News
IPL 2025: 5 Punjab Kings Captains That Once Played For Chennai Super Kings
Follow UsThe trend started in 2014 when a player, who made his IPL debut with CSK in 2010, captained Punjab Kings in 2014, their most successful campaign till date.
One can imagine one or two players who played for one franchise and captained another one in a cricket league, but it is hard to believe not one or two, but a total of five players who played for one franchise, went on to captain another franchise.
The two franchises that we are talking about are Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). A total of five players who represented CSK went on to captain the PBKS franchise at some point or another.
Ravichandran Ashwin
Ashwin, who played seven consecutive seasons for the Chennai side ever since debuting in the 2009 IPL, went on to captain the Punjab franchise for 28 matches in two seasons, 2018 and 2019, when it was known as Kings XI Punjab. In those 28 matches, he won 12 and lost 16.
Murali Vijay
Murali Vijay, another man who started his career at CSK in 2009, captained the Kings XI Punjab in 8 matches in the 2016 season. He was not the initial captain, and replaced the original skipper, David Miller, for the position. However, after the 2016 season, Vijay could not play in the 2017 season due to a shoulder injury. Under Vijay’s captaincy, Punjab lost five and won three matches.
Sam Curran
The Englishman, who started his IPL career with the Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2019, got recognition with the CSK in the two seasons that he was there in 2020 and 2021, winning the title with the yellow brigade. From 2022 to 2024, Curran spent three seasons with PBKS, captaining them in 11 matches between 2023 and 2024. The team won five and lost six matches under his captaincy.
George Bailey
Very few people knew or remembered before Ashwin, in one of his YouTube videos in 2025, credited George Bailey with coming up with the CSK team song. The former Kings XI Punjab and Australia captain even played it for the yellow brigade from down south.
Though Bailey played only four matches for CSK, he went on to captain the Punjab Kings to their only IPL final ever in 2014. So far, Bailey remains the player to have captained the Punjab franchise in the most matches in their history, leading them in 35 games between 2014 and 2015. However, he led them in only 31 IPL matches. The other four games that he captained CSK were in the Champions League.
In 31 IPL games, Bailey won 15 and lost 16 matches as skipper of the side.
David Hussey
David Hussey, another Australian, captained the Punjab Kings in 12 matches in 2012 during regular skipper Adam Gilchrist’s absence. He won six and lost six matches as the Punjab side skipper.