3 batters who won Player of the Match with a strike rate of 100 or less in IPL history ft. Shubman Gill

IPL is one of the most competitive tournaments in the sports world. The Indian Premier League has brought about a revolution in the way cricket is played. Initially, bowlers dominated cricket, but in the T20 era, batters have destroyed bowling units regularly.

With the introduction of the Impact Player rule, fans have witnessed such grand scores in IPL which were rare even in ODI cricket at one point in time. Teams have been regularly touching the 200-run mark in IPL matches.

Generally, when a batter wins the Man of the Match award in the league, he has a strike rate in the range of 150. When a batter has a strike rate of less than 100, it is considered to be a poor effort in the T20 format. However, there have been three such rare instances in IPL history, where a batter took the Man of the Match award home despite having a strike rate of 100 or lower.

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#1 Shubman Gill won Man of the Match award with strike rate of 93.48 in IPL 2025

Shubman Gill scored 43 runs off 46 deliveries (Image: IPLT20.com/BCCI)

Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill has set a new record for the lowest strike rate by a specialist batter to have won the Man of the Match award in IPL 2025. He had a strike rate of 93.48 when he scored 43 runs off 46 balls against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on May 6.

Gill opened the batting with Sai Sudharsan. The conditions were challenging to bat as MI's pacers received help from the conditions. Sudharsan lost his wicket for five runs, but Gill remained in the middle and anchored the chase of 156 runs.

The GT captain smacked three fours and one six before eventually losing his wicket for 43 runs from 46 balls. Jasprit Bumrah cleaned him up with a classic delivery. Still, GT went on to win the match on the last ball, and Gill received the award for his knock, three catches, and impressive captaincy.

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#2 Hanuma Vihari

Former SunRisers Hyderabad batter Hanuma Vihari is the only other player to have won the Man of the Match award with a strike rate of less than 100. It came in a match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru back in 2013.

SRH restricted RCB to 130/8 in 20 overs in Hyderabad. Chasing 131, SRH kept losing wickets at regular intervals. However, number four batter Vihari fought like a lone warrior till the end, remaining not out on 44 runs from 46 balls.

Vihari hit only two fours in his knock, where he had a strike rate of 95.65. His efforts helped SRH tie the game and win it via Super Over in the end. He was the only SRH batter to score more than 25 runs in that clash.

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#3 MS Dhoni

Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni won the Man of the Match award for his match-winning 33-ball 33 against the Delhi Daredevils in the inaugural season back in 2008. DD scored 187/5 in 20 overs, and CSK reached 188/6 on the last ball.

Stephen Fleming and Albie Morkel scored 30s at a better strike rate. However, the decision makers gave the award to Dhoni because of the way he stabilized the innings while batting at number three. Dhoni hit three fours to help CSK win.