7 quintessential IPL records for every enthusiast

The World T20 was an interesting gala. There were some vicious turning tracks, some batting paradises, some amazing catches, some nail-biting thrillers and an extremely popular winner – sounds like the perfect movie isn’t it? And it is almost that time of the year, when all the bitterness and rivalries in cricket dissolve away as a new season of IPL begins.

People who were at war with each other couple of weeks ago will be sharing hi-fives and dressing rooms, playing in the same colours. This year’s IPL will be without the beloved Chennai Super Kings team, the team that had the biggest fan following arguably. There will not be a Rajasthan Royals either.

However, two new teams emerge, sharing the spoils of the two suspended teams. Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants do not lack in talent or experience as they have shared most of the players from the two suspended teams.

It will not be a bad time though to check out some of those numbers that will excite any IPL enthusiast – after all stats make cricket fun, whether it is runs, wickets, sixes, averages or any of the other plethora of numbers that let the ardent cricket fan distinguish one player’s value from another’s.

Stats Courtesy: Cricinfo

Most runs – Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina was the lynchpin of the Chennai Super Kings batting order. He was MS Dhoni’s able lieutenant with many big innings. The man who has played the most games in IPL holds the record for most IPL runs – 3699 at an average of 34.25 and a strike rate close to 140. 26 50+ scores translate to a substantial knock once every five innings, massive returns for a man feared for his hitting capability on good batting surfaces.

Raina is a little more than 300 runs ahead of his India teammate Rohit Sharma, who has 3385 runs in four innings fewer. Gautam Gambhir, at the helm of Kolkata Knight Riders (3133), Virat Kohli (3137), the in-form Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper and Chris Gayle (3199), member of the West Indies 2016 T20 World Cup winning squad are the only other players with more than 3000 runs in the IPL, although Gayle has played nearly 40 games fewer than the other four. Gayle averages 46 with the bat at a strike-rate of 153 with a whopping 5 centuries.