RR falls one short of IPL record!

A statistical glance at the fortnight gone by in the Indian Premier League.

The Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur has been Rajasthan Royals’ ‘fortress’. The team notched up a winning streak of nine matches here before a defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders broke it on April 18, 2018.

9

The number of successive IPL matches won by Rajasthan Royal at its “fortress” — the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur since April 2013. However, its seven-wicket defeat to the Kolkata Knight Riders on April 18, 2018 at this venue, means that it just fell one short of the IPL record for the most successive victories at a venue, which is 10! The table below provides all the details.

Successive IPL victories at a single venue by a team:

Notes:

#From April 9, 2013 to May 25, 2014, MI has won 12 games out of 13 at the Wankhede Stadium. Its only loss came against CSK after it had won 10 in a row!

+ From March 31, 2010 to May 18, 2011, CSK had won 11 games out of 12 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Its only loss came against DD after it had won four in a row!

2

The number of centuries registered in this year’s IPL. Interestingly, both the centuries were made by veteran batsmen (Shane Watson and Chris Gayle) on successive days (April 19 and 20). This also makes them two of the oldest to register a three-figure score in IPL history. The table below has the details.

Oldest to register an IPL century:

2

The number of occasions Sunrisers Hyderabad has managed to successfully defend totals of 120 or less in IPL since its debut in 2013, five years ago! It remains the only side to do it twice and also the only side to do it three times while defending totals of 130 or less. The table below lists sides defending low totals of 120 or less.

IPL sides successfully defending low totals of 120 or less (in non-truncated games)

33

The number of sixes hit in the game between RCB and CSK in Bengaluru , now the most ever hit in any T20 game on Indian soil. The table below has the details.

• Chennai Super Kings’ right-arm pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji, playing in only the second IPL game of his career, claimed the tournament’s first-ever hat-trick, during his 5/24 in his four overs against Kings XI Punjab in Chennai. Interestingly, Balaji was the sixth bowler to be used in the innings by skipper M. S. Dhoni. Balaji’s three wickets came in the 20th over off the third, fourth and fifth deliveries and his victims were Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla and Vikram (VRV) Singh! Incidentally, it was the first-ever five-wicket haul by an Indian bowler in the IPL!

Queries Corner

There were two maiden overs by CSK bowlers in RCB’s total of 205 in the Bengaluru IPL match. Is this the maximum in an innings of 200+?

— V. Venkataraman, Chennai

This, indeed, is the first occasion when a 200+ total had two maiden overs. The previous highest was 175/7 when two Rajasthan Royals bowlers (Tim Southee and Shane Watson) bowled a maiden each against Delhi Daredevils in Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium, in May 2015.

How often have 20 wickets fallen in an IPL match?

— Ajay Kumar, Delhi

This has now occurred on three occasions. The details are given below.

Note: For the record, on eight occasions 19 wickets have fallen in an IPL match!

In the IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chris Gayle scored 104 not out that had only one boundary (four). Has there been any T20 century without a boundary? Does this score by Gayle have the biggest difference between sixes and fours? (11 sixes - 1 four = 10)

— T. Ajit Krishnan, Chennai

It is indeed unique for a batsman to hit just one four and at the same time blast 11 sixes as Chris Gayle did in Mohali recently while scoring a century. South African batsman Nicky van den Bergh, while batting for North West in Potchefstroom on March 22, 2014, hit 101 that had just one four but 12 sixes!

If you recall, Chris Gayle, representing Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League, had made 146 not out that included five fours and 18 sixes in the final on December 12, 2017. Also, Sri Lankan Dasun Shanaka, in January 2016, for the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, hit 123 with just two fours, but his knock had 16 sixes!

What is the most number of runs scored by an IPL side during a Power Play?

— Keshav Anand, Hubli

KKR’s openers Chris Lynn (49* in 20b) and Sunil Narine (54* in 16b) made 105/0 in the first six overs while chasing RCB’s modest total of 158/6 in Bengaluru on May 7, 2017, the highest score by any IPL side during the power play. They made their runs as follows: 14 (1st over), 6 (2nd over), 14 (3rd over), 25 (4th over), 26 (5th over) and 20 runs (6th over). KKR won the game by six wickets, with 29 balls to spare!

Note: All figures are updated as on April 28, 2018.