Mr Consistent – Three Batsmen with most consecutive IPL fifties

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has witnessed many consistent batsmen across the 12 editions. Very few batsmen managed to keep up both the strike rate and average going along at a considerable rate. Till date, only three players have scored fifties in five consecutive innings in the league’s history. The first of them was Virender Sehwag during the 2012 edition for the Delhi Daredevils.

Sehwag’s name in this list will be a surprise for many as the former Indian opener was known for his dashing batting but not for his consistency in the white-ball cricket. Sehwag’s scores in that record-breaking streak read: 57, 87*, 73, 63 and 73. He was also the first player to score 50+ runs in five consecutive innings in Twenty20 format.

No Indian has managed to replicate Sehwag’s feat even eight years after the record. Sehwag was also the only player with five consecutive fifties in the IPL during the first decade of the league. However, his record was levelled in 2018 by Jos Buttler while playing for the Rajasthan Royals. After a couple of failures with the bat in the middle-order, Buttler was promoted to open the batting during a rain-curtailed match.

In that very match, the English keeper-batsman smashed the fastest IPL fifty of the Royals. Buttler’s first three scores at that role were recorded as 67, 51 and 82. In the following two matches, Buttler smashed an unbeaten 95 and an unbeaten 94 to join the world record. He fell short of a record 6th consecutive fifty in his last outing during the season.

No list defining consistency in the IPL is incomplete without David Warner’s name. The Australian has been batting at a different level ever since he joined the Sunrisers Hyderabad. During his comeback season in 2019, the SRH opener smashed 70*, 51, 50, 67 and 57 in five successive innings. With those scores, Warner also became the first Australian with five consecutive T20 50+ scores.

(Stats as on September 6, 2020)