At a Glance
- Jasprit Bumrah captained MI for the first time on Tuesday
- Pat Cummins has had a great run since being named SRH captain in 2024
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar too led SRH eight times between 2019 and 2023
Jasprit Bumrah walked out to the toss as captain of the Mumbai Indians on Thursday, joining a relatively short list of pace bowlers to have led their team in the Indian Premier League.
In this article, we take a look at five fast bowlers who have captained their team in the IPL.
Jasprit Bumrah
As mentioned earlier, Jasprit Bumrah captained MI for the first time in Thursday’s fixture against the Punjab Kings. Although the pacer’s wicketless run with the ball continued, the match itself was a successful outing for Bumrah and co., a six-wicket win for Mumbai.
Bumrah became just the third player to first captain their national team and then their franchise in the IPL era. He had earlier captained the Indian national side in three Test matches and two T20Is.
Read more: 3 IPL captains under massive pressure to lose their job
Pat Cummins
Although Aiden Markram saw plenty of success in the SA20 as captain of the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, Pat Cummins replacing him as the Sunrisers’ skipper in the IPL was inevitable once SRH secured the latter’s services in the 2024 auction.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad named Cummins captain ahead of the 2024 IPL season and the move has largely paid off for the 2016 IPL champions. Cummins led SRH to the final in his very first season as skipper. And while he couldn’t repeat that success in 2025, 2026 has been yet another redemption story for Cummins. His return to the side has seen SRH climb their way up the points table. Now, Hyderabad are likely to make the playoffs with two matches to play.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Cummins wasn’t the first pacer to captain the Sunrisers either. Bhuvneshwar Kumar stood in for the injured Kane Williamson for six games in 2019, before doing so again when Williamson missed the last game of the 2022 season for personal reasons. Bhuvneshwar would then captain SRH in their 2023 season opener while Markram was away on national duty.
The fast bowler with most wickets in the IPL would not fare quite as well as captain, however. Bhuvi, as he is known, only managed two wins in eight matches as skipper, going back-to-back against RCB and DC in the 2019 campaign.
Also read: R Ashwin supports Hardik Pandya’s captaincy despite MI’s IPL disaster
Zaheer Khan
The only left-arm pacer on this list, Zaheer Khan was named the captain of the then Delhi Daredevils ahead of the 2016 IPL season. He hadn’t played any international cricket in three years, but Delhi put their faith in the Khan’s experience at the highest level.
While Delhi historically had struggled to make it past the league phase, those troubles continued under Khan’s leadership. 10 wins in 23 matches in Khan’s tenure saw the Daredevils finish sixth in back-to-back seasons.
Shaun Pollock
South African pacer Shaun Pollock took over the Mumbai Indians captaincy from stand-in skipper Harbhajan Singh after the latter was temporarily suspended after he allegedly slapped KXIP pacer S Sreesanth.
Pollock would have a short yet successful reign at the helm. MI won three of the four matches that Pollock captained before skipper Sachin Tendulkar returned from injury. Pollock’s run as captain also saw him perform well individually, winning the Player of the Match award against the Delhi Daredevils for a good all-round performance at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
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