With Rajasthan Royals taking on Punjab Kings, all teams have played their first match in the league of IPL 2021. With over half the teams registering their first points, the other half will also be keen to start off their campaign. Today we take a look at all the heroes and their exceptional numbers that have stood out this week.
5/27
The RCB pacer Harshal Patel entered the history books by becoming the first bowler in IPL to claim a 5-wicket haul against the five-time champions Mumbai Indians, with three of his wickets coming in the last over and very close on picking up a hat-trick, the 30-year old is definitely someone to watch out for in the upcoming encounters.
172
After struggling last season not being able to hit even a single six, the Australian hard-hitter Glenn Maxwell hit one of the longest sixes in the history of the IPL. The Aussie batsman’s latest six came after 172 balls into the league from his time in Punjab Kings into the present.
9
Making a habit of ‘It's not important to win the first match, but important to win the championship’. Mumbai started their IPL 2021 campaign with a loss. This loss against RCB marked the 9th season opener loss but given the caliber and the class of the Mumbai side, it would just be a matter of time they bounce back.
2013
Amid much hype for the return of the Indian legends, Raina continued like he never missed a beat but unfortunately the CSK captain Dhoni got out for a duck against the Delhi Capitals. The last time both Raina and MS Dhoni got out in the same over was back in 2013 against the Rajasthan Royals.
39
Being one of the top run-scorers in the IPL, Suresh Raina didn't show time away from the game has affected him. Notching up another half-century, the Indian batsman is the third-joint in the list for most fifties in the Indian Premier League. He is now joint with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Any guesses on who holds the No.1 and 2 spots? Most of you would have guessed right, It is the Australian ‘Pocket dynamite’ David Warner with 48 fifties followed by the Indian southpaw- Shikhar Dhawan, who has 42 half-centuries to his name.
600
Dhawan created history by being the first player in IPL to hit 600 fours, Both David Warner and Virat Kohli lie below the opener and are no match for Dhawan as they are way behind in the tally, with almost 90 fours separating him and the second-placed David Warner.
5282
Dhawan continued his exploits in the Indian Premier League as he overtook David Warner to become the third-highest run-getter in the history of the league. The top two players ahead of him being Virat Kohli of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Suresh Raina of Chennai Super Kings, who have amassed 5911 runs and 5422 runs respectively.
36
Given the responsibility of bowling the first over of the second innings by the KKR skipper Eoin Morgan, Harbajan Singh opened the bowling on 36 occasions. The Indian spinner now holds the record for bowling the first over of the innings on most occasions.
100
Winning their first match of the campaign, KKR registered their 100th win in IPL en route to their win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. They are only the third team in the history of the league to achieve this feat. The other two teams being Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.
119
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson became the first-ever IPL skipper to score a ton on their captaincy debut and he also now holds the record for the highest score by a Rajasthan Royals player to date, beating the previous best of 107* by the all-rounder Ben Stokes.
80
This is the first time 2 Indian skippers being captains and wicket keepers have scored more than 80 runs in an IPL match With Sanju Samson being the high scorer between the duo with 119, while KL Rahul recorded 91 runs from 50 balls.
With all teams finishing the first round of the 2021 campaign, we have seen some exceptional players take the field, producing some extraordinary performances. Let us know how your team has fared and which of these stats impressed you the most.
