RCB all captains list: How many cricketers have captained Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL?

RCB all captains list: Former South African captain will be the seventh cricketer to lead Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Despite a newly-launched jersey set to provide Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore’s 22-member squad with a slightly changed look, there is another reason which has it in it to affect the team in ways more than just aesthetics.

Former captain Virat Kohli announcing him stepping down from the leadership role during IPL 2021 has resulted in RCB appointing former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis as their seventh captain. 20th-highest IPL run-scorer, du Plessis (INR 7 crore) was among the 19 players bought by the franchise during the mega auction held in Bengaluru last month.

In what won’t be just another leadership change, Royal Challengers not playing a whole IPL season under Kohli will change a nine-year old custom.

Readers must note that no other IPL captain has led a team for this long without winning an IPL title even once. As a matter of fact, Bangalore are among the three franchises (alongside Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings) to have played each season of the IPL since 2008 without winning a single title.

RCB all captains list (table updated before IPL 2023)

Former India captain and current head coach Rahul Dravid was the first captain at RCB. A miserable inaugural season of the IPL resulted in the reigns being given to former England batter Kevin Pietersen in 2009.

Former India captain Anil Kumble was the third cricketer to lead Royal Challengers in the IPL. Subsequently, former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori was given the leadership role for a couple of seasons. Vettori missing matches due to an injury became an opportunity for Kohli to lead Royal Challengers.

Not looking back since then, RCB’s management persisted with Kohli for all these years. It goes without saying that Kohli has led Royal Challengers in the maximum number of matches (140) till date.

Player	Span	Matches	Won	Lost
Rahul Dravid	2008	14	4	10
Kevin Pietersen	2009	6	2	4
Anil Kumble	2009-2010	26	15	11
Daniel Vettori	2011-2012	22	12	10
Virat Kohli	2011-2021	140	64	69
Shane Watson	2017	3	1	2
Faf du Plessis	2022-present	16	9	7

Retired from Test cricket, du Plessis is no longer part of South Africa’s white-ball squads. Set to lead an IPL franchise for the first time in his 12th season, it will be interesting to see a 37-year old player making his captaincy debut in the biggest T20 tournament.