Which Team Has Never Won the IPL?

Team Overview & History: Owned by the JSW and GMR group in a joint venture, the Delhi Capitals were formerly known as the Delhi Daredevils. They strongly initiated the tournament after making the semi-finals in consecutive years in 2008 and 2009. This was followed by a dull decade where they could make the playoffs twice in the succeeding ten years. During the 2019, 2020, and 2021 editions of IPL, the Capitals showed promising signs under captain Shreyas Iyer before a hat-trick of seasons followed without making it to the playoffs. 

Best IPL Season: The Capitals’ best season came in 2020 when they seemed like an unbeatable side under the captaincy of Shreyas and the stewardship of Ricky Ponting. The team consisted of a core Indian group with the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithivi Shaw, Shreyas, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, and Avesh Khan on the side. They dominated the league stages by securing the second spot with 16 points from 14 matches, winning eight and losing six. 

Despite being defeated in Qualifier 1 against the Mumbai Indians, they battled hard against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second Qualifier to meet the Rohit Sharma-led unit in the final. Batting first, they failed to get a par total in UAE as the Mumbai side beat them by five wickets to clinch their fifth IPL trophy.

Notable Players & Captains Over the Years: Delhi is one such franchise that has witnessed a plethora of talented players. But the management and franchise owners failed to nurture and back players in their long history. AB de Villiers, David Warner, Trent Boult, Quinton de Kock, Andre Russell, Tilakaratne Dilshan, and Marcus Stoinis were a few of the notable cricketers who went on to solidify their place in the playing XI while playing for other franchises, but hardly got a long run in Delhi. 

When it comes to captaincy, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant have been prominent captains for Delhi. However, the team also had some notable cricketers such as Kagiso Rabada, Glenn McGrath, Shoaib Malik, Dinesh Karthik, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Anrich Nortje, Trent Boult, Morne Morkel, etc.

Key Reasons for Not Winning: One of the major reasons for the Delhi unit’s failure has been their continuous chopping and changes in the squad. They never persisted with a settled squad and kept on making queer amendments. Moreover, their ability to scout talent and back them is one of the drawbacks. With time, teams such as the Mumbai Indians and the Kolkata Knight Riders have nurtured numerous young stars. However, Delhi has failed to do so.

The Capitals had players such as Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Vicky Ostwal, Yash Dhul, Khaleel Ahmed, Priyam Garg, and Chetan Sakariya. They also had many individuals who went on to score a lot of runs for other franchises after the Capitals (or Daredevils) released them.

Current Squad Strength and Future Outlook: The current squad of the Delhi unit is led by Axar Patel, filling Pant’s shoes after the latter’s departure to the Lucknow Super Giants. The Indian all-rounder is well accompanied by Faf du Plessis as his deputy, added by KL Rahul, Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, etc. Currently, the Capitals are doing well, being a constant in the top four of the league table in IPL 2025. 

Their squad is likely to be built around Axar Patel for the ongoing cycle, which consists of three seasons until the mega auction for IPL 2028. The likes of Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Mitchell Starc, Tristan Stubbs, and KL Rahul form an integral core of the community.

Team Overview & History: One of the failed teams in IPL history has been the Punjab Kings. The side gained limelight during the inaugural season of IPL due to Bollywood actress Preity Zinta’s investment in the franchise. However, she’s not the only owner of Punjab Kings (formerly known as Kings XI Punjab). Mohit Burman (48%), Ness Wadia (23%), Preity Zinta (23%), and Karan Paul (6%) are the other co-owners of the franchise.

The Kings XI Punjab was first captained by star-studded Yuvraj Singh in IPL’s inaugural season when they made the semi-finals, only to get thrashed by Chennai Super Kings. They reached the knockouts once in the next five editions before an audacious cricketing style in 2014 took them to the final under captain George Bailey. Although their opening batter, Wriddhiman Saha, smashed a belligerent century in the main event, Manish Pandey’s classy act overpowered the Kings XI Punjab side in the final. Unfortunately, the franchise never made it to another IPL playoffs in the next decade. 

Best IPL Season: IPL 7 was the best edition for the Punjab side. This is the only time when they made it to an IPL final, courtesy of their middle-order dominance, led by Glenn Maxwell, George Bailey, and David Miller. The three were destructive with the bat and scored most of the runs. It was Maxwell’s best year in the tournament, where he mustered 552 runs from 16 innings at an average of 34.50 and a strike rate reflecting 187.75. The Aussie was often seen toying with the bowler’s lengths at the three venues across the UAE.

Notable Players & Captains Over the Years: The Punjab unit is one of the ridiculous teams to have used as many as 17 captains so far in an IPL edition. Some of the prominent skippers of the side were KL Rahul, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Kumar Sangakkara, and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Key Reasons for Not Winning: Like Delhi, the Punjab side has wasted a lot of potential talent by not backing them enough. The most successful franchises in IPL history are known to back their core group and scout talent for the remaining ten months of the year. However, Punjab has been lacklustre with such an approach. 

Moreover, their constant change in management and leadership hasn’t allowed the ones at the helm to regulate the nooks and crannies of the game properly. A longer run could’ve brought a lot of change. Additionally, the Punjab owners have received quite the criticism around the team environment. Renowned cricketer-turned-coaches such as Virender Sehwag and Anil Kumble were reported to have mutual misunderstandings with the franchise.

Current Squad Strength and Future Outlook: The current squad of the Punjab side is being led by Shreyas Iyer, who helped the Kolkata Knight Riders lift their third IPL title in 2024. The North India-based franchise acquired Shreyas’ services for a whopping INR 26.75 Crores in the mega auction. They have also hired Ricky Ponting as the head coach, who had earlier worked with Shreyas for the Delhi Capitals during IPL 2020. 

Punjab has also invested in young talents like Priyansh Arya, Nehal Wadhera, and Suryansh Shedge, while also snaring overseas talents like Marco Jansen, Josh Inglis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Xavier Bartlett, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, and Lockie Ferguson. Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, and Harpreet Brar, among others, are a few notable names. The Zinta co-owned franchise kicked off the season on a high before facing mid-season turmoil. However, they’re among the top five in the league stages until Match 47.

Team Overview & History: Renowned for their loyal fanbase, Royal Challengers Bengaluru is the third team to have not won an IPL title despite being a part of the competition since its inception. They played the first match of the tournament against Kolkata Knight Riders, where Brendon McCullum’s 158* hyped up the tournament for good. Since the defeat in the first game, the Rahul Dravid-captained side failed to rise and crumbled under pressure, finishing seventh in the league stages. However, they bounced back hard under Anil Kumble’s captaincy the next season, playing the finals against Deccan Chargers. The captain led from the front with figures of 4/16 in the final, but the batters let him down, failing to chase down a 144-run target by six runs. 

The Bengaluru side made the semi-finals the next season before facing a defeat to the Chennai Super Kings in the final of IPL 2011. Subsequently, they failed to make the knockouts for the next three seasons before a playoff appearance in 2015, and runners-up finish in 2016. This was also the peak of their captain Virat Kohli, who smashed as many as four tons in the season. Chasing a 208-run target, RCB got off to a flying start with Virat and Chris Gayle going all guns firing for the opening partnership. However, their fifties made way for a forgettable collapse that saw the Sunrisers triumph by eight runs in the final.

Best IPL Season: As far as the Championship is concerned, Royal Challengers Bengaluru had the three best IPL seasons – 2009, 2011, and 2016. These are the three years when they made it to the final of the competition, only to end up on the losing side. But if there was one season where the Bengaluru side played dominating cricket was the 2011 and 2016 editions. IPL 4 was known for Chris Gayle’s redemption arc, where he turned out to be a nightmare for opposition bowlers. On the flip side, IPL 9 was Kohli’s prime with the bat as he accumulated 973 runs at an average of 81.08 with four centuries under his name.

Notable Players & Captains Over the Years: Initially, the franchise banked local legends from Karnataka, such as Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble, to take charge of the captaincy duties. Following the three editions, Daniel Vettori did a great job in leading a formidable side to the final of the 2011 season. For most of the next decade, Virat Kohli captained the side before paving the way for Faf du Plessis from the 2022 edition. Now, Rajat Patidar is captaining the Royal Challengers in the glitterati league.

Key Reasons for Not Winning: Royal Challengers Bengaluru has had terrific sides in the past but failed to hit the final nail in the coffin thrice in the league’s 18-year history. One of the main reasons has to be their ability to win games under pressure. Although they have been one of the consistent teams to make it to the playoffs in the last ten years, they have failed to proceed further and clinch the silverware. For a good part of the tournament, the side lacked a balanced squad. Mostly, they had a fragile lower-middle order and a dearth of slog-over specialists.

Current Squad Strength and Future Outlook: The current squad is among the top two in the points table as of Match 48 in the ensuing IPL season. The biggest achievement of the team has been winning away matches under the newly appointed skipper Rajat Patidar. They have won all six away games so far, with four league-stage matches still to go. 

From ten games, the Bengaluru side has accumulated 14 points with seven wins and three losses. Surprisingly, all three defeats have come at home at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. The team from the Southern part of the peninsular nation happened to almost secure their berth for the playoffs. A win or two would bolster their chances of finishing in the top two of the league table.