The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League is just days away from commencement as the anticipation for the T20 tournament reaches its zenith.
The eight franchises are all busy giving the last touches to their preparation for the competition which gets under way on April 7.
As the month-long cricketing extravaganza approaches, we look at the top five performing batsmen in the 10-year-old tournament.
MATCHES: 114
RUNS: 4014
AVERAGE: 40.54
STRIKE-RATE: 142.13
The Aussie batsman will not participate in the upcoming edition following the infamous ball-tampering saga which led to him and Steve Smith losing their lucrative IPL contracts, among other punishments.
However, there has been no denying that Warner has been the best performing overseas batsman in IPL’s history. The left-hander, who led Sunrisers Hyderabad to the title in 2016, has been a constant in the tournament since 2009. Having also played for Delhi Daredevils, Warner’s most explosive innings in the IPL came last year when he blasted a sensational 126 off just 59 deliveries against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Warner has been the best performing overseas batsman in IPL history.
MATCHES: 148
RUNS: 4132
AVERAGE: 31.54
STRIKE-RATE: 124.60
Now the skipper of Delhi Daredevils, Gautam Gambhir had always been amongst the top performers with the bat since the tournament’s inception in 2008. His time with Kolkata Knight Riders was an excellent one as he led the franchise to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014.
While he finished as the second highest run-getter in the 2009 edition with 534 runs, Gambhir’s best season to date came in the title-winning run of 2012 where he scored 590 runs.
Not one of the biggest hitters of the ball, Gambhir’s strength has been his consistency over the years.
Gambhir has been consistently performing year after year.
MATCHES: 159
RUNS: 4207
AVERAGE: 32.61
STRIKE-RATE: 130.89
The only skipper to lead his team to three IPL titles, Rohit Sharma has also been one of the best batsmen to have graced the tournament. After impressing for the Deccan Chargers in the first three editions, the India vice-captain was picked up by the Mumbai Indians.
Since then, three IPL titles have comes while runs have flowed off Rohit’s bat. His most successful season came in 2013 where he registered 538 runs in the competition to lead Mumbai to their maiden title. When the franchise repeated the feat in 2015, Rohit ended up as the man-of-the-match in the finals against the Chennai Super Kings.
Rohit is the only skipper to win three IPL titles.
MATCHES: 149
RUNS: 4418
AVERAGE: 37.44
STRIKE-RATE: 129.82
It would have been a surprise if the India skipper did not feature in the list owing to his excellence across all formats. A young Virat Kohli did not really have the biggest of impacts in his first three years with the Royal Challengers Bangalore, scoring 165, 246 and 307 runs respectively.
The 2011 edition was the turning point in Kohli’s IPL career as he finished the second-highest run-scorer for the franchise with 557 runs. He had an even better campaign in 2013, registering 634 runs.
However, it was his monster season in 2016 which will live long in the memory of IPL fans. The batting sensation broke the record for the most number of runs scored in a season (733) by registering a whopping 973 runs as Royal Challengers Bangalore finished second in the tournament.
Kohli had a monster of a 2016 season.
MATCHES: 161
RUNS: 4540
AVERAGE: 34.19
STRIKE-RATE: 139.05
Perched at the top of the batting charts is Suresh Raina, the man who is currently enjoying a renaissance in his international T20 career with India.
Until the 2014 edition, Raina was the only batsman to have scored at least 400 runs in every IPL season in history. That year, and 2016 (399) are the only two instances in 10 years that the left-hander has failed to register 400 runs, a testament to his incredible consistency.
For long a faithful servant to the Chennai Super Kings franchise, Raina’s best campaign with the bat came in 2013 where he notched up 548 runs in the side’s run to the finals.
Raina has rarely suffered a dip in form over the course of a decade.
