The 2023 season of the Indian T20 League is less than three weeks away with Team Chennai scheduled to take on Team Gujarat on 31st March at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Over the years, the Indian T20 League has gained a reputation as a batter’s tournament with both teams and players regularly breaking records by posting astronomically high scores.
India’s batting-friendly tracks and the advantage that batsmen have with smaller boundaries make posting a 200+ score an achievable target for any team – the feat has been achieved 22 times in the last season alone.
Let’s take a look at the top five high scores posted by teams in the history of the Indian T20 League.
#5: Team Chennai: 240/5 vs Team Punjab
The fifth-highest score in the history of the tournament was established in the second-ever game of the Indian T20 League. Brendon McCullum’s memorable century in the first match of the tournament has already attracted the attention of fans around the world, but Team Chennai and Team Punjab took the action to the next level in the second game of the tournament.
Electing to bat first, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Team Chennai lost opener Parthiv Patel in the powerplay overs. Michael Hussey, coming in at No.3, took the support of Matthew Hayden, Suresh Raina, and Subramaniam Badrinath to score an unbeaten 116.
His innings saw eight fours and nine sixes at a strike rate of 214.81. In reply, James Hopes and Kumara Sangakkara scored half-centuries for Team Punjab, crossing the 200-run mark but falling short of the target by a significant margin.
#4: Team Kolkata: 245/6 vs Team Punjab
The most recent instance of a team breaking into the top-five top scores in the history of the Indian T20 League came in the 2018 season when Team Kolkata posted 245/6 on the board against Team Punjab.
Put to bat first, Team Kolkata put on a comprehensive team effort in their innings, with skipper Dinesh Karthik and Sunil Narine leading the way with half-centuries. Six of the eight batters who took the field in the innings ended with a strike rate of more than 200.00, with opener Chris Lynn and Robin Uthappa the only exceptions.
In reply, Team Punjab’s KL Rahul scored a blistering 66 runs in 29 balls with two fours and seven sixes at a strike rate of 227.58 in his innings. But he did not get much support from the other end, with Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, and Ravichandran Ashwin failing to establish themselves at the crease.
Team Punjab posted 214/8 in reply – making the aggregate score the second-highest in the history of the tournament.
#3: Team Chennai: 246/5 vs Team Rajasthan
Murali Vijay’s brilliant century propelled Team Chennai to 246/5 in the 2009/10 season of the Indian T20 League. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Team Chennai won the toss and elected to bat first at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Team Chennai lost Australia’s Matthew Hayden in the powerplay, but Murali Vijay continued with his steady innings at the other end, partnering with Albie Morkel to light up the stadium in the second-half of their innings.
In reply, Naman Ojha and Shane Watson partnered together for Team Rajasthan to nearly win the game. Team Rajasthan posted 223/5 by the end of their innings, taking the aggregate runs in the match to 469.
This is the highest match aggregate in the history of the Indian T20 League, and the record is yet to be broken despite the high-scoring nature of modern-day games.
#2: Team Bangalore: 248/3 vs Team Gujarat
The dimensions of the boundaries at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore make it a paradise for batsmen in the shortest-format of the game, and Team Bangalore has successfully utilised the support offered by the field to score some of the highest totals in the Indian T20 League.
In the 44th game of the 2016 season, Team Bangalore needed a win against the now-defunct Team Gujarat to stay in the race for playoffs.
Team Gujarat won the toss and chose to field first, and struck early in the game to eliminate the threat from Chris Gayle. But Team Bangalore’s most prolific duo – Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers – stitched together a 229-run partnership to post a record score on the board. The partnership still stands as the highest in the history of the tournament, with both Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers scoring centuries.
It was the South African star who commanded most of the innings with Virat Kohli playing a supporting role until the last three overs, when he exploded with the bat to score 57 runs in just 15 balls.
In reply, Team Gujarat’s batting crumbled, posting just 104 runs. This is the second-highest victory by run-margin in the history of the Indian T20 League.
#1: Team Bangalore: 263/5 vs Team Pune
The highest score in the history of the Indian T20 League was posted by Team Bangalore in 2013 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. The now-defunct Team Pune were their opponents in the league-stage game.
Chris Gayle was the star of the show for the hosts with the ‘Universe Boss’ shattering records on his way to 175 runs. Put to bat first, Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan opened the batting for Bangalore.
The Sri Lankan opener could only watch from the other end of the pitch as the West Indies’ giant smashed a record 13 fours and 17 sixes in his innings – reaching the 100-mark in just 30 balls. His record of the fastest century in the Indian T20 League stands to this day, as does his record of most sixes in an inning. After Dilshan’s wicket,
AB de Villiers piled more misery on Team Pune, smashing three fours and three sixes in eight balls to score 31 runs, giving Team Bangalore the highest-ever score posted in the history of the Indian T20 League.
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