Nos. 13-11: MS Dhoni, Jos Buttler, David Warner

MS Dhoni: an ace at the death, and a captain to shock and awe © BCCI

No. 13, MS Dhoni

By Nagraj Gollapudi
If you have lifted the IPL trophy five times, led your team to 12 playoffs in 15 years, including ten finals, have the highest win percentage as captain, are the only one to have 100-plus wins in the marquee league, and also made fans swerve like dervishes in ecstasy as you engineer memorable finishes with the bat, you've got to be a shoo-in for a list like this one.

Dhoni's dazzling finishes to seal victories remain etched in the mind, evoking happy feelings every time you watch or think about them. Probably the best of those was his late, late assault against Kings XI Punjab in Dharamsala in the 2010 IPL, which took Chennai Super Kings into the playoffs and eventually their first title. Twenty-nine runs were needed off the final 12 deliveries, and then 16 off the final over, which would be delivered by Irfan Pathan, who had forced a Super Over in the two teams' previous match in the season, which Punjab won.

This time, though, Dhoni, staying deep in his crease, carved a four wide of long-off and then sealed the game with consecutive sixes, both trademark whipped hoicks over long-on, which went over the roof, sending the full house at the picturesque venue into a frenzy. I was in the crowd and the memory brings goosebumps. It was an emotional moment for him, Dhoni, who threw a punch at his own chin after the winning six, said.

He has won the Player of the Match award in the IPL 17 times for efforts like that one, but his biggest legacy will always be his leadership, and that is why Super Kings have steadfastly retained him despite his advancing age. (This IPL, he is the oldest player in the tournament, at 43, and has been included as an uncapped player.) Though not captain anymore, he continues to remain a guiding force from behind the stumps, helping Ruturaj Gaikwad with strategic inputs while executing electric stumpings: there have been two this season at the time of writing, both performed in under a fifth of a second. Dhoni has transformed games on the field and has also helped players of all ages, both Indian and international, flourish and believe.

When the IPL was born in 2008, Dhoni was the most expensive buy at the player auction. Super Kings resolved to buy the India white-ball captain and pipped Mumbai Indians to get him at US$1.5 million. VB Chandrasekhar, the former Tamil Nadu captain and India batter, who was Super Kings' team director in 2008, said at the time why Dhoni was such a compelling buy. "It was the combination of him being a wicketkeeper, an explosive batsman, having leadership value, and above all, being a proven crowd puller. Cricketers tend to be two-dimensional, but here we had a guy who had four dimensions, and the fourth was going to get the crowds in."

Career high: Alongside that first IPL title in 2010, helping CSK win their third, in 2018, after six seasons without, in three of which they lost in the final, will rank among Dhoni's finest moments. Super Kings were returning to the IPL after a two-season suspension. Their squad was full of middle-aged players, for which they were mocked. That season, instead of playing in the lower order, which, at 36, he likened to stepping into quicksand, Dhoni promoted himself up the order, while sticking to playing an aggressive brand of cricket. His returns, 455 runs in 15 innings with 30 sixes (the most he hit in a season) at a 150-plus strike rate, played a significant hand in Super Kings winning the title.

Jos moves: Buttler has scored a hundred every 15.1 innings in the IPL, the best of any batter with more than three centuries in the tournament © BCCI

No. 12, Jos Buttler

By Alan Gardner
Buttler might be England's greatest ever white-ball cricketer, but he is certainly the most successful English export to the IPL (which is, of course, the greatest white-ball show on earth). As a young batter, Buttler made his name in the middle order with the use of ramps and scoops to help him score in unorthodox areas; in the latter stages of his career, his cool temperament and belligerent power-hitting have made him one of the most-prolific openers in T20.

Buttler made his T20 debut for Somerset at the age of 19, in a Champions League game against New South Wales at Hyderabad, and was soon a key component for his county at No. 5 or 6. He helped Somerset to the runners-up spot in the Twenty20 Cup in 2010 and 2011 (the Blast started in 2014) and was soon a regular with England. In 2016, as part of the ECB's softening stance on the IPL, he was picked up by Mumbai Indians. During a two-year spell, he became an IPL winner - though he didn't play in the 2017 knockouts, when perhaps his most memorable contribution was almost exposing himself in an Instagram video celebrating MI's title.

As England's limited-overs overhaul gathered steam, Buttler's rare ability to eviscerate opposition bowling became impossible to ignore. Having been used as an opener in his second season at Mumbai, he made the position his own with Rajasthan Royals. His ability to go hard from the start, or soak up pressure against the new ball before unleashing his power later in the innings, demonstrated why Buttler was in the top echelon of T20 players (and that's without mentioning athletic wicketkeeping). That fact was hammered home by his stellar 2022 IPL, when he produced the second-highest aggregate for a season (863 runs at a strike rate of 149.05) on the way to being named tournament MVP.

Career high: With an unbeaten 106 from 60 balls, Buttler steered Royals past RCB and into the final of the 2022 IPL. His fourth hundred (equalling Virat Kohli's record for an IPL season) capped an incredible run of form - although it wasn't quite enough to secure Royals the title.

Big in Hyderabad (and Delhi): David Warner has been the most prolific overseas batter in the IPL © BCCI

No. 11, David Warner

by Tristan Lavalette
Little over six months after the first IPL season was played, an unknown 22-year-old took centre stage at the MCG and flat-batted Dale Steyn into the crowd. Just 22 games into his professional career and without a first-class match, Warner made 89 off 43 balls against South Africa in one of the most incredible international debuts in history.

Warner seemed made for T20 cricket. He was signed by Delhi Daredevils for the 2009 season to kick-start the greatest IPL batting career by a non-Indian player. As a three-format international cricketer, Warner rarely played in the BBL and other T20 franchise leagues until his international retirement in 2024, but he has carved out an illustrious career in the IPL - playing every single season from 2009 through 2024, bar 2018, due to the sandpaper scandal.

He has scored the fourth-most runs in IPL history at a strike rate of almost 140, and his average of 40.52 is only bettered by KL Rahul and Ruturaj Gaikwad (among those who have batted at least 50 times). There is a case to be made that he is the GOAT of the IPL.

Warner arrived just when that league was taking off, and his aggressive instincts combined with a fearless approach in the powerplay made him a perfect fit. Short and stocky with a good eye and strong wrists, Warner was a hitting machine in his early years, able to club both seamers and spinners many rows back into the crowd.

In 2010 he smashed his maiden T20 hundred, 107 off 69 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders in an innings where he cleared out his front leg and struck clean and hard.

Warner endured because he became so much more than a hitter. He worked on his fitness, made hard running a staple of his batting, and played smartly. His ability to either be an enforcer at the top of the order or to drop anchor, depending on what the team needs, is almost unparalleled in T20 cricket. And he has continually developed his range of strokes, efficiently producing switch hits to such devastating effect that he could seemingly pass as a right-hand batter.

Career high: Warner's 2016 IPL season is on the shortlist of greatest ever. He finished with 848 runs, struck at 151, and hit nine half-centuries from 17 innings. Leading from the front as captain, he was at his best in the playoffs. He made 93 not out to steer Sunrisers through a tense chase of 163 against Gujarat Lions before top-scoring for his side with a 38-ball 69 in the final against Royal Challengers Bangalore to secure the franchise's first title.

Stats in factfile sidebars are for all T20 matches, minus internationals, and current as up to the start of the 2025 IPL. League wins cover tournaments of four teams and above, and include seasons where the player appeared in at least one match for the winning team

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