Most Man-of-the-match awards in IPL

Seven Indian Premier League seasons have ended and the eighth one has just begun. As the Kolkata Knight Riders get ready to defend their crown, other teams will be doing their best to make sure that doesn’t happen.

In order to do that, the big names have to step up and perform on a consistent basis.So here we take a look at such consistent performers who have regularly performed a stellar role in their’s side victory and in the process being named the Man of the Match:

#6 MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina (14)

MS Dhoni, the skipper of Chennai Super Kings has got 14 Man of the Match awards in his IPL career since 2008. Meanwhile, Suresh Raina, his deputy, has won the same number of awards as well.

Dhoni has finished several matches for the Chennai Super Kings and won them single handedly. He has always been a threat in the death overs. Raina, on the other hand, has provided a lot of stability in the middle overs.

Dhoni got 2 awards in 2008, one in 2009, two in 2010, one in 2011, one in 2012, three in 2013 and one in 2014, and the remaining over the past three years, with a few of them coming this year with the Chennai Super Kings.

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#4 David Warner (15)

Despite not playing in the tournament this year, David Warner still remains fourth on the list of the most man of the match awards won in the IPL. If he played this year, he might have just gone on top.

The ex Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper has led from the front and has given his side the best possible start with the bat on a number of occasions. He has decimated oppositon bowling attacks time and again and smashed bowlers all around the park.

His captaincy has been great too, having led SRH to the title in 2016. Unfortunately, due to the Sandpaper Gate incident this year, he did not play.

#2 Yusuf Pathan and Rohit Sharma (16)

It would be interesting to know that out of his 16 awards, he received seven of those in the first two IPLs alone for the Rajasthan Royals.

Pathan played the first three seasons for Rajasthan Royals and then was bought by the Knight Riders in 2011, before moving to the Sunrisers Hyderabad. He played 43 matches for Rajasthan scoring 1011 runs at 26.60 with one century and six fifties.

For KKR in four seasons, Pathan scored 1077 runs in 63 matches at 26.92. His strike rate for RR was 161.24 whereas for KKR it is only 138.62.

Totally, he got nine Man of the Match awards for Rajasthan Royals and the remaining for the Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, too has the same number of man of the match awards, with most of them coming with the Mumbai Indians. He has also led them to three titles in 2013, 2015, and 2017.

#2 AB de Villiers (18)

Just a few years ago, AB de Villiers did not feature on this list at all. However, a lot can change in a few years.

AB de Villiers has been one of RCB's best batsman over the years and has single-handedly won numerous matches for them.

His ability to take on the world's best bowlers and smash them all around the park with such ease has been a joy to watch for spectators all around the world. He has provided the much-needed stability in the middle-order for RCB and has been the glue that has stuck their batting line-up together.

He announced his retirement from international cricket shortly after IPL 2018.

#1 Chris Gayle (20)

The most number of Man of the Match awards in the history of Indian Premier League has been bagged by Chris Gayle. Out of 20 awards, Gayle got 14 of those in just three seasons – six in 2011 (record for most in a season), five in 2012 and three in 2013.

He was the highest run-getter in the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Gayle didn’t play the first season. The second and third seasons, he played for the Kolkata Knight Riders and the rest for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

In 2018, he was bought by the Kings XI Punjab.

For KKR, Gayle scored just 463 runs in 16 matches at 30.86 with a S/R of 141.59 with 2 fifties. Most of the remaining runs came for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He made a huge impact with the bat for KXIP as well, scoring a century and two half-centuries.

He received the only Man of the Match award for KKR in the second season.