It’s been 15 years since the inception of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which instantly grabbed the fans’ attention and imagination and became a huge success in its infancy back in 2008. 

From there on, the IPL has only gone from strength to strength, leaving its mark on cricket lovers’ hearts to establish itself as the giant of a T20 league that not only enjoys a specific window in a busy calendar for itself but is the richest cricketing property on the face of the earth. 

The IPL spreads its wings to influence multiple aspects of Indian cricket. It gives the BCCI the financial muscle to dictate terms as the world’s most powerful cricket board. The board exercises its powers to seep money into India’s domestic structure, which acts as the soul of Indian cricket. 

The IPL strengthens India’s talent pipeline, giving young talent a chance to rub shoulders with leading names from India and overseas and the opportunity to learn from the world’s best coaches over a window of two months. 

The IPL 2023 is expected to elevate the league only to bigger heights. But before we head there, here is a timely recap of the champions who have held the prestigious IPL trophy in the previous fifteen editions of the cash-rich league. 

An Overview of IPL Winners All Season

When the IPL began in 2008, the razzmatazz born out of a marriage formed between star owner representatives and India’s favourite sport blurred people’s judgement about the on-field play. And so when it emerged that global icon Shahrukh Khan will co-own Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and famous actress Priety Zinta holds the stake for Kings XI Punjab, which later became Punjab Kings (PBKS), everyone felt that they’re going to lead the bandwagon with the bat and the ball. 

As it happened, cricket soon took centre stage, and teams that were backed for glory were found wanting over those nobody believed in. In a fairytale campaign, legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne led a group of young Indian talents for the tournament underdogs Rajasthan Royals (RR) and took them to the maiden IPL trophy. 

That was a huge win for the game. Cricket overcoming the Moneyball talks and the glamour tactics to be the point of true attention. It triggered a theme that has since persisted. 

Taking inspiration from Warne’s men, first season’s wooden-spooners Deccan Chargers, led by another Aussie great Adam Gilchrist, went on to clinch the IPL trophy in 2009. The Chargers, who now stand disbanded, also had a spree of youngsters rallying behind an inspirational leader to outdo the odds and reign supreme. 

The IPL 2010 was the season of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who established themselves as champions and one of the legacy teams of the IPL under their great leader in MS Dhoni. It’s an association that has since produced three more titles for the side in 2011, 2018 and 2021. 

Shahrukh’s KKR has over the years found a way to virtually detach themselves from their co-owner’s name and stand on their feet as a cricketing entity. It was a step they needed, something that brought them two impressive title-winning campaigns in 2012 and 2014 under Gautam Gambhir, who sparked their much-needed revival. 

But no other team has a richer legacy in the league than Mumbai Indians (MI), owned by billion-dollar corporate giant Mukesh Ambani. MI, too, struggled in the initial stages of the IPL.

Until 2012, their best finish was a runners-up spot in the final of IPL 2010. That changed with a mid-season captaincy change back in 2013 from the great Ricky Ponting to young Indian talent powerhouse Rohit Sharma, whose ascent to captaincy gave his game the wings it needed as he went on to inspire a team on the rise to their maiden title. From there on, MI didn’t look back. 

Bolstering their squad into a more robust unit each following year, they enjoyed title-winning campaigns in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020. The latest of which reinforced MI’s skill-bank and expertise in what was a difficult year when the IPL had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

MI have had a dip in their fortunes since, missing out on the playoffs for the past two editions. But that is part of the journey, and one would be mistaken to think MI can’t get back on their feet in the coming season. 

The democratic nature of the IPL, which religiously follows an auction process where teams have an equal and limited budget to compile their respective squads, gives every franchise a chance to start off on an equal footing. 

This gave the dark horses Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) a chance to rise through the ranks and clinch their first-ever trophy in IPL 2016 and allowed new-entrants Gujarat Titans (GT) to rally along with their impressive talent pool and collective unit to bag the silverware in IPL 2022.

IPL winners list all season with captain 

Teams	Captain	Seasons Won
Mumbai Indians	Rohit Sharma	2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020
Chennai Super Kings	MS Dhoni	2010, 2011, 2018, 2021
Kolkata Knight Riders	Gautam Gambhir	2012, 2014
Deccan Chargers (defunct)	Adam Gilchrist	2009
Sunrisers Hyderabad	David Warner	2016
Rajasthan Royals	Shane Warne	2008
Gujarat Titans	Hardik Pandya	2022

MI leading the pack in ipl all season winner list shall surprise no one as they remain the most invested IPL franchise to date. Over the years, the MI ownership group has focused on covering all the basics with their game. They were one of the first teams to establish a formal scouting team that identified talents from nooks and corners of the country and gave them a chance to make an impact, helping the franchise become ipl season winners five different times. 

MI have also had the best of the coaching staff up their sleeves with some legendary names finding themselves on the other side of the boundary for the five-time champions. With both Indian and overseas giants involved in the set-up, players have had ample opportunity to learn on the trade and give a great account for themselves on the field. 

The franchise may have lost a bit of its stranglehold on the on-field proceedings in the past two seasons, but that hasn’t diminished their reputation as the biggest powerhouse of the IPL, a team that will still start off the coming season as one of the favourites. 

Not to be left far behind are the Super Kings, who have exemplified playing as a unit and banking on their tried and tested faces under one regularly successful leader. Dhoni’s men are the torch-bearers of consistency, both in terms of the personnel they choose to back – in playing and coaching capacity – and, subsequently, the results they have managed to churn out over the years. 

The past two editions of the IPL haven’t been good for CSK either, but, again, it does little harm to the rich legacy of a franchise that has shown time and again how to bounce back on the faces of their naysayers. 

Talk of bouncing back, KKR did it and how at the peak of their resurgence back in 2012 and 2014, with Gambhir leading a side that was greater than the sum of its part. Backing a spin-dominated attack and picking the right cog for the right wheels with the bat was key to KKR’s revival in those years. 

No other team has won the IPL more than once, which perhaps reflects well on the strenuous nature of a tournament that demands consistency over two months. Four different teams have bagged one trophy each: these being Royals in 2008, the Chargers in 2009, SRH in 2016, and now the Titans in 2022. 

A Closer Look at the IPL Season 1 Winner

The Royals, led by their charismatic leader, conquered all odds to emerge triumphant in the inaugural season of the IPL in 2008. They were the least expected team to go the distance, with no one giving them even a semblance of a chance. Other than Warne, the team had no star faces, which only fuelled the narrative around them as massive underdogs. 

With a few initial losses, the word against the Royals only gained strength. What followed, however, left everyone shell-shocked as they went on to win 11 of their 14 league stage encounters, something no one saw happening. They flexed their muscles to the top of the standings and continued their successful run into the knock-out stages, where a win over ultimate runners-up Super Kings gave them their fairytale end. 

The final was a cliffhanger played at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, where Royals’ young all-round cricketer Yusuf Pathan led the punch for his team with a brilliant display in both skills. Pathan’s spell of 3/22 off his 4 overs helped RR restrict CSK to 163/5 before he dominated his way to 56 off 39 balls in the second half and pushed the Royals to a win that came off the very last ball. Pathan was deservingly awarded the ‘Player of the Match.’

Brother of India’s then-leading pacer Irfan Pathan, Yusuf had a fruitful overall campaign. He blasted 435 runs at a SR just shy of 180 and delivered eight wickets in the tournament with his steady off-spin bowling. 

But the allrounder of the season was then promising Aussie youngster Shane Watson, who produced a spectacular campaign for Royals. Watson top-scored for the franchise with 472 runs made at a SR of 151.76 and finished as their third-highest wicket-taker with 17 scalps and an ER of 7.07.

It made a world of difference that RR had a solid opening pair in Goa’s Swapnil Asnodkar and South African stalwart Greame Smith. Making 441 and 311 runs, respectively, the Asnodkar-Smith duo gave Royals consistent starts at the top, which enabled the likes of Yusuf and Watson to play their aggressive games. 

Giving the team an edge with the ball was Pakistan’s unorthodox left-arm pacer Sohail Tanvir, who continued from where he left at the maiden T20 World Cup in South Africa and finished IPL 2008 with a whopping 22 wickets at just 6.46 runs an over. 

Only second to Tanvir in the bowling charts for Royals was the great Warne, who mesmerised everyone with his crafty wrist-spin and took 19 wickets at 7.76 an over on flat Indian pitches. When everyone felt T20 would be the deathbed of spinners, Warne denounced those claims. 

Last 5 season IPL Winners List

The IPL 2018 was the renaissance year for the Super Kings, who overcame a controversial two-year axing from the IPL with a huge roar that the opposition couldn’t simply withstand. It was good old CSK, backing their batting depth, the regularity of choices, and multiple bowling options to propel them through under Dhoni’s magnificent captaincy. 

Those attributes were evident in IPL 2021, too, when CSK made another valiant comeback of sorts, this time from the embarrassment of their maiden league-stage exit back in 2020, when their aging squad struggled to cope with the rigors of the pandemic. 

Either side of those two wins for CSK, MI also enriched their body of work with two spectacular title victories in 2019 and 2020. Amusingly, just when there was a pattern emerging that MI only won in the odd years, they shut shop for that narrative with consecutive successful campaigns. In those two seasons, MI showed off the depth of their squad and won 22 of their 32 matches played. 

The widening of the talent pool with the IPL expanding to ten teams affected both MI and CSK in IPL 2022 but allowed new entrants Titans to start off on an even footing. Under comeback man Hardik Pandya, they rallied on a young squad with multiple impactful players to clinch their first-ever title. 

Each of these IPL seasons witnessed a real tussle for supremacy, with the games running ever so closer, as the length of the competition forced teams to stretch their potential and maximise their abilities to the fullest or risk giving oppositions a greater toe in the contest. The IPL does offer teams a chance to bounce back, but once the momentum flows against you, it can be really difficult to come back in the perennially intense race toward the playoffs.

West Indies mystery spinner and pinch-hitter Sunil Narine was the ‘Player of the Tournament’ in IPL 2018 for KKR. He made 357 runs in the competition and took 17 wickets. 

Following Narine to the feat in IPL 2019 was fellow KKR allrounder Andre Russell, who pulverised the opposition with his power-hitting and made 510 runs at a SR of 204.81 while taking 11 wickets with his useful medium-fast bowling. 

In the year 2020, it was the turn of Rajasthan Royals (RR) MVP Jofra Archer to bag the esteemed tournament award with his 20 wickets, delivering all the tough overs for his team. 

Haryana and India seamer Harshal Patel had a comeback season for the ages in IPL 2021, picking a jaw-dropping 32 wickets for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to get the ‘Player of the Series.’

In IPL 2022, Jos Buttler, who smashed an astonishing 863 runs for the Royals, was awarded the cricketer of the tournament for his magnificent run that gave RR the runners-up spot, their best finish since the 2008 win. 

Orange and Purple Cap Winners of the IPL

Orange Cap and the Purple Cap were always a means to encourage players to give their best on the field and maximize their abilities. The Orange Cap is awarded to the top run-scorer of a particular season, while the Purple Cap is handed over to the highest wicket-taker of the tournament. 

In the first season, the respective awards were given to Punjab batter Shaun Marsh with 616 runs and Royals left-arm quick Sohail Tanvir with 22 wickets. While Marsh averaged 68.44 with a strike rate of close to 140, Tanvir earned his scalps at an ER of just over six despite delivering all the tough overs for RR. 

Having retired internationally by then, Aussie great Matthew Hayden showed there is cricket left inside him by winning the orange cap for IPL 2009. The CSK opener made 572 runs in his 12 innings. The Purple Cap was bagged by India and Chargers left-arm quick RP Singh with 23 scalps. 

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar finished with the Orange Cap for IPL 2010 after a super consistent season aged 37, where he scored 618 runs from his 15 innings. The Purple Cap for the season was won by Chargers left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha who took 21 wickets in 16 innings.

The 2011 edition of the IPL witnessed ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle at his peak, forming a great association with RCB to finish with the Orange Cap after scoring a whopping 608 runs in 12 innings. Mumbai Indians ace Lasith Malinga, another T20 legend, was the Purple Cap holder that season with 28 scalps. 

It was Gayle again reigning supreme in the runs chart for IPL 2022 with 733 runs made at an average of 61.08 while retaining a scoring rate of 160.74. Corresponding numero uno name in the wicket-taking list was Delhi seamer Morne Morkel with 25 scalps to his name. 

Mr cricket Mike Hussey won the Orange Cap in IPL 2013 for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Hussey scored 733 runs in the season. The Purple Cap was also won over by a CSK stalwart in Dwayne Bravo, who took 32 wickets. 

Indian batter Robin Uthappa was KKR’s 2014 hero with 660 runs to win the Orange Cap. He was matched to the Purple Cap on bowling front by CSK pacer Mohit Sharma with 23 scalps. 

The explosive David Warner led SRH from the front by blazing away 562 runs from 14 innings. He was the top scorer of IPL 2015 and deservingly won the Orange Cap just as CSK seamer Bravo did the Purple Cap with 26 wickets next to his name. 

The IPL 2016 saw Virat Kohli truly nail it with the bat as he smashed a jaw-dropping 973 runs in just 16 innings to finish with the Orange Cap. On the bowling front, it was SRH spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar who reigned supreme with 23 wickets to help the team lift their maiden trophy.

Bhuvneshwar retained the Purple Cap for IPL 2017 with 26 wickets under his kitty from 14 innings. The Orange Cap was won by SRH captain and great opener Warner after he blasted 641 runs from 16 matches. 

The SRH representation at the top continued through IPL 2018 when their stand-in captain Kane Williamson amassed 735 runs in 17 innings to win the Orange Cap. The Purple Cap of the season was won by Punjab seamer Andrew Tye with 24 wickets. 

Warner made a roaring comeback to the IPL and regained the Orange Cap in the 2019 season with 692 runs from his 12 innings. Experienced CSK wrist-spinner Imran Tahir won the Purple Cap for his 26 wickets in 17 matches. 

Former Capitals pacer Kagiso Rabada won the Purple Cap in IPL 2020 with a remarkable 30 wickets in the season. On the batting front, the then Punjab captain KL Rahul held the numero uno spot with 670 runs. 

The IPL 2021 saw Maharashtra youngster Ruturaj Gaikwad bolster his India cap claims by winning the Orange Cap in the IPL after he proved the hero of CSK’s winning campaign with 635 runs. That season, the Purple Cap was won by RCB pacer Harshal Patel with 32 scalps.

RR opener Jos Buttler reigned at the top of the batting numbers and got the Orange Cap with a spectacular 863 runs from just 16 innings in IPL 2022. With 27 wickets from 17 innings, RR’s new recruit and spin veteran Yuzvendra Chahal earned the Purple Cap. 

Conclusion 

The biggest takeaway from the study here is that while the IPL has had some teams dominating and creating a legacy of their own with multiple teams, that hasn’t been a plague on other teams’ growth as we’ve seen with the rising competition for the coveted trophy. The IPL provides an equal opportunity for all: be it the favourites, the dark horses or the underdogs. From ipl season 1 winner through to the list of all ipl season winners, the table shows that more teams have enjoyed single titles to their name than those who have clinched multiple trophies. 

The back and forth with the ipl orange cap winners list for all season and the purple cap winners list for all season further reinforces IPL as a platform where the talent truly meets the opportunity. The two individual awards act as a great form of encouragement for the cricketers. 

All of it combines seamlessly to make IPL one of the most exciting and entertaining sporting leagues in the world. 

Faq’s

What is the Indian Premier League (IPL)?

The IPL is India’s premier domestic franchise-based T20 competition held every year. 

Who are the winners of the IPL seasons?

Rajasthan Royals (RR) were the first IPL champions after winning the inaugural edition back in 2008. The next edition of the tournament was won by the now-defunct Deccan Chargers in 2009. Since then, Mumbai Indians (MI) have won the IPL in seasons in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020, while Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have done so in 2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021. The other winners of the IPL are Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2012 and 2014 and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in 2016 and Gujarat Titans (GT) in 2022, respectively. 

How many times has each team won the IPL?

Mumbai Indians have won the IPL five times, while Chennai Super Kings have won it four times. KKR have clinched the title twice. The rest of the winners have grabbed hold of the IPL trophy once apiece: RR in 2008, DC in 2009, SRH in 2016, GT in 2022. 

Who won the first IPL season?

Rajasthan Royals (RR) led by Shane Warne did in 2008. 

Who were the Orange and Purple Cap winners in the last IPL season?

Jos Buttler, the Royals opener, won the Orange Cup, while the team’s leading wristspinner Yuzvendra Chahal won the Purple Cap.