Top 5 IPL hundreds in a losing cause
A batsman scoring a century in the T20 format is not something that happens very often. It requires a special skill-set to reach the three-figure mark in this format. The IPL 2017 is set to get underway in few days’ time and with the likes of Chris Gayle, David Warner, AB de Villiers, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli etc. set to take part, we can expect more centuries in the tournament.
In the first nine editions of the IPL, we have seen 42 centuries scored and on a majority of the occasions, the batsmen ended up on the winning side. Out of the 42, only 7 instances saw the batsmen ending up on the losing side in spite of scoring a century.
Let us take a look at the top 5 IPL hundreds that were scored in a losing cause.
Note: Steve Smith (against Gujarat Lions in 2016) and Shane Watson (against Chennai Super Kings in 2013) are the otehr two instances when batsmen ended up on the losing side even after scoring a century
#5 Virat Kohli vs Gujarat Lions, 2016
Going into the 2016 IPL, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli had zero IPL hundreds to his name and by the end of the season, the right-hander had four. Kohli was in a stunning form throughout the tournament as he piled on the runs and took his team to the final single-handedly.
Out of the four hundreds he scored, three came in a winning cause while his first century couldn't fetch his team the two points they would have wanted.
It came against Gujarat Lions at the SCA stadium in Rajkot. Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first. In the absence of Chris Gayle, Shane Watson opened the batting with Kohli and got out in the second over of the match. Kohli, along with AB de Villiers put on a 51-run partnership before veteran leg-spinner Pravin Tambe sent AB back to the pavilion.
Kohli was joined by KL Rahul, who was given one final chance as Mandeep Singh, who was supposed to replace Rahul in the XI got injured just before the start of the match. Rahul scored his fifty and Kohli, who was 13 short of his century with just 4 balls left in the innings, hit a six followed by boundaries off the last two balls to reach the milestone.
RCB ended their innings with 180 runs for two wickets with Kohli remaining unbeaten on 100 off 63 balls with 11 fours and one six while Rahul was not-out on 51 off 35 balls with the help of four fours and three sixes.
Gujarat Lions chased down the target with three balls to spare, thanks to an unbeaten fifty from Dinesh Karthik and some notable contributions from Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith. Kohli was adjudged the Man of the Match for his century.