IPL champions list from 2008 to 2020

Check out: Successful captains

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the best and most competitive T20 cricket league in the world, inaugurated in 2008. Six different teams have been IPL winners from 2008 to 2019. Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural edition of IPL in 2008, under Shane Warne’s captaincy. Deccan Chargers (who were terminated by the BCCI in 2012) won the IPL in 2009, when the tournament was held in South Africa as the season clashed with the general elections in India.

Chennai Super Kings were IPL winners for the first time in 2010, before becoming the first to successfully defend the title when they won it in 2011, beating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final at Chepauk. They then lost three consecutive IPL finals in 2012, 2013 and 2015 and were then banned for two seasons (IPL 2016 and IPL 2017) due to their management’s involvement in the 2013 spot-fixing case. On their return from the ban in IPL 2018, they became the IPL champions for a third time, with Shane Watson making a match-defining, unbeaten 57-ball 117 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium.

Kolkata Knight Riders, under Gautam Gambhir’s captaincy, won their maiden IPL title in 2012, with Manvinder Singh Bisla’s match-winning 89 in the Chepauk final leading the Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise to the crown. They pulled off a similarly steep chase in the IPL 2014 final, on the occasion beating Punjab Kings (previously Kings XI Punjab) by three wickets to become IPL winners for a second time.

Mumbai Indians are the most successful franchise in IPL history, though, having won the trophy in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020. After finishing runner-up in IPL 2010 with the loss to Super Kings in the final, Mumbai have beaten the Chennai-based franchise in each of the three finals the two teams have met since (2013, 2015 and 2019). They had beaten the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant in IPL 2020 before breaking their even-year jinx by winning IPL 2020, beating Delhi Capitals in the final by 5 wickets.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, the Hyderabad-based franchise who replaced Deccan Chargers from IPL 2013, are the other team to win the IPL. Under David Warner’s captaincy, they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in a high-scoring final to lift the trophy for the first time.

The level of competition in IPL, of all the Twenty20 leagues in the world, is high and the format is what makes the tournament exciting. IPL doesn’t always reward consistency: a team might have coasted through the league stage and finished top of the pile at the end of 14 matches, but if they don’t turn up for Qualifier 1 or 2, they are likely to be eliminated. Only thrice have teams gone on to be IPL champions after topping the league table. Mumbai Indians the IPL 2017, IPL 2019 and IPL 2020 winner, and Rajasthan Royals, the IPL 2008 winner, are the only two teams to do so.

IPL doesn’t have the monopoly or duopoly you might see in the other Twenty20 franchise tournaments. Chennai have also been in the most number of IPL finals (eight).