In the 12 seasons of the Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL), there have been 58 centuries smashed by batsmen. That is close to 5 centuries a season, on average. Of these, 6 of them were secured by Royals batsmen. There is a synchronised sequence to all the 6 scores – 100, 101, 102*, 103*, 104* & 105*. Who knows, we may see a 106 next, or perhaps the sequence could be broken in the coming seasons. There is a fair amount of time for that though. Let’s relive all these special knocks, one-by-one in a chronological order.

Yusuf Pathan: 100 vs MI, Brabourne Stadium – 2010

Presenting the second fastest IPL century… Yusuf Pathan was the big-hitter all of India were proud of. Pathan was in prime form in the early years of the IPL as a Rajasthan Royals all-rounder. In a game where we were set a mammoth target of 213, Yusuf Pathan walked in with the chase tottering at 40/3 in 6.3 overs. The run-rate was just inching above 6 an over.

Once he walked in, it was a Yusuf Pathan show. The ball vanished to all corners of the stadium as he smashed 9 fours and 8 sixes. The savage knock got us in sights of a possible victory. He smashed three consecutive sixes off Ali Mortaza in the 11rh over and then unleashed some brute force over R Sathish with three fours and two sixes. He got to his fifty off 21 balls. He got to his century with a thunderous smack over long on for a biggie. It took him just 37 balls to get there. Sadly, Pathan was run out on the following delivery and we lost the game by four runs. The century also happened to be just the second by an Indian player in the IPL.

Ajinkya Rahane: 103* vs RCB, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium – 2012