Delhi: If IPL is played in India, should the team captain be an Indian or a foreigner? Irrespective of captaincy ability, this question has been in front of every team since the beginning of IPL and every team has found the answer to it in different ways. While on one hand, at the beginning of IPL, the icon players who were already declared became the captain, on the other hand, Rajasthan Reals, without any icon or big star, brought Australian Shane Warne in the team to make them the captain.

Since then, on the popularity charts, considering the appeal of Indian players, Indian players have generally been the first choice for captaincy.

Even after IPL 2026, former Indian cricketer and TV commentator Sanjay Manjrekar started a new discussion, supporting this thinking on the issue of making foreign players the captains in IPL. Before discussing further on this issue, let’s look at some IPL records as it will make further discussion easier:

* Till now 5 captains have captained in 100 matches and all of them are Indian players.
* The foreign player who has been captain in most matches is David Warner. Captain in total 83 matches for Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
* Among the foreign captains, only Adam Gilchrist (74), Shane Warne (55), Kumar Sangakkara (47), Kane Williamson (46), Faf du Plessis (44), Steve Smith (43), Pat Cummins (38), George Bailey and Mahila Jayawardene (30), I Morgan and Shane Watson (24) and Daniel Vettori (22) come in the list of 20+ matches.
* There are a total of 75 captains in the 19 seasons of IPL and out of these, David Warner, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne are the only three foreign captains who won the IPL title.

* Kumar Sangakkara and Steve Smith were also captains of three different teams.

Despite this record, Sanjay Manjrekar says that the franchise should focus on choosing the strongest leader available in the team, rather than looking at leadership from the perspective of brand value. This is a clear indication that Indian captains will have to go out of the box of traditional choices. IPL 2026 forced him to say this. This season, until Pat Cummins took charge of Sunrisers Hyderabad after being fit, all 10 team captains were Indian players: Rajat Patidar (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Shreyas Iyer (Punjab Kings), Hardik Pandya (Mumbai Indians), Shubman Gill (Gujarat Titans), Akshar Patel (Delhi Capitals), Ishan Kishan (Sunrisers Hyderabad).

Rishabh Pant (Lucknow Super Giants), Ajinkya Rahane (Kolkata Knight Riders), Ryan Parag (Rajasthan Royals) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings).

Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Indian captains top the choice charts in IPL but the franchise should look at the benefits of the team and should not shy away from foreign captains.

If we fully support the foreign player by making him the captain, then he will also give better results. Therefore, the ability of captaincy should not be judged by the name of the player’s country but by his talent because after all we are playing to win the IPL title.

This debate also started this season because many high-profile Indian captains have been the target of criticism and somewhere their team has suffered due to their wrong captaincy. His teams could not live up to expectations. So unless the franchises strike the right balance between what they want to achieve in cricket and commercial gains, the team will suffer losses.

Sanjay Manjrekar, in support of his point of view, mentioned the struggles of many Indian captains and specifically took the names of players like Axar Patel and Rishabh Pant. Both of them flopped miserably as captains. Not only this, Hardik Pandya, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ajinkya Rahane were also in the same condition and all these Indian captains were under pressure. If they remain at the top of the popularity charts, then after all they have to bear the pressure of expectations.

He said, ‘My thinking is clear. In T20 cricket, the team needs the best captain. Even if he is a foreign player, it is okay. David Warner captained successfully, Pat Cummins has also done the same. It is clear that the team’s performance has to be looked at separately from the brand value. An Indian captain attracts more attention. Any player like Rishabh Pant joining a franchise or Virat Kohli leading RCB for the first time, creates a different atmosphere and gives a strong identity to the team.