On Thursday, May 11, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by nine wickets in the 56th match of the IPL 2023. They chased down a 148-run target in 13.1 overs, due to a masterclass from youthful left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal, who hit 98* off only 47 balls. Captain Sanju Samson chipped in with a solid 48* off 29 balls. From the start of the powerplay, both players were playing aggressively.
Jaiswal also had the quickest half-century in IPL history, scoring it in 13 balls. He also hit the century mark in the first three overs, bringing the team total to 54/1. They were on the edge of breaking into the list of the competition’s highest powerplay scores. The following three overs from Varun Chakravarthy and Nitish Rana, though, yielded only 24 runs.
On that point, here are the five best powerplay scores in IPL history.
5) PBKS v SRH, 2014 – 86 runs
The Punjab Kings (PBKS) won the toss and chose to bat first at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. They were set a target of 206 owing to Naman Ojha’s (79* off 36 balls) and David Warner’s (44* off 23 balls) masterclasses.
They batted strongly despite losing Virender Sehwag in the opening over. Wriddhiman Saha (52* off 23 balls) and Manan Vohra (29* off 11 balls) both produced some outstanding shots during their time with the bat. They targeted Moises Henriques’ overs, in which he allowed 36 runs in two overs. PBKS won by six wickets with eight balls remaining.
4) KTK v RR, 2011 – 87 runs
This list also includes the now-defunct IPL franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala. In a must-win game for both teams, they defeated the Rajasthan Royals by 97 runs. Ashok Menaria was the only player to score 30 runs in the innings.
KTK was rushing to meet the objective in order to lower its net run rate deficit. Brendon McCullum came out firing and blasted 29 runs off only 12 balls before getting dismissed in the fourth over. Brad Hodge didn’t waste any time either, scoring 25 runs off 12 balls. Parthiv Patel also contributed a useful 12-ball 19* in the opening six overs. With 12.4 overs to spare, they won the match.
3) CSK v MI, 2015 – 90 runs
In the much-anticipated IPL battle, the Mumbai Indians (MI) won the toss and opted to bat first. Despite a collapse in the top order, they managed to reach 183/7 in the first innings. Kieran Pollard (64) and Rohit Sharma (50) were the team’s main batting contributors.
CSK’s devastating combo of Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum inflicted the damage in response. Smith was the main contributor, scoring 50 runs off only 22 balls, while McCullum got 36 points on 15 balls. In the final three overs of the powerplay, they destroyed Malinga, Suchith, and Harbhajan. It culminated in a six-wicket victory with 20 balls remaining.
2) CSK v PBKS, 2014 – 100 runs
CSK supporters remember this game fondly, despite the fact that they were defeated. In Qualifier 2 of the IPL 2014 at the Wankhede, PBKS won the toss and chose to bat first. With Virender Sehwag’s century (122* off 58 balls), they set a target of 227 runs for last year’s finalists.
Suresh Raina delivered one of the most memorable IPL innings in a losing cause. After du Plessis was removed for a duck on the second delivery of the innings, Raina scored 87 runs off just 25 balls. He was, however, run out soon after the powerplay ended.
3) KKR v RCB, 2017 – 105 runs
KKR became only the second IPL team to score 100 runs on the powerplay. They won the toss and chose to bat first against RCB at Chinnaswamy Stadium, limiting the hosts to 158/4 in the first innings. Travis Head’s 75* off 47 balls was the only major performance in the first inning.
The Knight Riders retaliated with all weapons blazing. Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine annihilated the RCB bowling lineup from the start. Narine hit the then-fastest half-century in 15 balls, while Lynn needed 19 balls to achieve the mark. They won by 6 wickets with 29 balls to spare.