AB de Villiers – Delhi Daredevils & RCB
The most decorated individual performer in IPL history never won the title. De Villiers scored 5,162 runs in 184 matches at a strike rate of 151.69 and holds the record for the most Player of the Match awards in IPL history. RCB reached the final in 2011 and 2016 with De Villiers in the side and lost both times.
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Chris Gayle – KKR, RCB & Punjab Kings
The most destructive batter the IPL has seen never won it. Gayle scored 4,965 runs in 142 matches with six centuries and a highest score of 175 not out. His 733 runs in 2012 included 59 sixes – a single-season record that still stands. He lost two finals with RCB and never returned to that stage.
Virender Sehwag – Delhi Daredevils & Punjab Kings
Sehwag scored 2,728 runs in 104 IPL matches at a strike rate of 155.45 with two centuries. His only final appearance came in 2014, where Punjab Kings lost to Kolkata Knight Riders.
Steve Smith – Pune Warriors, RR, Rising Pune Supergiants & Delhi Capitals
Smith scored 2,485 runs in 103 matches at an average of 34.51. His closest moment came in 2017 when he captained Rising Pune Supergiants to the final, only to lose to Mumbai Indians by one run.
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KL Rahul – RCB, SRH, Punjab Kings, LSG & Delhi Capitals
Rahul has scored more than 5,600 IPL runs with six centuries and has captained three franchises without ever reaching a final.
Rishabh Pant – Delhi Capitals & LSG
Pant has scored more than 3,700 IPL runs. The Lucknow Super Giants acquired him for a record-breaking ₹27 crore ahead of the 2025 season – the most expensive signing in IPL history – yet a title remains out of reach.
Dale Steyn – RCB, Deccan Chargers, SRH & Gujarat Lions
Steyn took 97 wickets in 95 IPL matches at an economy rate of 6.91 across four franchises and 13 seasons without a title-winning squad.
Amit Mishra – Deccan Chargers, SRH, Delhi Capitals & LSG
Mishra took 174 wickets in 162 IPL matches at an average of 23.82 – one of the tournament’s all-time leading wicket-takers. A title never came.
Anil Kumble – Royal Challengers Bangalore
Kumble opened the bowling in the 2009 IPL final in Johannesburg as RCB captain, only to lose by six runs. He remains RCB’s most successful captain by win-loss ratio and retired long before they won their maiden title in 2025.
Zaheer Khan – RCB, Mumbai Indians & Delhi Daredevils
Zaheer took 102 wickets in 100 IPL matches at an average of 27.27. He played for Mumbai Indians but departed before their title-winning era began. One of India’s greatest fast bowlers retired in 2018 with the IPL the one prize he never claimed.
Photo: Surjeet Yadav/MB Media/Getty Images
