The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the most competitive T20 league globally. All the teams in IPL are well balanced, and any team can defeat each other. It’s never easy to win a long tournament like IPL. It requires an amazing consistency over almost 2 months. The knockouts or Playoff stage of the Indian Premier League is one of the exciting stages of IPL. You can find the top three teams that have entered the IPL Playoffs most times in IPL, in this article.
Scoring runs in IPL knockouts requires a player to be mentally strong. He should know the art of handling pressure well. A wrong move from a player can cost his team the tournament and spoil all the hard work of the complete season. It’s never easy for a batsman to score runs in knockouts and maintain his composure.
A half-century itself is a good achievement for a batsman in T20 cricket. But a century is just a mind-blowing achievement for a batsman to achieve in T20 cricket. A century that too in IPL knockouts is very rare. Last year, Rajat Patidar impressed everyone with his century against Lucknow Supergiants in Eliminator of IPL 2022.
Here in this article, we will look at centuries scored in IPL playoffs.
1) Murali Vijay – 113 vs DC (Qualifier 2 of IPL 2012)
Tamil Nadu batsman Murali Vijay is the first batsman to score a century in the knockouts of the Indian Premier League. He played a brilliant knock of 113 runs at Chidambaram stadium against Delhi Capitals in the 2nd Qualifier of IPL 2012. This innings included 15 fours and 4 gigantic sixes. This helped CSK post a total of 222 runs while batting first.
Chennai Super Kings won this match by a comfortable margin of 86 runs. Vijay was in poor form in IPL 2012 until this innings. But cometh the hour, cometh the man. Murali played a clutch knock in the Qualifier to take Chennai Super Kings to the finals of IPL 2012. However, CSK lost to KKR in the IPL 2012 Final.
2) Virender Sehwag – 122 vs CSK (Qualifier 2 of IPL 2014)
Virender Sehwag was the second batsman to score a century in the IPL playoffs. He played a mind-blowing knock of 122 runs off 58 balls against Chennai Super Kings in the 2nd Qualifier of IPL 2014. Sehwag hit 12 fours and eight sixes to guide Kings XI Punjab to 226 runs while batting first.
Watching Sehwag in full flow at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai was a treat. Eventually, Kings XI Punjab won the match and progressed to the finals of IPL 2014. But they faced a loss against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2014 Final.
3) Wriddhiman Saha – 115 vs KKR (Final of IPL 2014)
Bengal wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha scored a century while playing for Kings XI Punjab against Kolkata Knight Riders in the Finals of IPL 2014. Saha played an amazing knock of 115 runs in 55 balls in the IPL 2014 Final. Saha came into bat at a tricky score of 30 for 2. He formed a great partnership with Manan Vohra and took Punjab to a massive score of 199 runs.
This innings of Saha consisted of 10 fours and 8 sixes. The Indian wicketkeeper was the first batsman to score a Century in IPL knockouts while batting in the middle-order. However, this knock ended in a losing cause as Kolkata Knight Riders successfully chased down the target of 200 runs in the IPL 2014 Finals.
Read Now: Distribution of IPL Centuries by Batting Order
4) Shane Watson – 117 vs SRH (Final of IPL 2018 )
The next name on this list is Australian all-rounder Shane Watson. Shane became the first batsman to score Century in IPL knockouts while chasing the target. Watson achieved this feat against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final of IPL 2018 at Wankhede stadium. He scored 117* runs in 57 balls, including 11 fours and 8 sixes.
While chasing the target of 179 runs, Watson started his innings cautiously. But soon, he put his foot on the accelerator. He smashed SRH bowlers all around the ground. Chennai Super Kings successfully chased this target with 9 balls remaining. CSK won the IPL 2018 in their comeback season after a two years ban.
5) Rajat Patidar – 112 vs LSG (Eliminator of IPL 2022)
The latest batsman on this prestigious list is Rajat Patidar. Rajat played a fantastic knock of 112 runs in 54 balls against Lucknow Supergiants in the Eliminator match at Eden Gardens in IPL 2022. Patidar came into bat at No. 3 for RCB in this match after Royal Challengers Bangalore lost the early wicket of Faf Du Plessis in the first over.
Patidar attacked Krunal Pandya in the last over of PowerPlay. Later in the middle overs, he played with good intent despite wickets falling from the other end. Rajat Patidar hit 12 fours and 7 sixes in this outstanding innings. RCB reached a total of 207 runs with the help of these innings. The best part about it was that Patidar is an uncapped player. RCB won the match by 14 runs and progressed to the 2nd Qualifier in IPL 2022.
6) Shubman Gill – 129 vs MI (Qualifier 2 of IPL 2023)
Shubman Gill came to this must-win game with 2 hundreds in his last three matches. One must agree that Gill made batting look so easy as it looked like he was batting on a different pitch altogether where the other batters struggled. He took charge against every Mumbai Indians bowler; two of the five MI bowlers conceded 50+ runs, and 2 others had an economy well ahead of 10.
Gill had multiple answers to every question (balls) thrown at him, and it looked like only he could find the wrong answer. This is also the highest individual score in a knock-out game in tournament history.
Read: Which batsman has recorded the slowest IPL century in IPL?
