IPL champions list from 2008 to 2018

Check out: Successful captains

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is easily the best and most competitive T20 cricket league in the world, inaugurated in 2008. Six different teams have been IPL winners from 2008 to 2018, with Rajasthan Royals being the IPL 2008 champion, Deccan Chargers (who were terminated by the BCCI in 2012) winning the IPL in 2009, Chennai Super Kings emerging the champion in 2010, 2011 and 2018, Kolkata Knight Riders winning in 2012 and 2014, Mumbai Indians in 2013, 2015 and 2017, and Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016.

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 will be eliminated. Only twice have teams gone on to be IPL champions after topping the league table. Mumbai Indians (MI), the IPL 2017 (IPL 10) 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. Six different teams have won the prestigious trophy over 11 seasons. In terms of titles won, Mumbai (2013, 2015 and 2017) and Chennai (2010, 2011 and 2018) have been the joint-most successful teams with three titles each, while Kolkata Knight Riders (2012 and 2014) have been an IPL winner twice. Rajasthan Royals (2008), Deccan Chargers (2009) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (2016) have been IPL champions once.

Chennai have also been in the most number of IPL finals (seven) and they have been the only team to date to defend their title, having successfully defended the title they won in 2010, in 2011.