11 players with the most 'Man of the Match' awards in the first 11 IPL seasons

#3 Rohit Sharma and Yusuf Pathan - 16

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma, the third highest run-getter in IPL, is one of the three players to win the tournament four times. He started his journey with the Deccan Chargers and after a three-year stint with the Hyderabad based franchise, he shifted his base to Mumbai where he led the side to the title on three occasions.

Incidentally, Rohit Sharma's first man of the match came against the Mumbai Indians. He won the award for mainly for his bowling performance but not his exploits with the bat. Chasing down Deccan Chargers' 145 Mumbai Indians were on their way to the target when Adam Gilchrist took the gamble of introducing Rohit Sharma into the attack. The part-time off-spinner got four wickets in five balls including a hat-trick.

The hat-trick involved the wickets of Abhishek Nayar, Harbhajan Singh and half-centurion JP Duminy. He followed that up with the wicket of Saurabh Tiwary and at the end of his two overs, Mumbai tailenders were left with a tough ask of 34 runs off 12 balls. As a result of Rohit Sharma's bowling figures of 2-0-6-4, Deccan Chargers won the match by 19 runs.

Rohit's best performance with the bat came in 2012 for the Mumbai Indians against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. He made his only century against KKR and as a result of that, he helped his side post a total of 182. During the chase, Jacques Kallis tried his best by scoring a half-century but that was not enough to bail his team out and Mumbai won the match by 27 runs.

" to know which players equaled Rohit.

Yusuf Pathan

Yusuf Pathan's IPL journey is slightly similar to that of Rohit Sharma's. After winning his first title with the Rajasthan Royals, he went to Kolkata Knight Riders where he won two titles. Pathan was at his best when he played for the Jaipur based franchise. Of the 16 Man of the Match awards that he won, nine of them came during his three-year stay with the double Rs.

His first man of the match came when he helped Rajasthan chase down the record total set by Deccan Chargers. Andrew Symonds who was at his belligerent best scored an unbeaten 117 and helped DC set a target of 215 in front of the visitors.

In spite of a daunting target, Rajasthan and Pathan, in particular, were not intimidated by it as he scored a 28-ball 61 to set up the chase perfectly. As a result of his blitzkrieg, Rajasthan ended up making 217 which is still the highest total chased down in the history of IPL.

Two years after his heroics in Hyderabad, Yusuf Pathan almost pulled off a similar heist against Mumbai Indians. Thanks to half-centuries from Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu, Mumbai made a total of 212 in 20 overs. During the chase, Pathan single-handedly took the attack to the Mumbai Indians. He scored a 37-ball century but got out when RR needed 40 runs off 17 balls. Rajasthan might have lost the match but Yusuf won the hearts and also the man of the match.