Although overseas captains are usually considered a liability in IPL, a few of them have found success. In fact, a couple of teams have won a trophy under the leadership of a foreign skipper. It is a terrific achievement considering the core of the XI is made up of the Indians, whom the captains might not know very much. On that note, in this article, we take a look at the all-time foreign captains XI of IPL.
Note: For the balance and overall strength of the XI, we have considered foreign skippers who have also done well in their primary skills.
Openers: David Warner and Adam Gilchrist (WK)
David Warner and Adam Gilchrist will be the openers in this all-time foreign captains XI of IPL. The highest-scoring foreigner in the league’s history, Warner won the title in 2016 as the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad. He also led them to a few playoffs and hence, Warner happens to be one of the first names in this XI.
Moving to another Hyderabad outfit, Adam Gilchrist led Deccan Chargers to the title back in 2009. The tournament was held in South Africa and Gilly was terrific with the bat, as well. Hence, he is the obvious choice to partner with his countryman here.
Middle-Order: Faf du Plessis, Kane Williamson, and Glenn Maxwell
Faf du Plessis is the current skipper of Royal Challengers Bangalore. Although his captaincy does not warrant a spot here, the fact that he scored over 3000 runs in the competition makes him a good pick at No.3. With regards to his captaincy, only time will tell whether he is successful or not.
Kane Williamson did well as the skipper of SRH when David Warner was not part of the event. He led them to the finals in 2018. Even now, Kane enjoys a good captaincy record and as we all know, he has been good with the willow, too.
When he was at the peak of his prowess in IPL, Maxi donned the skipper’s role for Punjab Kings. He was at the helm for 14 games and managed to return with a win percentage of 50. The Aussie was not able to help PBKS graduate to the playoffs and naturally, Maxwell’s IPL captaincy career is paused till now.
All-Rounders: Shane Watson and Kieron Pollard
Shane Watson and Kieron Pollard are the all-rounders in the all-time foreign captain’s XI of IPL. All-rounders have not captained a lot in IPL. However, a few overseas ones have done it in IPL. Of the lot, we have picked Shane Watson and Kieron Pollard for this XI, courtesy of their impact with the bat and ball.
While Watson has captained a total of 25 games across his stints at Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, Pollard has been the captain of Mumbai Indians for six matches so far. In both cases, they were the alternate choices when the designated options were unavailable.
Bowlers: Dwayne Bravo, Daniel Vettori, Shaun Pollock, and Shane Warne (C)
There has to be something with bowlers and captaining for Mumbai Indians. Two in this XI – Dwayne Bravo and Shaun Pollock have been the skippers of MI in the past. Harbhajan Singh has also captained the franchise. Bravo got the chance for only a single game, while Pollock got four games to display his captaincy skills.
Daniel Vettori and Shane Warne are the relatively successful overseas captains who were bowlers. While the Kiwi led RCB to the final in 2011, the legendary Shane Warne lifted the trophy with RR back in 2008. The latter’s achievement to win a trophy with an underdog team was exceptional and hence, he also captains this squad.
