Yes, cricket is indeed a team sport and it requires a whole hearted effort and all around performances by whole team to achieve success, but we've also seen in the past that how an overall performance from an individual cricketer had impacted the results of a match.
In past we've seen how a batsman made majority of the runs for his team, his individual efforts proved to be not only his best performance but also it helped the team to achieve the results team required.
In IPL we have seen that how an Individual batter took the game away by his unbelievable performances, let us just check Top 5 highest individual score in the IPL :
KL Rahul's 132 vs.RCB in Dubai on 24 September 2020
Rahul has played some gem of the knocks for Punjab, but this one is among the best captain's knock in the IPL.
In 2020, world was mostly inside their homes due to Corona virus pandemic and their was also no chance of starting IPL in India, because everyday the numbers of affected patients were increasing so BCCI decided to postpone the tournament untill further notice.
Later on, it was decided that the tournament will start and will be played in UAE with all the required precautions.
Rahul was made captain of Punjab and it was a surprise for many, Rahul showed in this season that he can indeed do justice for the big promotion, although he didn't won many matches he was the leading run getter of the season with 670 runs he accumulated in the 14 matches he played with the average of 55.83, 6 half centuries and one century, he also donned the role of Wicket Keeper and a fielder whenever it was required for the team.
It was the 6 match of the season when Punjab played against Kohli led Banglore, Rahul and Mayank Agarwal (26) and gave a good start of 57 runs, despite losing Agarwal and his partners at regular intervals it was Rahul who kept milking runs for his team's.
Rahul was completely severe against his former team and he smashed 14 boundaries and 7 sixes in a record 69 ball 132 (not out), such was the carnage that even Dale Steyn ended with bad figures (4 overs, 0 maidens, 0 wickets and 57 runs), Punjab ended their innings with a massive 206/3.
In reply, Bangalore were bowled out for 109 runs with both leg spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin picked 3 wickets each, Punjab won by 97 runs.
Ab Devilliers vs. Mumbai Indians at Wankhede, on May 10, 2015
Few years back I use to wonder what could be an ideal score to defend in Wankhede this historical ground had seen so many successful chases in history, every team would have love to chase on this ground, no score seem to be safe here, for me this is among those ground which are infamous for being deathbed of the bowlers.
Bangalore (despite being blessed with some of the best players in the game) has always faced tough competition against Mumbai Indians, whenever this two sides met in the past we've seen that runs came in galore, records tumbled and new records were created.
In IPL 2015, when this two fierce rivals locked horn with each other, almost everybody was waiting for the big guns to fire big, Bangalore wins the toss and elected to bat first.
Chris Gayle (13), the charismatic opener from carribbean got out cheaply, but after this it was a completely AB- Kohli partnership which ruined the day for Mumbai Indians.
Kohli (82), played as second fiddle as at the other end De Villiers was at his agressive best, he took the game away from Mumbai's grasp.
Ab De Villiers thrashed every bowler of Mumbai and he scored 133 not out in 59 balls with 19 boundaries and 4 sixes, only Malinga has the best figures at the end of the match (4-0-27-1) , Bangalore were able to score 235/1 and despite efforts from Lendl Simmons (68) and Kieron Pollard, Mumbai ended on 196/7 in their 20 overs, Bangalore win by 39 runs.
Quinton De Kock against Kolkata Knight Riders at the DY Patil stadium on May 18, 2022
In 2022, BCCI decided to expand IPL by bringing in two new franchises Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants.
Lucknow's team is owned by RPSG group and it's principal owner is Sanjeev Goenka , who earlier owned Rising Pune Super Giants team in IPL, the team's captained by KL Rahul and coached by Andy Flower and have Gautam Gambhir as it's mentor both Lucknow and Gujarat had a sensational debut in IPL.
Lucknow faced Kolkata in the 66th match of the season, it was a must win match for Kolkata, Rahul won the toss and elected to bat first, Quinton played a aggressive knock and didn't let Kolkata bowlers to make any sort of comeback.
Quinton (140 not out), after getting an early reprieve didn't put any foot wrong and kept smashing bowl at every directions, seeing his partner at his Brute best, Rahul (68 not out) happily played second fiddle, both the batters carried their bat through their stipulated 20 overs and scored 210/0 in 20 overs this is the currently the highest opening partnership in IPL history.
In reply, Kolkata lost both of their openers at the score of 9 runs, skipper Shreyas Iyer (50) and Nitish Rana (42) set a important 56 runs made partnership, then Iyer and Sam Billings (36) made 66 runs in their partnership.
Dismissals of Iyer and Billings put Kolkata in a spot of bother and Russell's cheap dismissal wasn't helping Kolkata's cause, all seemed lost until Rinku Singh's started hitting.
At 16.4 overs Kolkata lost the wicket of Russell and the score was 150/6, in next 20 balls, Kolkata need to do unthinkable, they need to score 61 runs to win the match and keep their chances of reaching to the playoffs alive, Rinku Singh decided to play his natural game and he started whacking every Lucknow bowlers.
Rinku(40) and Sunil Narine (21 not out) made a quick partnership of 58 runs, ,Marcus Stoinis who was bowling the final over of the match was defending 2 runs in last 2 balls of the match dismissed a well set Rinku Singh and with the final delivery of the match he got the wicket of Umesh Yadav, Lucknow won by 2 runs.
Brandon McCullum vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore at Bangaluru on 18 April, 2008
On 18th April, 2008 BCCI started India's biggest cricket tournament which also changed the structure of international cricket over the years and Baz started the tournament with a blazing innings which showed how the tournament will progress in future.
In the first match of the tournament, Bangalore won the toss and elected to field first, they didn't even realise what was going to hit him, the toss was the only thing that went right from them.
It was a 'night of feast' for Brandon McCullum, whatever was thrown at him he made runs out of them, his innings was glorious, he single handedly put his team on driving seat of the match, he scored 158 runs in 73 balls which was laced with 10 boundaries and 13 big hits, Bangalore was never over the shock treatment they received and they were bowled out for 82 runs, Kolkata won by thumping 140 runs.
Chris Gayle vs. Pune Warriors India at Bengaluru on 23 April 2013
I sometimes wonder why Chris Gayle is known as The Universe Boss, is it only because he has played in every T 20 league of the globe or is it because of the amount of runs he has scored against every opponent he has faced.
Gayle has scored 14562 runs in 463 T20 matches he has played and he has played for 28 teams it's hard to fathom the success the southpaw has in the limited overs game, however it is still a fact that is hard to avoid, Chris Gayle's feat will be untouchable for a long time.
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, this knock which we are discussing today is brutal.
In Chinnaswamy stadium, Pune won the toss and elected to field first, Chris along with his opening partner Dilshan launched a brutal attack against Pune bowling attack, the opening partnership was of 167 when Dilshan was dismissed for 33.
After this huge opening partnership Chris made partnerships with Virat (11) Ab Devilliers (31 off just 8 balls with 3 sixes and 3 boundaries) Saurabh Tiwari (2), but it was Gayle who knocked the air out of their opponents by scoring a whopping 175 runs in 66 balls, with 13 boundaries and 17 sixes, Bangalore made 263/5 in 20 overs, Pune only managed to get to 133/9 in 20 overs and Bangalore won the match by 133 runs.
After 9 years the record is still unbroken.
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