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

#1 Chris Gayle - 20

Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle is regarded by many as the best batsman to have ever player T20 cricket. His records in the shortest format of the game are second to none and some of them might even remain unbroken for quite a while. The Chris Gayle that played for Kolkata Knight Riders and the one that played for Royal Challengers Bangalore were altogether different.

After two quiet seasons with Kolkata, Chris Gayle went unsold in the 2011 mega-auction. Later in the season, he was signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore after Dirk Nannes was ruled out of the tournament due an injury. Bangalore won just one match out of their five matches and the inclusion of Gayle had an immediate impact on the franchise's fortunes.

In the very first game that he played for Royal Challengers, he smashed a century against his previous franchise - Kolkata Knight Riders. As a result of Gayle's 55-ball 102, Bangalore won the match comfortably with 9 wickets. For his phenomenal efforts, he was awarded the man of the match - first of the five MoM awards that he won in that season. Even after missing the first five matches played by the franchise, he went on to become the orange cap winner with 608 runs from 12 matches.