IPL 2018: Five unique statistical records achieved thus far

The first half of the 11th edition of the IPL witnessed the domination of the chasing teams with the big totals getting chased down on most occasions. The defending champions Mumbai Indians were placed in the bottom half of the table with only two wins in the first seven matches while CSK, Sunrisers and Kings XI Punjab occupied the top three spots with five wins in seven matches.

Here we look at five unique records that were recorded during the first half of the season:

End of Gautam Gambhir’s era:

Gautam Gambhir might not only be known for leading Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles but also for his consecutive appearances. Gambhir featured in 122 straight matches for the teams he played (DD and KKR) after missing a couple of matches in the 2010 edition owing an injury. His streak came to an end when he was left out of the playing XI of DD against KKR after he decided to step down from the captaincy.

Gambhir played all those 122 matches as captain which is the longest streak for any captain in the IPL. The DD-KKR match was also the first in the IPL history without Gautam Gambhir in the playing XI of either side. DD and KKR faced off in 20 IPL matches and one CLT20 game before they played in Delhi this season.

A season of milestones for Yusuf Pathan:

Sunrisers Hyderabad is the 3rd team that Yusuf Pathan represented in the IPL. Individually, the all-rounder is having a good time with the milestones he recorded in this season so far. His debut game for SRH against his first IPL team Rajasthan Royals turned out to be his IPL career’s 150th match. Yusuf hit as many as four sixes in the game against CSK where he joined a rare list of players with 150+ sixes in the IPL. The 35-year-old completed 3000 IPL runs in the game against MI and thus became the first player with 3000+ runs and 30+ wickets in the IPL.

A debut to remember for Shreyas Iyer:

Shreyas Iyer might not have thought of leading an IPL team at the age of 24 before Gautam Gambhir’s decision to step down from his role of Delhi Daredevils’ captain. He led his team to a big win against the Kolkata Knight Riders in his first game as captain which was DD’s only the 2nd win in seven matches. Iyer took up the responsibility with an unbeaten inning of 93 runs in just 40 balls.

Thus Iyer recorded the highest individual score on IPL captaincy debut surpassing the previous highest of 64 (Aaron Finch in 2013) by 29 runs. He hit as many as ten sixes during the innings and also became the first captain to hit ten sixes in an IPL inning. Shreyas Iyer also became the first Delhi Daredevils player to hit ten sixes in an IPL inning and the 3rd Indian in the league after Murali Vijay and Sanju Samson.

Ankit Rajpoot’s 5/14 not so big for Sunrisers:

Ankit Rajpoot became the first uncapped player in the IPL history to bag a 5-wicket haul when he took on the Sunrisers Hyderabad. His figures of 5/14 are also the best for the Kings XI Punjab in the IPL. However, Rajpoot’s efforts came in vain with the home team successfully defending a total of 132. His figures turned out to be the second best in the losing cause in the IPL behind Adam Zampa’s 6/19 in the 2016 season also against SRH.

Prithvi Shaw shines:

The 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw excelled at the first-class cricket scoring five centuries in ten matches before leading the Indian team to the title in the Under-19 World Cup. He made his IPL debut for the Daredevils against Kings XI Punjab. Opening the innings during the run-chase, Shaw hit four boundaries in his 10-ball 22.

He became the youngest player to open the innings in the IPL at the age of 18 years and 165 days surpassing his team-mate Rishabh Pant’s record (18y 212d). He bettered his performance in the second match with 44-ball 62 taking on the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Andre Russell. He became the joint youngest to score an IPL fifty at the age of 18 years and 169 days equaling Sanju Samson’s record.