Accounting for all matches up to today, May 14, 2026, the record for the most captains used by a franchise in a single IPL season remains a maximum of 3 captains. No franchise has exceeded this number in the ongoing 2026 season.
Teams with 3 Captains in a single IPL season:
1. Mumbai Indians,2008(Harbhajan Singh, Shaun Pollock, Sachin Tendulkar):
Sachin Tendulkar was the designated icon player and skipper but missed the opening block of games due to a groin injury. Harbhajan Singh took the reins but was banned for the rest of the tournament after the infamous "Slapgate" incident with Sreesanth in match 11. Shaun Pollock stepped in to stabilize the side, before a recovered Tendulkar returned to take over for the final phase.
2. Pune Warriors India,2013 (Angelo Mathews, Ross Taylor, Aaron Finch):
Pune Warriors had an awful 2013 campaign, finishing second to last, causing management to rotate captains out of sheer frustration. Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews started as the official captain. When Sri Lankan players were barred from playing matches in Chennai due to political tensions, Ross Taylor had to fill in. As Taylor’s personal form plummeted, he dropped himself from the playing XI entirely. Aaron Finch was handed the captaincy for the remainder of the season.
3. Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2021 (David Warner, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey):
The Sunrisers Hyderabad 2021 season was marred by public friction between management and their most decorated player. David Warner began the season as captain, but after a string of losses and a low strike rate, he was shockingly stripped of the captaincy and dropped from the team. Kane Williamson was given the official full-time mantle. For the very final league match of the season, Williamson sat out with an injury, leading to Manish Pandey captaining the squad as a one-off stand-in.
4. Punjab Kings,2024 (Shikhar Dhawan, Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma):
Punjab Kings managed to reach 3 captains without any internal drama, purely forced by physical injury. Veteran Shikhar Dhawan started the season as captain. Dhawan picked up a severe shoulder injury midway through the campaign, elevating vice-captain Sam Curran to stand-in captain. In May, Curran had to leave the IPL early to attend England’s international duties, forcing vice-captain Jitesh Sharma to walk out for the toss in the final league game.
5. Mumbai Indians, 2026 (Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah):
Hardik Pandya started the campaign as the full-time captain but was sidelined due to a severe back spasm. Vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav took over the captaincy duties in Pandya's absence for the subsequent matches. For today's away match against Punjab, Suryakumar also became unavailable due to personal reasons. This forced Jasprit Bumrah to make his IPL captaincy debut, simultaneously making MI the first team in history to be led by three different Indian captains in a single season.
