Most Centuries in IPL
Centuries in T20 cricket are hard to come by purely because of the amount of risk batsmen have to take. However, when centuries do come by, the crowds get every worth of their penny due as they know on the day boundary lines will be peppered and the ball will travel into the stands. As many as 38 batsmen have got at least one hundred in this Indian Premier League while only 15 of them have two or more and out of those, only three have scored 3+ tons. The batsman who tops the list for most centuries in IPL history is Chris Gayle. Here we take a look at the top 5 batsmen with most centuries in IPL.
1) Chris Gayle (RCB, KXIP) – 6 hundreds
Chris Gayle is arguably one of the best overseas players to have played in the IPL. He first turned out for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and featured in 16 games across two seasons (2009 and 2010). He had a decent run but once he moved to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Gayle became a different beast altogether.
Gayle announced his arrival in style as he smashed a stunning hundred in his first game for RCB and since then, the Universe Boss hasn’t looked back. He has gone on to register five more IPL tons.
Five of those hundreds came when Gayle played for RCB – two in 2011 and one each in 2012, 2013 and 2015. His other hundred came in 2018 when he moved to the Kings XI Punjab (now, Punjab Kings). Thus, he has a total of 6 centuries apart from 31 half-centuries from just 140 IPL which sees him top this list of most hundreds by a batsman in the history of the IPL.
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2) Virat Kohli (RCB) – 5 hundreds
Not a lot of batting records over the past 15 years are complete without Virat Kohli’s name and this is no different. The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team skipper is already the leading run-getter (6076 runs) in the history of the IPL and slots at No. 2 on this list of most hundreds in the IPL.
For as many as eight seasons, Virat Kohli went without getting an IPL ton. He got a couple of scores in the 90s, including getting out on 99 but a T20 hundred eluded him. However, he corrected that in 2016 as he smashed four hundreds in the same IPL season, which is the most by any player. These four centuries came during that jaw-dropping 2016 season when Kohli got a whopping 973 runs in a single edition and almost single-handedly drove RCB to the IPL title.
His fifth IPL ton came in 2019 when he scored a fine 100 against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens. Apart from the five tons, Kohli has recorded 40 half-centuries and a tally of 45 fifty-plus scores puts him third on that list behind David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan.
3) David Warner (SRH, DC) – 4 hundreds
It is no surprise that David Warner finds a place in this list of most hundreds in the IPL. The Australian left-handed opener has turned into an IPL beast and has churned out runs for fun ever since he joined the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) side.
Warner averages 50.78 for SRH while striking at 142.83. He has scored 40 half-centuries and two tons for the Orange Army and that too from a mere 93 matches.
As far as his IPL tons go, he has scored two each for Delhi Daredevils (now, Delhi Capitals) and Sunrisers Hyderabad. His first IPL hundred came in 2010 before hitting another one in 2012. For SRH, despite being consistent right from 2014, it took Warner four years to get his first ton for them. He scored 126 against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2017 season before racking up another one in 2019 against RCB.
4) Shane Watson (RR, CSK) – 4 hundreds
Shane Watson has been a prolific performer in the IPL. The impact that the Australian all-rounder has had is immense and he is arguably one of the best all-rounders (Indian and overseas) to have ever played in the IPL. In fact, he is one of the very few overseas players to have featured in each of the first 12 seasons of the IPL before he announced his retirement.
3874 runs at an average of 30.99 while striking at 137.91 and 92 wickets at an economy rate of 7.93 are some phenomenal numbers. With the bat, he got four hundreds – two each for Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK). In fact, there is an interesting stat that Watson has scored a hundred for and against the same side.
For RR, his first ton came in 2013 against CSK before scoring another one in 2015 against KKR. For CSK, both his tons came in the same season. He smashed 106 against RR before racking up a fantastic 117 not out in the final against SRH.
5) AB de Villiers (DC, RCB)- 3 hundreds
AB de Villiers is one of the best overseas players to have stepped foot in the IPL. He would walk into most playing XIs around the world and would definitely walk into most all-time IPL playing XIs as well. He has aggregated 5056 runs at an average of 40.77 and a stunning strike-rate of 152.38 in his IPL career and nearly 87% of those runs have come while playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
De Villiers played for the Delhi Daredevils (now, Delhi Capitals) in the first three seasons and was bought by RCB in 2011. Since then, the South African superstar hasn’t looked back. His numbers for RCB in the IPL read 4385 runs at an average of 42.57 and a strike rate of 159.69. He has also smashed two tons for RCB and three overall in the IPL.
His first one came in 2009 while playing for Delhi when he scored an unbeaten 105 against CSK. For RCB, it took him five years to hit his first ton and he smashed a brutal 133 not out against MI. In 2016, he racked up a stunning 129 against Gujarat Lions. His three tons put him third on this list of most hundreds in the IPL.
Conclusion
KL Rahul, Brendon McCullum, Sanju Samson and Ajinkya Rahane are some of the the other batsmen to have recorded IPL centuries over the years. Who do you think will be the first batsman to score a century when IPL 2021 resumes in September?
