Some Amazing IPL records

1. Do you know that Sachin Tendulkar and Dwayne Smith hold the record for the highest 1st wicket partnership in IPL. Sachin and Smith scored an unbeaten 163 while chasing a target of 163 against the Rajasthan Royals in IPL-5 at the SMS Stadium, Jaipur and it was only the first time in the IPL history that Rajasthan Royals lost the match when defending a target of 160 or more. Before this, they have successfully defended the target of 160 or more for 12 times.

Mumbai Indians batsman Sachin Tendulkar (L) talks with teammate Dwayne Smith during the IPL Twenty20 cricket match between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians at the Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur on May 20, 2012

2. Do you know which team holds the record for the highest margin of victory by runs in an IPL match? Yes, it’s the Kolkata Knight Riders. KKR defeated the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 140 runs in the first match of the IPL. It was the same match when the Kiwi batsman Brendon McCullum smashed an unbeaten 158 runs of just 73 balls which also serves as the highest individual record by a player in the IPL.

3. Do you know that Amit Mishra, Shane Warne, Manish Pandey and Parthiv Patel share a common record between them? All the above listed players holds the record for the maximum no. of ducks (7) in the IPL history. While both Shane Warne and Amit Mishra have played 29 innings each, Manish Pandey and Parthiv Patel have played 37 and 52 innings respectively.

4. Do you know which player holds the record for the highest strike rate in the IPL? No, it’s not Chris Gayle; it’s our very own Viru. Virender Sehwag with a whooping strike rate of 167.31 in 66 innings is above Chris Gayle who has a strike rate of 161.63 in 43 innings.

5. Do you know that Rajasthan Royals hold the record for having the oldest Indian and foreign player in IPL 6. Rajasthan Royals recently signed the leg spinner Pravin Tambe for the IPL 6. Tambe, who is currently 42 years old, earned his maiden call up for the Mumbai team a few weeks ago for the Vijay Hazare trophy and now Royals have signed this player. Life is surely starting at 42 for Tambe. In the overseas players category, left-arm chinaman Brad Hogg of Australia is the oldest foreign player playing in the IPL 6. Hogg, who is currently 42 years and 58 days, made his debut for Royals in IPl 5.

Brad Hogg of RR is the oldest overseas player in the IPL

6.New entrants Sunrisers Hyderabad (SH) have the youngest squad in IPL 6 with an average age of 25.69 years. Sunrisers skipper Kumar Sangakkara (35 years, 154 days) is their oldest player while uncapped batsman Hanuma Vihari, who was a member of the World Cup winning India Under-19 squad, is the youngest at 19 years, 174 days. On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders have the oldest squad. The average age of the KKR squad is 28.52 years and it has 11 players in their 30s – the most among all the IPL teams. After KKR follows RR and RCB. Maharashtra batsman Vijay Zol (18 years and 133 days), who plays for RCB, is the youngest player in the cash-rich league.

7. Sunrisers Hyderabad, previously known as Deccan Chargers, have a very bad record when they are playing in their home ground i.e at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket stadium in Hyderabad. The Hyderabad team, who have played 19 matches at this venue, have won only 4. They lost 7 consecutive matches at Hyderabad in the inaugural IPL edition. It took them 9 matches to get their first victory at their home ground but after that victory, they lost 5 consecutive matches there.

8. Matches between Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore have been the ones to watch out for, in terms of runs and wickets. Twelve matches(till IPL 5) between the two teams have produced 3750 runs, the most runs involving any two teams, and 150 wickets, again the highest involving any pair of teams.

9. Pakistani Cricketer Mohammad Yousuf and South African cricketer Ashwell Prince were the two players who went unsold in the first IPL auction. Mohammad Yousuf didn’t receive any bids in the auctions because he was initially associated with the rebel Indian Cricket league(ICL). He later on decided to switch to IPL but the ICL decided to sue him; as a result of the court battle, no team wanted to take risk of bidding for him.

10. Sachin Tendulkar, who won the Orange Cap in IPL 3 by scoring 618 runs in 15 matches at an outstanding strike rate of 132.61, smashed just 3 sixes that year, the least by any Orange Cap winner in the 5 seasons and 86 boundaries, the highest by any Orange Cap holder. On the other hand, the Orange Cap holder of last year, Chris Gayle, who made 733 runs in IPL 5, smashed 59 DLF Maximums, the highest by any Orange Cap winner, and 46 boundaries, the least by any Orange cap winner.