Cricket is a sport where batting at each position gives unique challenges and the players will have to adapt in order to succeed. The same goes to Test cricket too. Though it is a fast moving game, the batters at the top of the order are expected to score bulk of the runs and as the batting order lowers, we don’t see too many big scores.
It is because as you play down the order, the number of deliveries one faces is generally less, but they can still maximise the impact. Hence, power hitters are slotted in the middle to the lower order of a typical T20 line-up.
In this article, we will see the top scores at each batting order in the history of the IPL.
Highest Scores at Each Batting Position in IPL
| POS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opener | Chris Gayle (RCB) -175* | Brendon McCullum (KKR) – 158* | Abhishek Sharma (SRH) – 141 | Quinton de Kock (LSG) – 140* | KL Rahul (PBKS) – 132* |
| No. 3 | AB de Villiers (RCB) – 133* | AB de Villiers (RCB) – 129* | Marcus Stoinis (LSG) – 124 | Sanju Samson (RR) – 119 | Rishabh Pant (LSG) – 118* |
| No. 4 | Rishabh Pant (DC) – 128* | Andrew Symonds (DC) – 117* | Wriddhiman Saha (PBKS) – 115* | Heinrich Klaasen (SRH) – 104 | Suryakumar Yadav (MI) – 102* |
| No. 5 | Ben Stokes (RPSG) – 103* | David Miller (PBKS) – 101* | Yusuf Pathan (RR) – 100 | David Miller (GT) – 94* | AB de Villiers (RCB) – 89* |
| No. 6 | Hardik Pandya (MI) – 91 | Jitesh Sharma (RCB) – 85* | MS Dhoni (CSK) – 84* | Dinesh Karthik (RCB) – 83 | Chris Morris (DC) – 82* |
| No. 7 | Andre Russell (KKR) – 88* | Dwayne Bravo (CSK)- 68 | Shardul Thakur (KKR) – 68 | Dinesh Karthik (RCB) – 66* | Ashutosh Sharma (DC) – 66* |
| No. 8 | Rashid Khan (GT) – 79 | Pat Cummins (KKR) – 66* | Harbhajan Singh (MI) – 64 | Andre Russell (KKR) – 64* | Ashutosh Sharma (PBKS) – 61 |
| No. 9 | Harbhajan Singh (MI) – 49* | Kuldeep Yadav (DC) – 35* | Pat Cummins (SRH) – 35* | Chris Morris (RR) – 34* | Harbhajan Singh (MI) – 33 |
| No. 10 | Dhawal Kulkarni (RR) – 28* | Kagiso Rabada (PBKS) – 25 | Umesh Yadav (KKR) – 24* | Praveen Kumar (PBKS) – 24 | Zaheer Khan (MI) – 23* |
| No. 11 | Munaf Patel (RR) – 23* | Dale Steyn (SRH) – 19* | Akash Deep (RCB) – 17 | Mohammed Siraj (RCB) – 12* | Avesh Khan (LSG) – 12 |
Key Insights
50: At least a half-century has been scored in the batting positions eight or above in the IPL. The highest at No. 9 is by Harbhajan Singh (49*), who came tantalizingly close to scoring a 50 in that position as well.
3: AB de Villiers and Sanju Samson have each scored three centuries at No. 3, the most by any player in that position.
5: Only these five players have scored a century while batting at No. 4 in the IPL. And there have been seven other 90+ scores by seven different players in that position.
You can find here about the batters who lead the centuries chart in different batting positions in the IPL.
4: David Miller has recorded four scores of 80 or more while batting at No. 5 and this includes a century, 101* against RCB back in 2013.
3: Number of times former CSK and India skipper MS Dhoni has scored 70 or more runs in an innings while batting at No. 6. Kieron Pollard of MI follows him with two such scores, and Hardik has the highest score (91) coming at the position.
3: KKR legend Andre Russell has the most number of 60-plus scores while batting at No. 7 in the IPL and we have seen 12 such scores at that position overall.
7: Only seven batters have scored 50 or more while batting at No. 8 in the IPL, and the other two are Arshad Khan (58*) of LSG and Chris Morris (52) of Delhi Capitals.
2 – Pat Cummins and Harbhajan Singh have two 30-plus scores while batting at the No. 9 position in the IPL.
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