IPL 2018: 5 players who could score the first century of the season

Scoring a century in the IPL is a matter of pride for any batsman, and scoring the first century of a tournament is like the cherry on the cake. Brendon McCullum was the first to score a century in the IPL in its very first edition of 2008.

A total of 47 centuries have been scored by 30 different batsmen in the last ten seasons of the IPL with Chris Gayle leading the lot with five hundred. Virat Kohli is not too far behind the Caribbean and is leading the Indian pack on the list with four centuries.

However, not a single century has been scored so far this season. While there are many talented batsmen capable of scoring centuries, it will be interesting to see who becomes the first person to hit a hundred.

Right on this note, let us look at five players who are most likely to hit the first hundred.

---

5) Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma was surrounded by a large amount of criticism when he failed to perform during the first few games of the tournament. But he found his scoring touch in MI's last match against RCB and started looking like a player we all wanted to see.

The MI captain is one of the few players to score 4000+ IPL runs and is in the third spot on the list of the all-time leading IPL run scorers. He has bagged one century in the IPL and also has 33 half centuries to his name. He bats with an impressive strike rate of 131.30 with 109 being his highest score.

The Indian opener narrowly missed out on the first century of the tournament with his brilliant inning of 94 against RCB. However, now that he is seemingly back to his best, we might see him scoring the hundred soon.

4) Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan is one of the best openers in the limited overs cricket.

Regarded as one of the best openers in the limited overs cricket, Shikhar Dhawan is SRH's main man in the absence of their captain, David Warner.

Shikhar Dhawan started the iPL season brilliantly and scored 130 runs in the opening three games of the tournament. He also registered oa half-century to his name this season and will be looking forward to clinching the orange cap this term after narrowly missing out on it in the last few seasons.

The Delhi-born batsman might not have scored a century in T20 cricket till now, but he has all the talents in the world to break his duck this season.

3) KL Rahul

KL Rahul registered the fastest IPL half-century to his name.

Eyebrows were raised when KXIP signed KL Rahul for a whopping price of ₹11 Crores in the IPL auctions. But the former RCB batsmen was quick to shut down his critics and played some brilliant knocks at the top.

KL Rahul has scored 135 runs in the last three games this season and is the leading run-scorers for KXIP. He scored a quick fire half centuries in just 14 deliveries against DD, which is the fastest fifty in the history of the tournament.

Although KL Rahul has never scored a hundred in the IPL, he is among the few players to score an international century across all formats of the game.

The KXIP opener is in a fine power-hitting form this season and it won't be surprising if he becomes the first centurion of this season.

2) Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli nearly scored a hundred against MI.

Regarded as one of the most talented batsmen of his generation, Virat Kohli has performed consistently for RCB since the formation of the team in 2008.

The Delhi-born batsman is the all-time leading run scorer in the IPL and has scored 4619 runs at an average of 38.17. He has scored four centuries in the IPL and also has 32 half centuries registered to his name,

The RCB captain was the winner of the Orange Cap in 2016 and also holds the record of scoring the most number of runs (973) in a single IPL season. He is leading the race for the Orange Cap this season as well and will be looking forward to adding one more feather on his cap.

Virat Kohli nearly scored the first century of the tournament with his unbeaten 92 against MI. But with the most part of the season still left to play, he might achieve the milestone in the other games to come.

1) Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle has the most number

Kings XI Punjab faced a lot of criticism when they decide to splash a huge amount of cash to acquire the services of Chris Gayle for IPL 2018.

Chris Gayle was considered to be past his prime and has been tipped to struggle during the tournament. But he went out strong and ripped apart CSK's bowling line-up in his first game of the tournament. He scored a quickfire 63 runs in 33 balls and smashed the ball out of the fence four times.

The former RCB opener is one of the most successful batsmen in the IPL history and has 3689 runs to his name. He holds the record of hitting the most number of sixes in the IPL history and was also the Orange Cap winner in the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

The West Indian has the most number of IPL centuries (5) to his name. Also, after finding his scoring rhythm in his first game for the Lions, Chris Gayle is now among the favorites to hit the first century this year.