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In this post, we will check out the top 10 best batsman in IPL history.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the most popular and entertaining Twenty20 cricket leagues in the world.

Since its inception in 2008, the IPL has witnessed some of the greatest batsmen of all time, who have entertained the cricketing world with their stunning performances.

From aggressive hitting to calculated run-chasing innings, the IPL has seen it all. With the league’s popularity on the rise, many batsmen have come and gone, but a few have left their mark in the hearts of cricket lovers.

The likes of the greats like Chris Gayle, David Warner, Suresh Raina, and Virat Kohli surely helped the game to be a global success.

Each and every season comes with a lot of excitement and top run-getters. So without further delay, let’s quickly go ahead and check out the top 10 best batsman in IPL history.

Top 10 Best Batsman In IPL History

10 Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir is an Indian cricketer and played domestic cricket for Delhi. He captained Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

He is surely one of the top stars when it comes to the ICC tournament. Nobody gonna forget his contribution to India’s 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup triumphs.

Gautam Gambhir also played an important contribution to the success of KKR in IPL with the bat and with excellent captaincy.

Under Gambhir’s captaincy, Kolkata Knight Riders won their first IPL title in 2012 and advanced on to win the title again in 2014.

He had known for his consistency and the capability to play significant innings at big matches. His stats speak the quality of the player he is. Gautam Gambhir is number 10 in our list of top 10 best batsman in IPL history.

9 Shane Watson

Shane Watson has played for Australia’s national cricket team and is one of the finest all-rounders the world has ever seen. he had been a dominant figure in IPL history.

He started his career at the IPL with Rajasthan Royals in 2008 and won the IPL title in the same season. He later moved to RCB, however, he was unable to perform well for the franchise.

Watson was later bought by CSK in 2018 and the world has seen a completely different Watson at CSK. His performance in IPL 2018 final (117 from 57 balls) is one of the best innings Watson has ever played in IPL history.

The Australian international is the only player in IPL history to win two Player of the Tournament awards i.e 2008 and 2013. He has a total of 3874 runs and 92 wickets in the IPL.

Watson is one of the two players to score a century and take a hat-trick in the Indian Premier League along with Rohit Sharma. He also tried his best at the 2019 final but that was not enough to secure another IPL title.

8 Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan is an Indian international cricketer and is considered one of the best opening batsmen in the world. He has proved time after time that he has been a great asset for the club and the country.

He plays for Delhi in first-class cricket and Delhi Capitals in the IPL. Dhawan has also been the top run-getters in ICC tournaments for an Indian cricket team.

He is also the fastest Indian to reach 3,000 One Day International runs. Dhawan is also a record holder when it comes to most runs in a calendar year in T20 International cricket (689).

He became the first player in the history of IPL to score two back-to-back centuries. Shikhar Dhawan has a great record in the IPL and he is still delivering at the right time for the club in the IPL.

He has been part of different teams in IPL which includes Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, and Sunrisers Hyderabad (Formerly Deccan Chargers).

However, his time with Sunrisers Hyderabad is one of the most memorable ones due to playing alongside one of the greats of the game i.e David Warner.

Recently he has been part of the Delhi Capitals and the player is still playing some quality knocks in the IPL. He is the player with the most fours scored in this tournament’s history. Shikhar Dhawan is number 8 in our list of top 10 best batsman in IPL history.

7 MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni is a former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team in all formats of the game and is currently the captain of Chennai Super Kings.

Just look at the impact of the player in IPL and you understand how legendary the player is. He is the longest-reigning captain in IPL history and has the pleasantest win ratio in the tournament.

He led CSK to win 2010, 2011, 2018, and 2021 editions of IPL, becoming the second most successful IPL captain after Rohit Sharma.

MS Dhoni is a complete player who can play both sensible and explosive knocks. He is totally a team player and can play in any situation. He is one of the finest finishers the world has ever seen.

It would not be wrong to say that CSK is the most dominant team in the history of IPL. The franchise has won the title 3 times and reached the finals a record 8 times out of 10 seasons.

The game is still chasable until MS Dhoni is on the crease. He has a tendency to stay at the crease for a long time and have the versatility to change the shift of the game with a blink of an eye.

There is no player in the IPL history who has done such a huge impact other than MS Dhoni. MS Dhoni is number 7 in our list of top 10 best batsman in IPL history.

6 AB De Villiers

AB De Villiers is widely considered as one of the greatest batsman to ever play the game. He is known for transforming the game by constantly using engaging unorthodox shots.

He is popularly known as Mr. 360. His unique style and ability to play at any position gained a lot of fans over the years. He is also a top-class fielder, wicket-keeper, and finisher.

He has batted essentially on the middle-order, but he is a player of a class who can play at any position. AB is regarded as one of the most intelligent and destructive batsman in the modern era. 

He had joined the IPL in its inaugural season, and since then he never looked back. AB de Villiers has grown to be one of the most successful batsman in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

He started his career playing for Delhi Daredevils and later moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for US$1.5 million in the league’s fourth season.

Three of his centuries came out in the IPL and he showed the world what he is capable of. On many instants, his class and destruction on the field helped Royal Challengers Bangalore to win so many matches.

He’s been a part of some unprecedented partnerships with his mate Virat Kohli in the IPL. It’s pretty much clear the crowd loves AB De Villiers on the pitch.

Just look at the stats of the player and you understand the impact he created on the IPL. The only thing he gonna regret is not winning the IPL title.

5 Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma is an Indian international cricketer who captains the India national cricket team in T20Is. He plays domestic cricket for Mumbai and also leads Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.

He is the only player in history to win a total of six IPL titles. Rohit Sharma is surely the backbone of Mumbai Indians. He always delivers with his bat and wins the tournament with top-notch captaincy.

He is rated as one of the most destructive and explosive openers in cricket history. IPL and Rohit are made for each other that’s the only way we can describe this man in IPL.

Rohit was elected as the best-emerging player in 2009. His performance helped Deccan Chargers to lift the title in 2011. Since his move to Mumbai Indians, the team has done wonders in the IPL.

He’s always been the leading man for all occasions for Mumbai Indians. He truly made Mumbai Indians the most dominant team in the tournament’s history. Rohit Sharma is number 5 in our list of top 10 best batsman in IPL history.

4 Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle is a Jamaican cricketer who represents international cricket for the West Indies. A complete monster and one of the most explosive batsman in cricket history.

Gayle is widely considered one of the greatest batsman in Twenty20 cricket history. He has scored a total of six centuries and holds the record for scoring the fastest century in IPL history.

Records are meant to be broken when Gayle is on the pitch. He has some records which may be unbreakable in the future. Gayle is also the first-ever batsman to hit 1000 sixes in T20 cricket.

Gayle is the only player to score more than 14000 runs and cracked more than 1000 sixes in T20 cricket. He was granted the Most Valuable Player in the 2011 Indian Premier League and held the Orange Cap in 2012.

On 23 April 2013, Gayle storm came against the Pune Warriors and he broke the record for the fastest ever T20 hundred. He had scored a magical knock of 175 runs from 66 balls for Royal Challengers Bangalore. 

He holds the record for hitting the most sixes in a career, most sixes in an innings, and most centuries in the tournament. His legacy is very hard to be unmatched again. He is rated as one of the legends in the IPL.

3 Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina is a former Indian international cricketer. He is an attacking left-handed middle-order batsman and a part-time off-spin bowler. Raina is also regarded as one of the best fielders in world cricket.

He is known as Mr. IPL and one of the most beloved cricketers in this country. If you look at his stats in the IPL you understand the greatness of this man in the IPL.

Suresh Raina might not be in great form from the last couple of seasons however no one comes close to his consistency when we talk about the history of the IPL.

Suresh Raina played a crucial part in the success of CSK. He had been the backbone of the batting lineup in the CSK squad.

Raina is in the top 5 list of highest run-getters in the IPL. He was also the first player to complete 5,000 runs in the tournament.

He has never won an orange cap in IPL still his consistency is par excellence than any other batsman in IPL. Suresh Raina is number 3 in our list of top 10 best batsman in IPL history.

2 Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is an Indian cricketer and the captain of the Indian national cricket team in ODIs and Tests. He plays for Delhi in the domestic circuit and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.

Many rate him as one of the best batsman of his era. Virat Kohli’s initial start of the IPL is not so consistent but over the years he has done wonders for the RCB.

He’s been playing at the top level and created so many records with his excelling batting. Kohli started to gain attention when he found success with the bat in the 2015 IPL.

He lead from the front and helped the team to reach the playoffs. He finished fifth in the list of the highest run-getters list with 505 runs at an average of 45.90.

Kohli, with the likes of Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers, created havoc on the pitch and won so many matches for the team. At the 2016 IPL, the Royal Challengers finished runners-up and Kohli broke the record for most runs in an IPL season (of 733 runs) by scoring 973 runs in 16 matches at an average of 81.08.

For his exceptional performance, he won the Orange Cap as well as the Most-valuable Player Award of Vivo IPL 2016. He scored a total of four centuries in the tournament.

Virat also became the first player to attain the 4000-run milestone in the IPL. He is the first batsman to score more than 500 runs in 5 different seasons. Virat Kohli is number 2 in our list of top 10 best batsman in IPL history.

1 David Warner

David Warner is an Australian international cricketer and a former captain of the Australian national team. He has a consistency that is incomparable to any player in the IPL.

We have to accept a fact that David Warner is one of the most exceptional batsman in IPL history. He has won the Orange Cap three times and has scored more than 5000 runs in IPL.

He also scored more than 500 runs for a record-breaking five consecutive seasons. The numbers show why he is the number 1 player in the IPL.

He also led the Sunrisers Hyderabad to an IPL title in 2016. Warner has the best batting average amongst batsman who has scored at least 4000 IPL runs.

He has also been praised for his captaincy skills. Under his leadership, SRH won an IPL title and later qualified to the playoffs every time when David Warner has been their top-run-getter.

Warner is surely the backbone of the SRH team. We rate David Warner as the number 1 batsman in IPL history.