IPL has been synonymous with big hits. The pace of the shortest format of the game has taken another turn with the advent of the tournament. No one had ever dreamt that someday a century would be made in just 30 balls.
The man who holds this record, Chris Gayle, has five centuries to his name including a colossal 175 runs off 66 balls in a match against Pune Warriors in 2013, the top score in any form of T20 cricket, let alone the IPL.
However, there are quite a few batsmen who have amassed over 2500 runs but are yet to score a century. Despite this, they have been match-winners and the most dependable batsmen for their respective teams. Here are a few of such players who have heaps of runs with no IPL centuries:
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1. Gautam Gambhir:
The aggressive left-hand batsman has been an asset to Kolkata Knight riders, performing the dual job of being a great skipper and an opening batsman. In his first two initial years with Delhi Daredevils, he was the only player from the team to cross 1000 runs in the tournament.
He was bought for $ 2.4 million by KKR in 2011 and was also made the captain the same year. The turning point in his career was when he led KKR to their maiden IPL title in 2012 .
Gambhir also scored 6 half centuries that year and became the second fastest player to cross 2000 runs in the history of the game. His highest score of 93 from 51 balls came against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2012 on a slow pitch at the Eden Gardens.
With his match-winning knock of 90 versus Sunrisers Hyderabad in this season’s eighth match, he posted his 28th half century in the tournament, the most by any player. Gambhir is third on the list of all-time leading run-scorers behind Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma.
2. Virat Kohli:
RCB's Virat Kohli, who is currently rated as one of the best limited-overs batsman, has surprisingly not made a T20 century yet. The RCB opener has 3291 runs in eight years of his IPL career.
He made a blistering knock of 99 from 58 balls in a match against DD in 2013 at the Feroz Shah Kotla before Kedar Jadhav ran him out. Kohli has been instrumental in helping his team cruise to victory on various occasions.
Finishing his first season of the IPL with an average of 15.00, he slowly climbed up the ladder to record an average of 45.90 in the 2015 edition, amassing 505 runs in 16 matches. The Delhi-born right-hander who has 25 centuries playing 161 matches in One Day Internationals is yet to open his T20 account in terms of three-figure scores.
3. Robin Uthappa:
Uthappa, a consistent performer in the IPL, has scored over 3,000 IPL runs in 123 matches. Playing for four different franchises in eight years of the tournament's existence, he has always been a key player for the teams he has represented.
In the opening edition in 2008, he played for the Mumbai Indians, making 320 runs in 14 matches and came up with some match-winning knocks. He was picked by RCB in the next season, where he played a similar role for the team and also scored the then second fastest fifty in 2010, in just 21 balls against Kings XI Punjab.
He was then purchased by Pune Warriors for $2.1 million in the 2011 season. Although the Warriors were disappointing in both the seasons they played, Uthappa made a significant contribution to the team.
The Karnataka batsman's turning point in the IPL was when he was roped in to play for KKR in season seven. He secured a T20 record of having 40 plus scores in eight consecutive games in 2014 and also won the Orange Cap for making 660 runs.
Robin Uthappa made his IPL highest of 83 not out in 51 balls in a match against RCB. Alongside skipper Gambhir, Uthappa forms one of the most successful pairs in the league without a century to their names.
4. Mahendra Singh Dhoni:
MS Dhoni, who is dubbed as one of the best finishers in the world, is another big player on this list who is yet to make a T20 century. The former Chennai Super Kings skipper has come to his team's rescue on various occasions with his unbeaten knocks.
The star player, who usually comes in to bat down the order, has 3009 runs in his IPL career without scoring a ton.
His highest knock of 70 off 40 balls laced with six sixes and three fours was against RCB in 2011. Known for his explosive batting skills under pressure, the Ranchi-born cricketer has smashed the most number of sixes in this list of batsmen, and also has a strike rate of 139.56.
In the 118 innings that he has played in the tournament, Dhoni has scored 15 half centuries.
5. Shikhar Dhawan:
With over 2500 IPL runs in the bag, Shikhar Dhawan is another player on this list who does not have a century in T20s. Starting off his IPL career with Delhi Daredevils in 2008, the left-hander became their third highest run-getter, scoring 340 runs in the 14 matches he played.
The southpaw had a brief stint with Mumbai Indians and then moved to Deccan Chargers for the 2011 season. His knock of 95 from 57 balls against KXIP in the season remains his highest score in IPL cricket till date.
Donning the Sunrisers Hyderabad jersey since 2013, he has played many match-winning innings, one of the best being his knock of 73 against Mumbai Indians in 2013. The team's ex-skipper has 21 half-centuries in the tournament so far.
However, he was in poor form during the recent World T20 and has carried it to the IPL as well, with scores of 8, 6 and 2 in the first three matches of the tournament this year.
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