Cricket is a sport where batting at each position gives unique challenges and the players will have to adapt in order to succeed. The same goes to Test cricket too. Though it is a fast moving game, the batters at the top of the order are expected to score bulk of the runs and as the batting order lowers, we don’t see too many big scores.
It is because as you play down the order, the number of deliveries one faces is generally less, but they can still maximise the impact. Hence, power hitters are slotted in the middle to the lower order of a typical T20 line-up.
In this article, we will see the top scores at each batting order in the history of the IPL.
Highest Scores at Each Batting Position in IPL
| POS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opener | Chris Gayle (RCB) -175* | Brendon McCullum (KKR) – 158* | Abhishek Sharma (SRH) – 141 | Quinton de Kock (LSG) – 140* | KL Rahul (PBKS) – 132* |
| No. 3 | AB de Villiers (RCB) – 133* | AB de Villiers (RCB) – 129* | Marcus Stoinis (LSG) – 124 | Sanju Samson (RR) – 119 | Rishabh Pant (LSG) – 118* |
| No. 4 | Rishabh Pant (DC) – 128* | Andrew Symonds (DC) – 117* | Wriddhiman Saha (PBKS) – 115* | Heinrich Klaasen (SRH) – 104 | Suryakumar Yadav (MI) – 102* |
| No. 5 | Ben Stokes (RPSG) – 103* | David Miller (PBKS) – 101* | Yusuf Pathan (RR) – 100 | David Miller (GT) – 94* | AB de Villiers (RCB) – 89* |
| No. 6 | Hardik Pandya (MI) – 91 | Jitesh Sharma (RCB) – 85* | MS Dhoni (CSK) – 84* | Dinesh Karthik (RCB) – 83 | Chris Morris (DC) – 82* |
| No. 7 | Andre Russell (KKR) – 88* | Dwayne Bravo (CSK)- 68 | Shardul Thakur (KKR) – 68 | Dinesh Karthik (RCB) – 66* | Ashutosh Sharma (DC) – 66* |
| No. 8 | Rashid Khan (GT) – 79 | Pat Cummins (KKR) – 66* | Harbhajan Singh (MI) – 64 | Andre Russell (KKR) – 64* | Ashutosh Sharma (PBKS) – 61 |
| No. 9 | Harbhajan Singh (MI) – 49* | Kuldeep Yadav (DC) – 35* | Pat Cummins (SRH) – 35* | Chris Morris (RR) – 34* | Harbhajan Singh (MI) – 33 |
| No. 10 | Dhawal Kulkarni (RR) – 28* | Kagiso Rabada (PBKS) – 25 | Umesh Yadav (KKR) – 24* | Praveen Kumar (PBKS) – 24 | Zaheer Khan (MI) – 23* |
| No. 11 | Munaf Patel (RR) – 23* | Dale Steyn (SRH) – 19* | Akash Deep (RCB) – 17 | Mohammed Siraj (RCB) – 12* | Avesh Khan (LSG) – 12 |
Key Insights
50: At least a half-century has been scored in the batting positions eight or above in the IPL. The highest at No. 9 is by Harbhajan Singh (49*), who came tantalizingly close to scoring a 50 in that position as well.
3: AB de Villiers and Sanju Samson have each scored three centuries at No. 3, the most by any player in that position.
5: Only these five players have scored a century while batting at No. 4 in the IPL. And there have been seven other 90+ scores by seven different players in that position.
You can .
4: David Miller has recorded four scores of 80 or more while batting at No. 5 and this includes a century, 101* against RCB back in 2013.
3: Number of times former CSK and India skipper MS Dhoni has scored 70 or more runs in an innings while batting at No. 6. Kieron Pollard of MI follows him with two such scores, and Hardik has the highest score (91) coming at the position.
