: Sachin Tendulkar
   (getting opposition All-Out)
   
   Sachin again leads this category where he managed to pick all 10 wickets of the opposition 9 times(18%) out of the 51 games he led. Warne also has a healthy 15% KnockDowns. Among the captains with more games to their name, Rohit trumps Dhoni by one percent while Jayawardene has done it only once.
   
   
6. The King of Comfortable Chases: Shane Warne
   (chasing with 30+ Balls remaining)
   
   Warne stands tall in this category with a whopping 5% difference from his national teammate who is second-best on the list. With 13% chases out of the 31 coming before 15^th over, the leg spinner has done considerably well than others to get his troops home as quickly as possible. On a larger sample size, Kohli has done better than his counterparts with 6% comfortable chases as opposed to 4% by Rohit, Dhoni and Gambhir.
   
   
7. The King of the Nerves: Shane Warne
   (wins in closest matches)
   
   How can we forget the final of the inaugural season where the underdogs lifted the title under the legend, winning it off the last ball. Among the 10 close games Warne had across seasons, he won 8 of them. 80% wins is too much to be ignored on the basis of the sample size which is decent to start with. Rohit has done well from the 22% of close games(out of total games) he has had with 61% wins where Dhoni has managed to win 60% of the close games which comprise 28% of the total games he has led.
   
   
8. The King of the Fort: MS Dhoni
   (wins at Home)
   
   Dhoni and Sachin stand apart from the rest winning ~70% of the games at the Home venue. Dhoni has the edge since he has played 58 matches while Sachin has played just 22. Rohit has also been exceptional with 64% wins coming at Wankhede, Brabourne or Navi Mumbai. Kohli is the only one with a larger sample size to win lesser than half the games(37) played at home.
   
   
9. The King of Invasions: MS Dhoni
   (Away Wins)
   
   There is no separating Rohit & Dhoni on this category where Rohit leads with few decimals on the Win% but Dhoni’s 115 games against Rohit’s 59 gives former a minute edge. Sehwag and Warne have done well away from comfort with more than 50% wins with a decent sample size.
   
   
10. The King of Defence: Rohit Sharma
    (Wins while defending the target)
    
    Sachin’s exemplary captaincy record in the early years of the IPL keep placing him at the top of each chart, but he keeps missing out on the sample size. Rohit’s 57% wins in 58 games(twice as many as Sachin) sets him apart in this category. Where Warner has been remarkable from the 27 games he led, Dhoni’s 54% from 95 games is just shy of impressive.
    
    
11. The King of Chases: MS Dhoni
    (wins while Chasing)
    
    Dhoni with an unbelievable 68% wins in chases sits at the top of this chart. One of the great finishers has contributed quite well with the bat too where he averages 39 and strikes at 133 while pursuing the target. Rohit & Gambhir have done extremely well with around 60% wins.
    
    
12. The King of the Prologue: MS Dhoni
    (Wins in League stage)
    
    Dhoni’s name was bound to pop-up more often than not, given his Overall Win% in a comprehensive career. He leads this category with the same Win% as his career-60% from the 151 games he has led his sides of CSK & RPS. Sehwag & Rohit have done as well as him in the initial phases of the tournament, even Sachin on a smaller sample. Jayawardene has been disappointing with just 1/3^rd wins out of the 30 games he led.
    
    
13. The King of Finales: Rohit Sharma
    (Wins in Playoffs)
    
    Rohit with a staggering 73% wins from the 11 playoff games he has led is astonishing, to say the least. Even though he hasn’t been any good in this phase with the bat, he has made sure his team crosses the line more often than not. Gambhir has been impressive thanks to the brilliance of those 2 seasons where he lifted the cup. Warner in his 4 matches so far was as invincible as Hitman on the big stage.
    
    

14. HEAD To HEAD:-

Its quite spectacular that Rohit dominates Kohli & Gambhir despite losing more tosses to them. While Dhoni has managed just 62% wins from a staggering 85% tosses wins against Kohli, latter’s record against Gambhir is similar where he has managed just 50% wins after winning 75% of the tosses between them.

Here are a few more dominant HTH records with a minimum of 5 HTH:-

Warner vs Raina: 100%
Dhoni vs Yuvraj: 100%
Yuvraj vs Gilchrist: 100%
Gambhir vs Bailey: 83%
Gambhir vs Sanga: 83%
Steven vs Rohit: 83%
Dhoni vs Ganguly: 83%
Ganguly vs Gilchrist: 80%
Dhoni vs Iyer: 80%
Sachin vs Gambhir: 80%
Dhoni vs Vettori: 80%
Sehwag vs Gilchrist: 80%
Dhoni vs Karthik 80%