Players with most matches before captaining for the first time in IPL

#5 Shikhar Dhawan (Sunrisers Hyderabad) – 68 matches

Shikhar Dhawan captained SRH for the first time during the 2013 Champions League T20

Shikhar Dhawan was a left-field pick when Sunrisers Hyderabad asked him to lead their charge in the 2013 edition of the now defunct Champions League T20. Even though they failed to qualify for the semi-finals, the team management decided to persist with him for the 2014 IPL season.

The southpaw earned a chance to captain the Sunrisers as previous season’s skippers Kumar Sangakkara and Cameron White were not in the squad. Having been a part of various clubs such as Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers before, Dhawan’s experience as player tilted the scales in his favour. However, he lost the captaincy to Darren Sammy after a slew of poor returns.