IPL 2022: 5 big Indian cricketers who have never scored a century in the tournament
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has seen many batters make a splash through the course of its 15 editions. It all began on the night of April 18, 2008, when a certain Brendon McCullum set the stage alight with a blistering unbeaten 158 off 73 deliveries.
In essence, it was a sign of things to come. Over the years, the IPL would go on to establish itself as the biggest T20 league in the cricketing landscape. Runs and sixes galore, the competition has seen many a maverick batter plunder bowling units for fun and rack up hundreds.
While Chris Gayle holds the record for the most centuries in the league (6), Virat Kohli and Jos Buttler follow suit with five apiece. Both Kohli and Buttler hold the distinction for having scored the most hundreds in a single season. Kohli scored four tons in 2016 while Buttler did so in the just-concluded IPL 2022 season.
That said, there are quite a few big-ticket names who don't have a century against their name in the IPL. We take a look at five Indian players who fall under this bracket.
#5 Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly was the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Pune Warriors India (PWI). His IPL career began just around the time his international career was on its last lap. An attacking batter by nature, Ganguly dominated the opposition's bowling units in the powerplay throughout the course of a stellar 50-over career.
His first season wasn't a shabby one, as he aggregated 349 runs with a highest score of 91. Ganguly was infamously overlooked in the player auction in 2011, before the Pune Warriors swooped in and signed him as a replacement player.
And here's the moment. Sourav Ganguly walks out to bat for PWI against his former team KKR.
While his overall career strike-rate in the league is a modest 106.80, Ganguly tallied 1349 runs in 59 matches including seven half-centuries. However, he never managed to cross triple-digits.
#4 Robin Uthappa
Robin Uthappa is one of the very few players who has played every edition of the IPL since its inception. Having turned out for six different franchises, Uthappa has had a decorated career that hit its peak in 2014. He topped the charts with 660 runs to power the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their second title.
Uthappa also came up clutch in the playoffs of the 2021 season to aid the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their fourth title triumph. However, despite playing over 200 games and having scored close to 5000 runs, Uthappa is yet to register a century in the league.
This comes as a bit of a surprise given his swashbuckling batting approach, while he's also predominantly batted at the top of the batting order. His highest score of 88 happened to come against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) earlier this season in Navi Mumbai.
#3 Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid is not the quintessential T20 player off the top of one's head, but he wasn't a shabby player in the format by any stretch. The former captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and the Rajasthan Royals (RR) turned out in 89 games across the first six seasons of the IPL.
Dravid usually batted at the top of the order and while that was a given at RR, his batting position wasn't really a fixed one at RCB. He still ended with 2174 runs at an average of 28.23 and a strike-rate of 115.51, consistently churning out runs at the top of the order.
Dravid moves on to 50*! The legend continues, never to stop for anyone. Captain Fantastic indeed!
That said, Dravid has never registered a century in the tournament, with his highest score standing at 75*. Incidentally, that came in the very first year of the league in 2008, while turning out for RCB against RR and batting at number 6.
#2 Yuvraj Singh
Even before he tore into Stuart Broad for six consecutive sixes in Durban, Yuvraj Singh was quite the maverick ahead of his time in T20 cricket. Surprisingly though, he hasn't really had a steady career graph in the IPL, often blowing colder than hotter.
Of course, Yuvraj was always a hot property at the player auction. He fetched gargantuan sums of ₹ 14 crore and ₹ 16 crore in 2014 and 2015 respectively. However, consistency was something he found difficult to maintain in the league.
Bring out the bugle, blow those trumpets, there is a new RCBian in the house! Let’s welcome @YUVSTRONG12! #IPLAuction #RCB #BoldNewRCB
Overall, Yuvraj tallied 2750 runs across 132 games while representing six different teams. The last of those matches came for the Mumbai Indians in 2019. His highest score remains 83 for RCB in 2014, as Yuvraj never managed to register a hundred in the competition.
#1 MS Dhoni
The most wanted acquisition during the league's inception in 2008 is still hitting those big sixes. MS Dhoni and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are as synonymous as they come with regards to a player-franchise relationship and it remains no different in 2022.
In recent years, the signs have clearly pointed towards the Ranchi-born being well past his prime on the batting front. That said, the 2022 season seemed to spark off a better outing for him personally, as he showed glimpses of looking in good rhythm. Overall, Dhoni has tallied 4978 runs at an average of just a shade under 40 and a strike-rate of 135.2 after 234 IPL encounters.
He dons the role of a finisher and doesn't have the luxury of facing too many deliveries. Hence, it shouldn't come as a surprise that he doesn't have a hundred to his name in T20 cricket. One can only imagine the damage he could have caused though, had he batted even higher up the order during his prime.