This year Indian Premier League (IPL) will enter its 11th year. From last ten years, the league has reformed cricket, particularly the game’s shortest format. Now almost every major Test playing nation has a franchise-based league of its own. But IPL has its own place and it's safe to say that it's ‘best in the business’. Ahead of the IPL 2018, we take a look at all-time batting records of the league. Herein, we have made a list of most runs scored by a batsman in IPL. The list is topped by Suresh Raina. The left-hander, who has played for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and now defunct Gujarat Lions, occupies the top spot, but by a slight Margin. No prizes for guessing who occupies the second spot, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli has narrowed the gap between him and Raina.

Apparently, the ‘IPL Most Runs’ list is dominated by Indian batsmen. The top four slots are all occupied by Indian batters. Interestingly, seven out of ten positions belong to Indian batsmen. David Warner, who will miss IPL 2018 following his involvement in ball-tampering, Chris Gayle, and AB de Villiers are the only overseas batsmen on the list.

While Raina has scored most runs in IPL, it is Chris Gayle, who will play for Kings XI Punjab this season, who has most centuries in IPL against his name. The Windies batsman has thus far scored five hundreds. He is followed by Kohli with four.

Most Runs in IPL

Postion Player Matches Inns NO Runs Highest Score Ave SR 100 50
1 Suresh Raina 161 157 24 4540 100* 34.13 139.09 1 31
2 Virat Kohli 149 141 23 4418 113 37.44 129.82 4 30
3 Rohit Sharma 159 154 25 4207 109* 32.61 130.89 1 32
4 Gautam Gambhir 148 147 17 4132 93 31.78 124.60 0 35
5 David Warner 114 114 15 4014 126 40.54 142.13 3 36
6 Robin Uthappa 149 142 15 3735 87 29.40 131.79 0 22
7 Chris Gayle 101 100 12 3626 175* 41.20 151.20 5 21
8 Shikhar Dhawan 127 126 17 3561 95* 32.66 121.86 0 28
9 MS Dhoni 159 143 49 3561 70* 37.88 136.75 0 17
10 AB de Villiers 129 118 27 3473 133* 38.16 148.16 3 22

Interestingly, when it comes to half-centuries the list is topped by Warner, who has 36 fifties against his name. Gautam Gambhir with 35 half-centuries occupies the second spot while Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma is at number three with 32 fifties.

Gayle’s unbeaten 175 off just 66 balls scored against now-defunct Pune Warriors during IPL 2013 remains the highest score by a batsman. Interestingly, Brendon McCullum ’s 158 in the opening match of the inaugural IPL season is the second highest individual score in the league. There seems to be a tight race between Raina and Kohli for the numero uno position. Even Rohit is not falling behind. Who knows at the end of IPL 2018 we will a see a massive change in the list.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 28, 2018 09:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).