IPL 2025: Full list of captains of all IPL teams announced ahead of new season

Hardik Pandya is a two-time ICC trophy winner who was named as MI captain after joining the team for the 2024 season. However, due to a slow overrate penalty, Pandya will miss the first two games of the season. At the time of writing, there’s been no confirmation on who’ll replace Pandya but three possible alternatives are Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav. This trio are all highly experienced but could an early season setback put the Mumbai Indians on the back foot?

Previously captained by experienced MS Dhoni (who held the role for 14 seasons), Gaikwad was handed the CSK captaincy before the 2024 IPL season.

Gaikwad has an impressive individual record, he was the leading run scorer in the 2021 IPL season, and is the captain of the Maharashtra state team. However, after a disappointing league finish for CSK in 2024, Gaikwad will be aiming for a better result in 2025.

Cummins, also the captain of the Australian national team, has played for several IPL sides. He joined SRH, and became the captain, for the 2024 season but was only able to lead his team to the silver medal position. However, given that the three years prior to this saw SRH fail to reach the playoffs stage, most fans will have high hopes for Cummin’s leadership.

After a break from the Royals during their suspension from the tournament, Samson returned to Rajasthan in 2018. Samson was named as captain of RR in 2021 and has retained the position ever since, with a 30-28 win/loss rate. His best result for the team was runners up in 2022 but this year he’ll be hoping for more.

Gill has been the captain of GT since the 2024 season, but has been a team member since 2022. The Titans clinched the IPL title in Gill’s debut season and were runners up in 2023, when Gill’s high run scoring won him the Orange Cap. However, 2024 saw GT slip to the league stage, with Gill overseeing a lean 35.71% win rate.

Taking the reins from Faf du Plessis, Patidar will hope to take RCB out of the playoffs, where they’ve remained for four out of the previous five seasons. Patidar is an experienced player and also captains Madhya Pradesh so will have plenty to bring to the pitch.

Pant is not only the most expensive player in the IPL this season, he’s also recently been announced as the LSG captain. Pant has effectively made a straight swap with KL Rahul, who has become the captain of Delhi Capitals, Pant’s former side. This could give Pant and Rahul a unique perspective on each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Another new captain for 2025, Rahane replaces Shreyas Iyer. He is also a new player at KKR, having moved from 2023 champions CSK. KKR were the champions in 2024 and have built a strong crew for the 2025 season, giving Rahane plenty to work with.

Shreyas Iyer joined the Punjab Kings this year, at a cost of ₹26.75 crore (second in price only to Pant, above). Replacing Shikhar Dhawan, Iyer has lots of experience as a captain. He was the IPL winning captain of KKR in 2024, and captained the Royals to 7th place in 2022.

As mentioned above, KL Rahul has essentially swapped with Pant to become captain of the Delhi Capitals. He is an experienced leader, and held the captain’s position with the Punjab Kings and the Lucknow Super Giants. Under his leadership LSG entered the playoffs in 2022 and 2023; can he do better in 2025?