The in-form Jos Buttler scored yet another match-winning century in the 15th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), this time producing a 61-ball 103 against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) that helped Rajasthan Royals collect their fourth win of the season and jump to the second spot on the points table.
English wicketkeeper-batter Buttler is in the form of his life at the moment, having smashed a 68-ball 100 against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium on 2 April, also in a winning cause.
Rajasthan Royals opener Jos Buttler smashed a 61-ball 103 against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Sportzpics
Besides the two tons, Buttler also has an unbeaten 70 and a 54 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) respectively, and currently finds himself streets ahead of other batters in the run charts, having collected 375 runs at a whopping average and strike rate of 75 and 156.90, 139 more runs than KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer, who’s second on the list.
Scoring centuries in the shortest format is a feat that is as special as it can get, and it isn’t often that you witness a batter cross the three-figure mark in a format that lasts just 20 overs and requires a very different approach compared to the 50-over and five-day formats. Scoring multiple tons in the same tournament, IPL included, is a feat that is as rare as it can get.
Here’s a look at past instances of batters scoring multiple centuries in one IPL season:
Virat Kohli, 2016 (4)
Few batters have dominated an IPL season the way former India and RCB skipper Virat Kohli did in the 2016 season. Kohli led the Royal Challengers from the front with four tons to his name, two of which were scored against the Gujarat Lions (100 not out and 109) along with an unbeaten 108 against the Rising Pune Supergiant.
However, his most memorable that season was his 113 against the Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab), in which he produced a ton despite nursing several stitches in his left hand. In the process, Kohli became the first batter to score more than 800 runs in a single season, finishing just 27 short of the 1000-run mark (125 more than the second-placed David Warner).
Chris Gayle, 2011 (2)
The 2016 season wasn’t the only time RCB had finished runners-up in the IPL; they had also fallen short in the final hurdle in 2009 and 2011. West Indian batting legend Chris Gayle, who had a long and successful run with the Royal Challengers and was part of a batting lineup that included Kohli, AB de Villiers among others, played a key role in RCB’s run to the final in the 2011 season, finishing as the leading run-scorer that season with 608 runs against his name, including two centuries.
The Jamaican struck his maiden IPL ton at the Eden Gardens, obliterating the KKR attack with a 55-ball 102 that included 10 fours and seven sixes, before producing an even more destructive knock against the Punjab Kings two weeks later, this time scoring 107 not out off just 49 deliveries.
Hashim Amla
South African run-machine Hashim Amla, who retired from all formats after the 2019 ICC World Cup, became the third batter in the IPL to score multiple tons in a single IPL season, scoring 104 against both Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Lions in 2017 though he was unbeaten in the former — which also happened to be his maiden ton in the leading T20 league.
Amla’s efforts couldn’t quite propel the Punjab Kings to a second final in three years as the Chandigarh-based side finished fifth on the points table. The South African stalwart though, was among the top run-scorers that season, finishing sixth with 420 runs with an average of 60 — the highest that season.
Shane Watson
After a couple of poor seasons at RCB in 2016 and 2017, Shane Watson was back with a bang after being picked up by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the 2018 season. The Australian all-rounder finished the fifth-highest run-scorer that season with 555 runs at an average and strike rate of 39.64 and 154.59 respectively, while also chipping in with the ball, collecting six wickets that season.
Watson scored 106 against his former team Rajasthan Royals in Pune midway through the season before starring with an unbeaten 117 in the final against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium, making a cakewalk of the 179-run target and helping the Super Kings complete a victorious comeback into the IPL after a two-year absence with their third title.
Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan scored two centuries in a space of three days in the 13th edition of the IPL — which was played entirely in the UAE for the first time. ‘Gabbar’ smashed 101 and 106 — both unbeaten — against Chennai and Punjab. While the first one helped Delhi Capitals beat the MS Dhoni-led Chennai by five wickets, the second one went in vain as Dhawan barely found any support from his teammates, with Delhi posted just 164 on the board that was easily overhauled by Punjab.
Shikhar Dhawan brought up two centuries inside three days while playing for the Delhi Capitals in the 2020 season. Sportzpics
Dhawan’s roaring form that season though, did play a key role in helping Delhi reach their maiden IPL final. Under Shreyas Iyer’s leadership, Delhi finished second on the points table in the league stage, and would eventually finish runners-up after a five-wicket loss to Mumbai in the final. As for Dhawan, he would finish the second-highest run-scorer (618) that season behind Kings XI captain KL Rahul (670).
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