This season is a chance for Rishabh Pant to come out of the tag of ‘unlucky’

By Samira Vishwas On Mar 28, 2026

Obviously, in the new season, the focus is especially on the current captain Pant, on his captaincy as well as batting. Even though he ended the last season with 118* in 61 balls against Gujarat Titans, before that he had scored only 151 runs in 13 matches. It was not for this record that the franchise signed him for the record price of Rs 27 crore. Now Pant will have to justify the tag of being the most expensive player of IPL.

Therefore, experts are considering IPL 2026 as a ‘do or die’ season for them with the hope that they will perform much better than the 269 runs in 14 innings of the last season. Besides, he also has a chance to improve his record as a captain. Till now, the IPL title has not been won despite captaining two different teams for more than 50 matches. His total captaincy record: 57 matches (30 wins + 27 losses).

With Delhi Capitals (2021–2024), he got the tag of a ‘never-say-die’ captain and captained the team in 43 matches but without a title. After this, disappointed with KL Rahul, LSG spent a record-breaking Rs 27 crore on Rishabh Pant in the auction to make him the captain before the 2025 season but the success story of the team remained the same.

He may never prove to be as lucky as Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni in terms of winning the IPL title, but at least he can come out of the list of captains who have captained more than 50 IPL matches but have not won any title.

Virat Kohli (68 wins, 71 losses, 3 ties and no clear result in 1 match in 143 matches) is on top of this list. He could not convert his excellent batting form into an IPL title in the role of captain (from 2013 to 2021 and again in a few matches in 2023). His case is all the more unique because he has captained only one franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and is the only captain who has not won a title despite captaining more than 100 matches.

Virat is still playing, but is not the captain. Similarly, Sanju Samson (33 wins, 33 losses and 1 inconclusive match in 67 matches) also does not have a chance to add an IPL title to his record as captain. Was the captain of Rajasthan Royals from 2021 to 2025, scored 100 in his very first match as captain (the first IPL captain to do so) and scored a lot of runs like Virat, but could not win the title. Now he has separated from the royals.

In terms of unlucky ones, KL Rahul is next. Captain in 64 matches (32 wins, 32 losses) but could not win the IPL title. Among those captains who have been captains of more than one team, he is the most unlucky. Before the 2022 season, Lucknow Super Giants bought him for Rs 17 crore with the hope that he would remain the captain for a long time but after 37 matches, they lost confidence in him. It seems that the people of Lucknow did not pay attention to this record that in the previous 27 matches, he could not win the title even for Kings XI Punjab. Now he is no longer the captain and his record in this role currently stands here. Rishabh Pant’s story is quite similar to his.

Virender Sehwag was a big player in the beginning of IPL. Icon player and became the first captain of Delhi Daredevils (from 2008 to 2012). With him, the team played semi-finals in two consecutive seasons (2008 and 2009) and in 2009 was on top of the league table but despite captaining in 52 matches, he could not get the team any title. He was also the captain of Punjab team in one match. He is one of the very few captains who captained the same franchise in more than 50 matches but never won any title. His total captaincy record in IPL: 53 matches (29 wins, 24 losses).

The surprising thing is that none of the early icons of IPL got success as captain. Like Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar also could not taste success as a captain. He was the captain of Mumbai Indians from the very first season of IPL and captained in 51 matches (30 wins, 21 losses) but he did not get any title. He has a unique record in his name that he captained the same team in 50 matches but could not win any title.

Similarly, Royal Challengers Bangalore started with Rahul Dravid (14 matches). He then took over the captaincy of Rajasthan Royals from Shane Warne between 2012 and 2013. Captained this team in 34 matches but could not get any title for this team either.