MI captain list: Who did Rohit Sharma replace as Mumbai Indians captain in IPL?

Second on the list of most Indian Premier League matches as captain, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma has, by no means, won the highest number of matches as an IPL captain. Having said that, it would still be safe to term him the most successful captain in the history of the biggest T20 league around the world on the back of leading his team to as many as five titles.

Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has led in 210 IPL matches as compared to Sharma’s 143, is next on the list with CSK winning four titles under him.

Speaking particularly about Rohit Sharma (182) and MI, the 35-year old player will surpass the legendary Kieron Pollard (189) in the list of most matches played for Mumbai in the forthcoming 16th season of the IPL. Considering how the franchise had never won an IPL title before Sharma was handed over the reigns midway through IPL 2013, Sharma has unequivocally been the most crucial player in Indians’ history.

Who did Rohit Sharma replace as Mumbai Indians captain in IPL?

Having joined MI in IPL 2011 after spending the first three IPL seasons at Deccan Chargers, Sharma first led them in 2013 after former Australia captain Ricky Ponting stepped down from the leadership role in the middle of the season after leading the team to three wins and as many losses.

First cricketer to lead Indians in 2008, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh had relinquished captaincy after leading them to IPL 2012 Eliminator. With Mumbai buying Ponting for INR 2.12 crore in IPL 2013 auction, he was named Singh’s successor and their fifth captain in spite of speculations that Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar would return as captain but the move didn’t last long.

“I was at Mumbai Indians when Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy there. I was bought in the auction to be their captain and unfortunately, I wasn’t playing well enough after the first few games to keep myself in the team. So, I had to make room for another international player to come into the side,” Ponting had told ICC last year regarding suggesting Sharma’s name for captaincy to the team management back in the day.

Although it was Singh who had led Mumbai to their first-ever title in Champions League Twenty20 2011, Sharma had led them to their first IPL title in his inaugural season as captain. It was in the same year that Indians became only the first team to lift the CLT20 trophy for the second time.

The rest, as they say, is history as Sharma continues to lead the franchise for over a decade now. IPL 2023 will be the 11th consecutive year when the current Indian captain will be leading MI.

MI captain list

S. No.	Player	Span	Matches	Won	Lost
1	Harbhajan Singh	2008-2012	20	10	10
2	Shaun Pollock	2008	4	3	1
3	Sachin Tendulkar	2008-2011	51	30	21
4	Dwayne Bravo	2010	1	0	1
5	Ricky Ponting	2013	6	3	3
6	Rohit Sharma	2013-present	143	79	60
7	Kieron Pollard	2019-2021	6	4	2