Taking charge: Who has the most centuries as IPL captains?
Leading an IPL team is no mean job. There are abundant things to take care of, not only on the field but also off the field. It is usually the best batsman of the team who takes the biggest responsibility. It is also important for him to take great care of his batting. Yet, only five players have managed to score a century while leading the team.
Another first for the Master Blaster
Sachin Tendulkar, in the 2011 season, registered the first-ever century by a captain in the IPL while leading the Mumbai Indians. He scored an unbeaten 100 from 66 balls against the new franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala at the Wankhede Stadium. Tendulkar reached the milestone on the last ball of MI’s innings which also was his maiden hundred in the T20 format.
Sehwag and Gilly join the party
A couple of weeks later, Virender Sehwag, leading the Delhi Daredevils, scored 119 off just 56 balls against the Deccan Chargers during a 176-run chase. Adam Gilchrist also scored a hundred while leading the Kings XI Punjab in the same season. He smashed 106 from 55 deliveries against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dharamsala. After three captains scored a ton in the 2011 edition, none managed to hit between 2012 and 2015.
Kohli and Warner raise the bar
However, Virat Kohli enrolled his name into this elite list in 2016 when he scored an unbeaten 100 off 63 balls against Gujarat Lions. Virat recorded it on Sachin Tendulkar’s birthday and had quite a few resemblances with Sachin’s IPL. Both the players got their maiden century in the T20 format with this knock which they reached on the last ball of the innings and later ended up on the losing side.
Kohli struck three more hundreds in the 2016 season against Rising Pune Supergiant, Gujarat Lions and Kings XI Punjab respectively. However, Sehwag’s 119 in 2011 edition still was the highest individual score by a skipper in the IPL. The record was finally broken in 2017 when the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s captain David Warner smashed 126 from only 59 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Both Warner and Sehwag’s knocks came at the RGIC Stadium in Hyderabad. Later in 2019, Kohli scored his 5th century in the IPL as skipper when he made 100 against KKR at the Eden Gardens. While Kohli scored his 5th hundred in the IPL as a captain, no other player has even more than one hundred while leading the team. In fact, all the players except Kohli collectively scored only four IPL hundreds as captain.
(Stats as on August 23, 2020)
