Franchises usually do not own up a potential liability by appointing a foreigner as the captain of an IPL team. However, in cases such as Shane Warne and David Warner, the move has paid dividends. A few players, though, despite captaining their nations, haven’t had the chance to lead an IPL franchise. The reason for this could depend on various factors. In this article, we take a look at five International captains who never led a team in IPL history so far.
1) Chris Gayle (West Indies)
T20I Captaincy Stats: Games – 17 || Won – 6
Chris Gayle is one of the International captains who never led a team in IPL history so far. The seventh-highest run-getter in IPL history, Gayle’s playing style helped IPL carve out a brand in the initial stages. Having scored six centuries, Gayle owns multiple records in the competition, such as the highest individual score.
Having played for KKR, RCB and Punjab, Gayle never got a chance to captain in IPL. Even for West Indies, despite being experienced, he was at the helm for just 17 games. Not popular for his captaincy skills, no franchise wanted to burden him with the responsibility.
2) AB de Villiers (South Africa)
T20I Captaincy Stats: Games – 18 || Won – 8
Having played more than 180 IPL games, it is shocking that AB de Villiers is yet to captain a single game in the competition. While it was anyways unlikely to happen in Delhi, in RCB, Daniel Vettori, Virat Kohli and Shane Watson have taken the honours and not the South African.
For his country, though, ABD was the captain across formats for a while. In T20’s, he was the captain of the team for only 18 games. South Africa won eight T20 matches under him. Hence, AB de Villiers also belongs to the list of International captains who never led a team in IPL history.
3) Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)
T20I Captaincy Stats: Games – 24 || Won – 7
Although Sri Lanka won the 2014 T20 World Cup under his captaincy, Lasith Malinga has had a rather horrible captaincy record across the limited-overs formats. Hence, the highest wicket-taker in IPL history has never led a franchise in the competition.
During the initial years, the likes of Sachin Tendulkar were at the helm and Malinga was still developing his captaincy skills. After Rohit Sharma became the captain, Mumbai never needed another option. So, Malinga never got a captaincy chance in IPL.
4) Faf du Plessis (South Africa)
T20I Captaincy Stats: Games – 37 || Won – 23
Faf du Plessis is the most experienced T20I captain for South Africa. Across his tenure as the skipper of the country, the right-handed batsman led the country in 37 games, winning 23 of them.
However, in IPL, Faf du Plessis is yet to get the role. While at Rising Pune Supergiant, the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Steve Smith were preferred, at CSK, it was MS Dhoni all the way. That said, if Dhoni retires after IPL 2021, CSK could consider giving the responsibility to Faf in the transition period.
5) Quinton de Kock (South Africa)
T20I Captaincy Stats: Games – 11 || Won – 3
Quinton de Kock is another South African in this list of International captains who never led a team in IPL history. However, unlike the other members, QDK had relatively lesser experience as a T20I captain.
In IPL, though, the hard-hitting opener is yet to captain a team. In 77 games so far, he has hit more than 2200 runs and has been a decent batsman. While he has been flawless behind the stumps, QDK lacks the charisma to be an IPL captain. Moreover, in recent years, he has been part of squads that have had Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as the captain. Hence, the opportunity was never coming.
