Deccan Chargers' 2009 IPL Winning Team: Where Are The Champions Now?

In the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, Deccan Chargers ( DC) looked like one of the strongest teams on paper, yet by end of the season, they were to be found at the rock bottom considering the points tally.

On paper, the team looked like one of the contenders, as they had a star-studded line-up. Although the Chargers couldn’t even finish in the top half of the table. In the second edition of IPL though, they emerged as the champions and took everyone by surprise.

IPL 2009 was held in South Africa and now-defunct Chargers returned to India, along with the IPL trophy. After the disappointment in the previous year, they gathered themselves and romped to the title in the second edition itself.

Since the Chargers last won the IPL, more than 10 years have passed. They are not a part of the IPL anymore, and hence some of their players joined other franchises and some went on to announce retirement from cricket. But where are they now?

Deccan Chargers’ 2009 IPL Winning Team:

1) Adam Gilchrist – Captain

The skipper of Deccan Chargers, Adam Gilchrist played a starring role for his team en route to their title-winning season in 2009.

Nowadays, the Australian legend is seen as a cricket expert and commentator in his home nation.

2) Herschelle Gibbs

The South African opening batsman was a clinical player who is nowadays enjoying retirement with his family.

Gibbs played a total 14 matches for Chargers in the IPL 2009 season, scoring 371 runs, at the average of 34 and a strike rate of 112.

3) Andrew Symonds

Just like his compatriot Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds has also become a commentator in the Big Bash League (BBL), in Australia.

More recently he also took part in the Bushfire Charity Bash. Symonds was one of the marquee players of the squad in IPL 2009 as he played eight matches, wherein he contributed 249 runs with his willow, at a strike rate of 150.

4) Tirumalasetti Suman

Apart from Deccan Chargers, Tirumalasetti Suman also represented Mumbai Indians (MI) and Pune Warriors India in the IPL.

Moreover, the right-handed batsman played his First-class cricket for Hyderabad.

However, there is no information available regarding T. Suman’s current whereabouts.

5) Rohit Sharma

The ‘Hitman’ Rohit Sharma began his IPL career with Chargers and played an important role in his side’s maiden trophy run.

The 32-year-old played 16 matches, and scored 362 runs in 2009, at an average of 28 and a strike rate of 115.

After all these years, Rohit is still going strong. He is the vice-captain of the Indian team and is the only player to hit double centuries in ODIs thrice.

6) Venugopal Rao

Venugopal Rao was a talented player but he could not break into the Indian national team because of lack of consistency.

In his career, the 38-year-old turned out for Deccan Chargers 35 times, scoring 498 runs in the process.

Venugopal retired from all forms of cricket recently and now he will be seen in the role of cricket expert.

7) Azhar Bilakhia

Azhar Bilakhia was a regular feature in Baroda’s team, however, after a series of disappointing performances he lost his place. Moreover, in the IPL as well, Bilakhia did not play a single noteworthy inning for the Deccan Chargers but he was part of the winning team in IPL 2009, nonetheless. Aged just 24, he took retirement and entered his family business.

8) Ryan Harris

Australian pacer Ryan Harris will always be remembered for his outstanding innings with Mitchell Johnson in the Ashes of 2013.

Harris represented Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab in the IPL. His career was cut short by a knee injury that caused him to retire in the year 2015.

The 40-year-old recently joined Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) as a bowling coach.

9) Pragyan Ojha

On the back of his consistent performances with Deccan Chargers, Pragyan Ojha was able to break into the national team.

However, his form suddenly dipped after playing for Team India. Later, Ojha was also banned for having an illegal action, but he amends and soon returned to cricket, although, his career never really recovered after that.

Recently the 33-year-old announced his retirement and he will be seen as a cricket expert on Star Sports now.

10) Harmeet Singh

The youngster at one point of time, bamboozled batsmen with his bowling, however just a few years into his career, Harmeet Singh suffered a major dip in form and subsequently became a fringe player for Deccan Chargers.

He later played for Kings XI Punjab as well in the IPL but couldn’t find success there too. Harmeet currently plays for Punjab in domestic competitions.

11) RP Singh

Former Indian pacer RP Singh was at the top of his game when Deccan Chargers won the IPL in 2009. He thrived under the captaincy of Adam Gilchrist and the South African pitches offered him all the assistance he needed that year.

However, the 34-year-old failed to replicate his heroics of 2009 in the following seasons and slowly he was a forgotten man.

Currently, he is a well-renowned commentator and cricket expert with Star Sports.