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Youngest Captains in IPL: Star batter Shubman Gill is all set to captain Gujarat Titans (GT) in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League in 2025. He will take over the role as the former GT skipper Hardik Pandya has been traded to Mumbai Indians (MI) ahead of the IPL 2024 auction. After Pandya’s transfer to MI, GT announced Gill as their captain for the upcoming season.
Notably, Shubman Gill will be making his captaincy debut in the IPL at the age of 24. The promising young cricketer has shown great form in the year 2023 across formats. Gill is also the top scorer of IPL 2023 with 890 runs from 17 matches at an average of 59.33. He played a crucial for GT to get into the final for the second consecutive time. Now, Shubman Gill will also have the responsibility of leading the team in the upcoming team. However, he is not the youngest player to captain a team in the IPL. There are many players who made their captaincy debut in IPL at a very young age. Let’s have a look at the top 5 youngest to lead a franchise in the IPL
Top 5 Youngest Captains in IPL History
| Rank | Player(s) | Age on captaincy debut | IPL Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virat Kohli | 22 years, 4 months and 6 days | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
| 2 | Steve Smith | 22 years, 11 months and 9 days | Rising Pune Supergiants |
| 3 | Shreyas Iyer | 23 years, 3 months and 21 days | Delhi Capitals |
| 4 | Suresh Raina | 23 years, 3 months and 22 days | Chennai Super Kings |
| 5 | Rishabh Pant | 23 years, a half year and 6 days | Delhi Capitals |
DC finished last at the points table in that season. In next season, Iyer led DC to the playoffs for the first time since 2012 and and the franchise made it into theri first-ever IPL final in 2020 under his captaincy where they went on to lose against the Mumbai Indians. However, Iyer couldn’t as the skipper in 2021 due to an injury and Rishabh Pant took over the charge in his absence. Iyer was then bought by Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2022 and was appointed as their skipper after Eoin Morgan’s retirement.
5. Rishabh Pant (23 years, six months and six days)
Star India wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant finds himself on the fifth spot in the list of the youngest captain to take charge in the IPL. Pant took over the role for the Delhi Capitals after their regular skipper Shreyas Iyer was out of action because of an injury. Pant was the favourite to the lead franchise after Iyer and had a successful outing in his debut season as captain. Under his captaincy, DC finished at the top of the points table in IPL 2021 winning 10 out of 14 leagues. However, Pant couldn’t lead DC to their maiden IPL trophy as they lost against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Eliminator and failed to make it into the final. Since then, Rishabh Pant is the regular skipper of DC. However, he didn’t take part in IPL 2023 as he met with a major car accident in December 2022 and is out of the cricketing action since then.
4. Suresh Raina (23 years, three months and 22 days)
Also regarded as the Mr. IPL, Suresh Raina also made it into the list as he made his captaincy debut for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the age of 23 in IPL 2010. Raina was appointed as the vice-captain of CSK in 2010 and finally got the chance to lead the side against Delhi Daredevils (now known as Delhi Capitals) when MS Dhoni didn’t get featured in the playing XI. Raina also got full-time leadership role when CSK and Rajasthan Royals were banned from the for two year. He took charge of the Gujarat Lions as a full-time captain in 2016 and 2017. He had a successful outing as he led GL to the top of the points table in 2016, winning nine out of 14 league matches. However, they went on to lose against the eventual champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator. On the other hand, IPL 2017 turned out to be completely odd for Gujarat Lions as they finished on the second last position that season.
3. Shreyas Iyer (23 years, three months and 21 days)
Shreyas Iyer took over the captaincy role at the age of 23 when he replaced Gautam Gambhir as the skipper of Delhi Capitals mid-season in IPL 2018. He had a memorable debut as the skipper as he smashed a unbeaten 93 runs off 40 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders. However, he couldn’t do any other wonders as
2. Steve Smith (22 years, 11 months and nine days)
Australian batter Steve Smith got a chance to take over the captaincy role for the first time in Pune Warriors India in 2012. He given the role after the regular skipper Sourav Ganguly decided to bench himself in a match. After that, Smith went on to lead Rajasthan Royals and was appointed as the full-time captain of Rising Pune Supergiants in 2017 with MS Dhoni playing under him. He led Pune to the final in 2017 where they lost against Mumbai Indians. Smith was again back as the RR skipper when franchise completed its two year-ban. Smith has also been captain of Delhi Capitals in some of the matches in IPL 2021.
1. Virat Kohli (22 years, four months and six days)
Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli is the youngest player to take over the captaincy role in the IPL. Kohli has been part of Royal Challengers Bangalore since the inaugural season in 2008, and was finally given captaincy role in 2013. He had been a captain of RCB from 2013 to 2021. Under his stint, RCB have qualified for the playoffs four times, and one time in the final in 2016. However, Kohli stepped down from the RCB captaincy ahead of IPL 2022 and Faf du Plessis took over the role. However, Kohli was again leading the team in a few matches in IPL 2023, due to the impact player rule implemented in that season.
