Five of the best in the IPL

Five of the best in the IPL

Five editions of the Indian Premier League have provided plenty of excitement. We have picked one outstanding batting performance from each edition that had fans on the edge of their seats.

IPL 1: Brendon McCullum of KKR welcomed the IPL with a dazzling performance against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The New Zealand star raced to an unbeaten 158 off just 73 balls in the first match of the cash-rich league. Thirteen towering sixes including sweep, slog, pull, drive and even the DilScoop featured in McCullum’s whirlwind innings. The Kiwi show was special not only because of the stage on which it was performed, but for the way he unleashed a brutal assault on the experienced pace trio of Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and Jacques Kallis.

IPL 2: Plundering Pandey RCB's Manish Pandey became the first Indian to score a century in the IPL after he smashed an unbeaten 114 off 73 balls against the Deccan Chargers on a seaming Centurion wicket in South Africa. The innings showcased the essence of timing in a T20 game. On-the-up cover drives and front foot cuts crunched from the meat of the blade were out of the top draw. What was shaping up to be an innings of a perfectionist suddenly changed to a frenetic T20 show with sizzling sweeps and lofted drives near the 100-run mark.

IPL 3: Pathan Power Yusuf Pathan of Rajasthan Royals scored the fastest hundred in IPL history by plundering 100 off just 37 balls against the Mumbai Indians. It was one of the best knocks in the annals of T20 because it exploded out of nowhere with the Royals tottering. Pathan was in a murderous mood as he whacked everything low full toss, yorker, good length ball, full outside the off stump and down the leg delivery to the fence or over it. Eight towering sixes featured in the ferocious knock, which ultimately went in vain as Rajasthan lost by four runs.

IPL 4: Chris Gayle (RCB) blasted nine humungous sixes on his way to 107 off 49 balls against Kings XI Punjab. Hitting was at its clinical best during the Jamaican's extraordinary innings. It appeared that the fans needed some cover at the stands as Gayle kept sending ball after ball over the fence. The Punjab bowlers threw everything at Gayle but nothing bore fruit.

IPL 5: Royal Rahane Ajinkya Rahane’s (RR) unbeaten 103 off 60 balls, the first hundred of last year’s IPL, against Royal Challengers Bangalore was a supreme innings. Inside out over extra cover for a six against the doosra of legendary Muthiah Muralitharan underlined the quality of batting. Rahane was in the mood as he dispatched six boundaries in one over to six different parts of the ground. From crisp cover drives to power-packed hits, Rahane exhibited an array of shots. The youngster didn’t put a foot wrong against some top-class bowlers such as Muralitharan, Daniel Vettori and Zaheer Khan.