Earliest IPL century milestone set by Sooryavanshi and Gayle

Sooryavanshi became the third player to reach 100 runs before the halfway point in an IPL innings.

IPL season runs leaders Only four batters have ever scored more runs in a single IPL season, with Virat Kohli’s 973 runs in 2016 still standing at the top. Sooryavanshi contributed 504 of those runs during powerplays this season, placing him ahead of Abhishek Sharma, who managed 369. Another record saw David Warner collect 467 runs in 2016 at a strike rate of 150.16. ## Earliest IPL centuries in innings The question of who reached 100 runs earliest in an IPL innings was raised after Sooryavanshi was dismissed for 97 from the final ball of the eighth over during Rajasthan Royals’ eliminator against Sunrisers in Chandigarh last week. Had Sooryavanshi hit the ball for four or, more likely, a six, he would have broken the record as well. As it stands, the earliest century in an IPL innings was achieved at 8.5 overs by Gayle for Royal Challengers against Pune Warriors in Bengaluru in 2013, en route to his IPL-record 175 not out. ## Other quick IPL centuries Just two other batters have reached a century before the halfway point of an IPL innings. Adam Gilchrist achieved this off the last ball of the tenth over for Deccan Chargers against Mumbai Indians in Mumbai in 2008. Sooryavanshi appears again in third place, having reached 100 from the second ball of the 11th over against Gujarat Titans in Jaipur in 2025. ## Top six ducks in Tests Four of Ireland’s top six batters were dismissed for ducks in the first innings against New Zealand. There have been four previous occasions where a Test innings featured four ducks among the top six, but Ireland’s instance in Belfast last week was unique because all four ducks were credited to seamer Nathan Smith. ## Other instances of top six ducks in Tests This also occurred last year in West Indies’ disastrous 27 all out against Australia in Kingston in 2025, with Mitchell Starc responsible for three of the ducks in the very first over. The other three historic instances were India against England at Headingley in 1952, England vs Australia in Sydney in 1895, and Australia against England at Old Trafford in 1888. ## No. 7 debut centuries in Tests A batter was dismissed two runs short of becoming the ninth No. 7 to score a century on Test debut. The list is topped by Sri Lanka’s Romesh Kaluwitharana, who struck an unbeaten 132 against Australia in Colombo in 1992. Foxcroft’s innings was the highest for New Zealand on debut from No. 7, surpassing Luke Ronchi’s 88 against England at Headingley in 2015. ## No. 8 debut centuries in Tests However, there have been 11 debut centuries from even lower in the order in Tests, and four of those were by New Zealanders batting at No. 8 - Bruce Taylor, Scott Styris, Jimmy Neesham and Tom Blundell. ## Mushfiqur Rahim’s ground records Mushfiqur Rahim completed 2000 Test runs at the Shere Bangla Stadium in Mirpur in November 2025, having now amassed 2107 runs there. At the turn of the century, only Graham Gooch had 2000 Test runs at a single ground with 2015 at Lord’s, but Mahela Jayawardene now leads with 2921 in 27 Tests at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. ## Leading Test run-scorers at single grounds Jayawardene also holds second place with 2382 runs in Galle. Besides Mushfiqur, the only current player likely to move up is England’s Joe Root, who had 2166 runs at Lord’s before the start of this week’s match against New Zealand. Other players with over 2000 Test runs at a single ground include Kumar Sangakkara (2312 at the SSC), Angelo Mathews (2253 in Galle), Jacques Kallis (2181 in Cape Town) and Dimuth Karunaratne (2040 in Galle). Dinesh Chandimal has made 1979 runs in Galle. ## Stats assistance Shiva Jayaraman from the stats team assisted with some of the above answers. ## Questions and feedback Use the feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to submit stats and trivia questions.