3 times a batter remained unbeaten on 99 in an IPL innings
Sunrisers Hyderabad registered their first win of IPL 2023 on Sunday, April 9, defeating the Punjab Kings by 8 wickets with 17 balls to spare. Rahul Tripathi (74*) and Aiden Markram (37*) formed a match-winning partnership for the third wicket during a run-chase that seemed tricky in the first nine overs.
None of the PBKS batters could do anything significant, barring their skipper Shikhar Dhawan, who played an outstanding knock, scoring an unbeaten 99 off 66 balls. Dhawan ensured that his team, who were struggling at 88/9 after 15 overs, reached a respectable score of 143/9. This was his 50th fifty-plus score in the IPL.
Here are three other instances when a batter remained unbeaten on 99 in an IPL match.
#1 Suresh Raina vs SRH, Hyderabad 2013
After SRH won the toss and opted to field first, CSK had a good opening stand between Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay as they added 45 runs in 5.2 overs. This allowed star batter Suresh Raina to play attacking cricket right from the word go.
Raina shared a match-winning partnership with Hussey. The two southpaws added 133 runs in just 12 overs and took the game away from the opposition. CSK scored 223/3 in the first innings.
Raina decimated a good Sunrisers bowling unit, hitting 11 fours and three sixes in his 52 ball stay at the crease. He was on 95 with one ball remaining in the innings. Raina hit a four and became the first player in the IPL to score 98, 99 and 100 in an innings. CSK won the game by 77 runs.
#2 Chris Gayle vs RCB, Mohali 2019
Chris Gayle was up against his former team in this encounter. The visitors won the toss and elected to field first. The West Indian opener played a magnificent knock of 99* off 64 balls - no other batter could cross 20 runs in that innings. PBKS scored 173/4 in the first innings.
Gayle demolished Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav in the powerplay overs, racing to 48 runs off just 23 balls. He slowed down considerably in the next 27 balls, scoring only 20 runs. The explosive batter sped up again in the death overs, adding 31 runs off the last 14 balls. However, RCB won the match by 8 wickets with four balls to spare.
#3 Mayank Agarwal vs DC, Ahmedabad 2021
Mayank Agarwal was appointed as the captain of the Punjab Kings for this IPL fixture in KL Rahul's absence. Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field first. Agarwal (99* off 58) scored almost 60% of the team's runs, taking the team's total to 166/6 in the first innings.
Agarwal scored 40 runs off his first 34 balls as Punjab kept losing wickets at regular intervals. However, his efforts kept them in the game. The right-handed batter scored 59 runs off the last 24 balls. Delhi Capitals won the match by 7 wickets with 14 balls to spare.