A century is not only a milestone for a cricketer or a batsman, but it's also a psychological advantage for the batting team against their opposition, it gives them a slight advantage in the sense that one of our batsman has scored a century against your bowling attack and we've got more 100 runs to defend which has been provided by one of our individual batsmen.
However, sometimes batsman do miss out on deserving centuries when they were either undone by a beautiful delivery by the bowler or they themselves throw their wicket for the cause of the team or they just went with the flow and lost their wicket before reaching to the magical 3 figures mark, in IPL we can check that there are several incidents where a batsman dismissed on the verge of scoring century:-
1. Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Delhi Daredevils, Delhi on May 10, 2013
Royal Challengers Bangalore is an outfit that always have some of the very best individual cricketers who're very much capable of winning the matches single-handedly, despite having few of the best in the game it's quiet baffling that they're yet to win an IPL trophy.
In 2013, Bangalore has one of the best trio in batting - Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB DeVillers- for any bowling attack this would be a major headache and they were creating headaches as well and they were winning matches after matches.
In the 57th match of the tournament Royal Challengers Bangalore Met Delhi Daredevils, Daredevils were going through a very bad phase, while Bangalore was eyeing a top two finish, Delhi was more into win few of their last matches (since they were already out of play-offs) to get back some respect.
Delhi Daredevils won the toss and decided to field first, bowlers didn't disappointed at the start, Chris Gayle (4) was dismissed cheaply, another opener Cheteshwar Pujara (17) was also dismissed in the mandatory powerplay over, after the dismissal of Gayle, Bangalore's skipper Virat Kohli (99) walked in and was almost got dismissed for a first ball duck when he was caught behind off Morne Morkel's ball, but fortunately for Bangalore and unfortunately for Delhi it was a no ball, few overs later Kohli's catch was dropped this time by Sehwag off Siddharth Kaul's bowling.
After getting this two chances, Kohli didn't look back, he stitched important partnerships of 57 with Moises Henriques (26) and for the third wicket and 94 runs partnership with Mr. 360 himself AB Devilliers (32), this helped Bangalore to reach a huge total of 183 runs in their stipulated 20 overs, however Kohli's luck ran out when he was actually run out when he attempted a second run to get to the century.
In reply, Delhi despite losing two openers Mahela Jayawardene (19) and Sehwag (18) had a decent start, after losing captain Warner (4) at the total of 60, Unmukt Chand (41) had a good partnership of 58 with Ben Rohrer (32), in the 15th over and at 118/4, the match was evenly poised but the dismissal of Chand at 129 and Jadhav at 131 brought Bangalore at the match.
After this both Irfan Pathan (23) and Morne Morkel (19) almost pulled up the match for Delhi by their 44 runs partnership in just 20 balls, in the final over Unadkat (5/25) was asked to defend 19 runs and he exactly did the same, Delhi lost by just 4 runs.
Delhi won only 3 matches in The IPL and was out of the tournament, Bangalore and Hyderabad was fighting for the 4th position to qualify for the playoffs, in a tight contest Hyderabad edged past Bangalore and went to the playoffs, Hyderabad was eliminated by the Rajasthan Royals in the eliminator, Rajasthan then went onto lose the another qualifier to Mumbai Indians, final was played between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, the final was won by Mumbai Indians which was their first IPL title.
Virat Kohli has so far scored 5 IPL centuries.
2. Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi, March 30, 2019
Delhi has decided to change their overall structure to achieve the success in IPL, the emphasis was more on quick and younger side which was captained by Shreyas Iyer, all these changes took place in the year 2019, the changes started to show its effects.
In the 10th match of the tournament, Delhi met Kolkata, Delhi won the toss and elected to field first, Kolkata Knight Riders was reeling at one stage with the score on 61/5, but Kolkata's captain Dinesh Karthik (50) and Andre Russell's (62) 95 runs partnership lifted Kolkata to a huge score of 185/8 in 20 overs.
Delhi lost opener Shikhar Dhawan quiet early,but captain Shreyas Iyer (43) and another Opener Prithvi Shaw's (99) partnership of 89 runs helped Delhi to keep the chase alive, Rishabh Pant (11) arrived next but he hardly have to do anything, because it was all about Prithvi who was at his aggressive best, while he was in it was look like an easy win for Delhi.
At 170, dismissal of Pant and at 174 dismissal of Prithvi changed the game, in the final over of the match Kuldeep was given the task of defending just 6 runs, only 5 run were scored off that the final over and the match went to a thrilling Superover finish.
Delhi batted first in the Superover and scored 10 runs, Rabada was asked to bowl superover and defend 11 runs against the likes of Russel, Dinesh Karthik and Robin Uthappa, his first ball was smashed for boundary but Rabada came back with a searing yorker to dismiss Russel and ultimately defended the remaining runs successfully.
Delhi reached playoffs, where they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eliminator but were defeated by Chennai Super Kings in the 2nd qualifier, Mumbai Indians defeated Chennai Super Kings at the final of the tournament and won the title for the 4th time.
*99 is still the highest individual score of Prithvi Shaw in IPL.
3. Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Dubai, September 28, 2020
It was yet another entertaining match between two fierce rivals from IPL, yet another thrilling match that ended in super over.
In 2020, almost the whole world was affected and were locked inside their homes due to corona pandemic, India was also affected by the pandemic and there was no way IPL can begin at the right time and it was also not possible to held a big tournament like IPL in India at that point of time as the country was going through a lockdown.
BCCI, understanding the scenario suspended IPL for an undefined time but later announced that the IPL will be played from 19 September to 10th November and it will be organised completely outside of India, the matches will be played in United Arab Emirates.
In the 10 match of the tournament, Mumbai Indians played against Royal Challengers Bangalore, after winning the toss Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma decided to field first, Bangalore openers Aaron Finch (52) and Devdutt Paddikkal (54) gave Bangalore a brilliant start.
Later on Ab Devilliers scored a quickfire half century (55) and Shivam Dube (27) aggressive knock helped Bangalore to post 201/3 in 20 overs.
In reply, Mumbai lost 3 quick wickets for just 39 runs but Ishan Kishan (99) was playing quiet a handy knock for his side, he found an able ally in Pollard (60*) when he walked in at 78/4, together they made a partnership of 118 runs.
In the final over of the match, Isuru Udana was given the responsibility of defending 19 runs against Pollard and Ishan Kishan, with the first four balls of the over yielded 14 runs it looked almost all over for Bangalore, but at the 5th ball of the over Ishan went for a glory shot and paid the price by gifting his wicket away, not only he lost his wicket but also lost the opportunity to close the game for his team.
Since they crossed over before the catch was taken Pollard got the strike and opportunituy to close the game, he scored a boundary in the final ball and the match went to a superover,where Bangalore proved their supremacy and won the match.
Both Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore qualified for playoffs, Royal Challengers Bangalore lost to Hyderabad in the eliminator, Mumbai Indians played against Delhi Capitals (1st time finalists) and won the match by 5 wickets, this was also the fifth time Mumbai has won IPL.
99 is still the highest individual score of Ishan Kishan in IPL.
4. Punjab Kings vs. Rajasthan Royals, Abu Dhabi, October 30, 2020
Chris Gayle has played for Royal Challengers Bangalore from 2011 to 2017 and was major part of Bangalore plan of 'Play Bold' strategy, he has played some of the finest knocks in IPL while he was playing in Bangalore, so everyone was taken aback when he wasn't retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore and was picked up by Punjab Kings.
But franchises doesn't matter to 'Universe Boss' he still produced some of the great innings while he was part of Punjab, the match I am mentioning here was the second time both team has faced each othe, in the first match Punjab Kings were on the verge of winning the match but we're denied by a Rahul Tewatia special, you can read about it further here in details:
http://www.sicrick.in/2021/03/Cricket%20bhi%20ajib%20khel%20hain.html?m=1
In the 2nd leg, Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to field first, opener Mandeep Singh lost his wicket at the very first ball he faced, at 1/1 Gayle (99) and along with skipper and opener KL Rahul (46) scored a 120 runs partnership, after Rahul was dismissed, Nicholas Pooran (22) gave support to Gayle they made a quick partnership of 41 runs in just 20 balls, Gayle was the last man to dismissed when the score was 184/4, the stumps were rattled by Joffra Archer.
After this, Gayle who hardly shows his anger on the field, showed his frustration, he lost his control and in his anger he threw his bat, but it was just a moment, because in the very next moment a very composed Gayle shakes hands with Archer and carried his bat all the way to the pavilion, Rajasthan won the game quiet easily and with 7 wickets.
Both Rajasthan Royals (8th position) and Punjab Kings (6th position) failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Mumbai Indians played against Delhi Capitals (1st time finalists) and won the match by 5 wickets, this was also the fifth time Mumbai has won IPL.
Chris Gayle has scored 6 centuries and 31 half centuries in IPL and he has two innings of 99, the other 99* was an unbeaten one against his former team Royal Challengers Bangalore, his best individual score in IPL is 175* (when he was part of Bangalore) against Pune Warriors India and which is still the highest individual score from any batsmen in the IPL history.
5. Chennai Super Kings vs. Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai, 2022
It's not always that Chennai Super Kings started bad and ends bad but 2020 was one of the worst season of the team in yellow jersey (actually 2022 is more worst) the only positive they've got from that season was the opening batsman : Ruturaj Gaikwad.
In IPL 2021, Chennai won the IPL trophy for the 4th time and Gaikwad's performance as their opening batsman was one of many reasons that Chennai was able to lift the trophy again.
However, this all changed in 2022, Chennai started their tournament as defending champions but captain Dhoni decided to hand over the captain's role to Ravindra Jadeja before the tournament even started, Chennai started tournament badly with a defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders.
After this, Chennai had strings of defeat, Gaikwad was struggling and wasn't able to provide the support that was required and failure in opening also effecting overall batting performance of Chennai, a new bowling attack was also not helping Chennai's cause, after the initial struggle Jadeja handed captaincy back to Dhoni.
Ruturaj found his form alongside his partner Devon Conway in the 46th match of the tournament against Sun Risers Hyderabad, after winning the toss Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson decided to field first.
Ruturaj Gaikwad (99) and Devon Conway (85*) gave Chennai a stunning start with a 182 runs opening partnership (which was the highest opening partnership of IPL 2022 untill that QDK and KL Rahul's special 210 runs opening partnership in which the duo has played whole 20 overs), unfortunately Gaikwad got out before scoring a deserving century but his innings helped Chennai to score 202/2, Hyderabad tried but ultimately failed to chase the total and lost the match by 13 runs.
Unfortunately both Chennai and Hyderabad failed to qualify for playoffs.
Ruturaj has scored so far 1 century and 10 half-centuries, he is also the second fastest Indian batsman to complete 1000 runs in the tournament after Sachin Tendulkar, both has made those runs in just 31 innings.
Thanks for reading.
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