Creating and maintaining a streak must be one of the most difficult things for a captain in the Indian Premier League (IPL), given its relentless and intense nature. It doesn’t take much for a club to lose momentum with a packed schedule that features home and away games in fast succession.
Nevertheless, despite these issues, there has been a list of captains who have led their respective franchises to the winning streak in the competition creating streaks that are very hard to duplicate. Almost twenty years have passed and there have been just five captains who managed to make their team win atleast seven matches in a row.
Speaking of which, we will examine the top 5 winning streaks as an IPL captain.
1. Gautam Gambhir (10 matches; IPL 2014 and 2015)
The IPL winning captain two times of legendary Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain has the highest winning streaks in the history of the IPL as a captain. Gautam Gambhir spearheaded KKR to 10 wins in a row, which started midway through the glorious 2014 season, and extended until the initial days of the 2015 season.
In 2014, KKR had a bad position at IPL by losing two of the initial seven games. But in the second half of the tournament, the franchise totally transformed the situation victorious in nine games straight, including the Qualifier 1 and the final, to claim the title.
Gambhir made it a total of 10 consecutive wins as captain when he led KKR to a 3-wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians (MI) on the first day of the season. But the glorious streak was cut short a few days later when they lost to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by three wickets at the Eden Gardens.
2. Rajat Patidar (8 matches; IPL 2025 and 2026)
The incumbent RCB skipper had a fairytale maiden season as a leader when he helped them to win their first IPL trophy. During the title-winning campaign, the team only lost one of their last eight matches. In six of those wins, Patidar was the captain and Jitesh Sharma was the head of the team in the other two matches.
The streak started with an overwhelming seven-wicket triumph over the Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Mullanpur and featured their legendary victories over the same team in the Qualifier 1 and in the final.
Rajat Patidar took the streak into the 2026 season also and continued it to eight matches in a row with home victories over the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Nevertheless, a six wicket defeat to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati prevented him to get closer to the tally of Gambhir.
3. Shane Warne (8 matches; IPL 2008)
The all time spinner who took RR to the IPL crown in the first edition, managed a eight match winning streak. RR had won eight of their final nine matches of the season including the knockouts. The only defeat they suffered in the course was when Shane Watson replaced Warne as the captain.
RR had previously planned a five game winning streak during the initial stages of the campaign but the tide was marred by the Mumbai Indians (MI). Shane Warne also initiated another spurt, starting with a comfortable eight wicket victory over the now-defunct Deccan Chargers.
Shane Warne, however, did not have the opportunity to resume the streak in IPL 2009 as RR were bowled out for 58 in their season opener against RCB, and lost by 75 runs.
4. Shreyas Iyer (8 matches; IPL 2024 and 2025)
One of the best captains in modern day IPL whose leadership took the Delhi Capitals (DC) and the Punjab Kings (PBKS) to the finals and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the third title, Shreyas Iyer also built a long winning streak as a captain.
Shreyas Iyer took KKR to six straight wins in IPL 2024 to carry them to the trophy, with big victories in Qualifier 1 and the final. The streak started with a comfortable seven wicket victory over his former team DC in the Eden Gardens.
He was released by KKR at the off-season, and joined Punjab Kings, where he started his reign with back to back wins to take the streak to eight consecutive wins. But he was unable to go any further because PBKS lost by 50 runs to RR in their home.
5. MS Dhoni (7 matches; IPL 2013)
CSK had a mixed start, but midway through the IPL 2013 campaign was steered to seven consecutive wins by the legendary MS Dhoni. It was now four games into the season and the team had already won twice, and lost twice and was in need of momentum.
CSK formed a resounding 86-run victory over the Delhi Daredevils (since renamed to Delhi Capitals) to set off on a splendid streak to the top of the table. During the following three matches they realized successful run chases and the next three matches saw successful defense of the scores.
Their streak was ended by their rivals MI at the Wankhede Stadium as they were bowled out for 79 while atempting to chase a 140-run target.
