Ipl Records : The Indian Premier League took the world by storm in its very first season. The lights, the aura, the entertainment was nothing that the cricketing world had seen before. However, what made the whole tournament successful was the quality of cricket on display.
Teams battled for the fabled trophy and outshone each other in the process. While there was fantastic batting on a show, on one hand, there were some pretty good bowling performances as well. Captains tried to outdo each other with their tactics and everything came together to revolutionize the world of cricket.
As expected, since then, the Indian Premier League has gone from strength to strength, but the base of its success has remained the same – great cricket. And in the process, some outstanding records have been set, which deserves to be shared among fans and cricket enthusiasts. Today, we take a look at 10 such IPL records that you should know about.
10 such IPL Records that you Should Know About
#10 Most dot balls – Harbhajan Singh
The Indian off-spinner has the record of bowling the most dot balls in the Indian Premier League. The Turbanator has played for Mumbai Indians and currently is a part of the Chennai Super Kings Rooster. Singh has played 153 matches in the IPL and has taken 141 wickets so far. He reached a phenomenal figure of 5/18 in the 2011 season and was most effective in the 2013 season when he took 24 wickets.
Harbhajan Singh has bowled 3206 balls as of now and 1178 of those have been dot balls! Unbelievable, but true. He has one 4 wicket haul and one 5 wicket haul in his IPL career.
#9 Most Maiden Overs Bowled – Praveen kumar
The former Indian cricketer was a fantastic medium pacer for both his country and his IPL team. Kumar had an outstanding ability to swing the ball both ways, and this made him a lethal prospect in all forms of the game. He has played for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Gujarat Lions.
Kumar played 119 matches in the Indian Premier League and took 90 wickets. He bowled 420.4 overs in total and 14 of those were maidens, the most in the history of the tournament.
#8 Best bowling figures – Alzarri Joseph
On 6th April of this year, Mumbai Indians gave a debut to a relatively unknown West Indian bowled named Alzarri Joseph, against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium. Joseph was a right arm medium fast bowler, just 22 years old. Yet, on the field, he showed neither his inexperience nor the naivety that comes with such a young age.
Joseph bowled 3.4 over and took 6 wickets. He conceded just 12 runs, finishing the game with a figure of 6/12. Among his victims were Siddarth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, and David Warner!
#7 Fastest fifty – Lokesh Rahul
KL. Rahul had a fantastic season with Kings XI Punjab last year. He amasses 659 runs, including an unbeaten 95 and had a strike rate of 158.41. He hit 32 sixes and 66 fours in the process and registered 6 fifties. The wicket-keeping batsman was one of the revelations of the season, but he gathered most of the accolades after he churned up the impossible on 8th April 2018.
Against Delhi Capitals, K. L. Rahul scored 51 runs off just 14 balls! He hit 6 fours and 4 sixes in the process and registered the fastest half-century in the history of the tournament.
#6 Fastest century – Chris Gayle
Chris Gayle is known for his power hitting and his explosive style of play. The West Indian has played for quite a few franchises in the Indian Premier League and has hit some memorable knocks for each of them. Gayle currently plays for Kings XI Punjab, but it is an innings from his time as a Royal Challengers Bangalore player that shall forever be etched in the mind of IPL fans.
In April 2013, against Pune Warriors India, Gayle scored 100 runs off just 30 balls! He went on to score 175 runs off 66 balls, the highest individual score in T20 cricket history. His innings included 17 sixes and 13 fours.
#5 Most sixes – Chris Gayle
The Universe Boss pops up in our list of records once again, and in truth, Gayle has a lot of T20 records in his name. In the Indian Premier League, Chris Gayle has hit the most sixes – 303! No one comes close to him in this regard, with the next name in the list, RCB’s A. B. de Villiers hitting 197 so far.
The West Indian is also the first cricketer to hit 100 T20 sixes. He also has the record of most sixes in an innings, when he hit 17 sixes for his 175 not out against Pune Warriors India. It seems sixes and Gayle go hand in hand together!
#4 Most fifties – David Warner
The explosive Australian batsman has lit up the current edition of the Indian Premier League. Warner has scored 349 runs from 6 games, which includes 3 fifties and 1 hundred. However, the Australian is also the player with the most fifties in the Indian Premier League.
David Warner has hit 39 fifties so far in the IPL since his debut in the tournament. He has played 120 games, made 4363 runs and has stayed not out 17 times. The Australian has hit 171 sixes and 432 fours so far too!
#3 Best Striker Rate – Andre Russel
The West Indian has seen his stock rise in recent years and this season, Russel has flexed his muscle and pulled Kolkata Knight Riders through on more than a couple of occasions. The West Indian has scored 257 runs from 6 games so far and has a current strike rate of 212.39, the highest in this edition of the Indian Premier League.
Russel is also the player who has the highest all-time strike rate in the tournament. The West Indian has a strike rate of 184.1 in his 44 innings from 56 games. He has hit 93 sixes and 82 fours.
#2 Most Wickets – Lasith Malinga
The Sri Lankan speedster has been a revelation for the Mumbai Indians during his career in the Indian Premier League. Even though the IPL is touted as a batsmen’s tournament, Malinga is one of the handfuls of bowlers who have regularly dominated on the pitch. And it is not a fluke that “Slinga Malinga” is the IPL’s all-time highest wicket-taker.
Malinga has taken 157 wickets in his IPL career so far. He has played 113 matches and has an economy of 16.71. Malinga has four 4 wicket hauls and one 5 wicket haul to his name.
#1 Most Runs – Virat Kohli
The current Indian Cricket team captain is the highest run-getter in the Indian Premier League. However, his current national teammate, Suresh Raina is steady on his heels now and Virat will have to keep up the momentum to keep his record intact.
Virat has scored 5151 runs from 169 games in the IPL. His highest score is 113 and he has remained not out on 26 occasions. Virat has an average of 38.15 and has hit 182 sixes and 453 fours in his career.
This season, Virat has 203 runs from 6 games so far and has scored one 50 as well.