Indian Premier League: Shocking Facts!

Indian Premier League, also known as IPL, has been a popular and exciting tournament for cricket fans across the globe. Over the years, several players have made their mark in the league and achieved impressive feats. Some interesting facts and records about IPL are as follows:

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• Aaron Finch holds the record for playing for the most IPL franchises, with seven to his name. He has represented Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils, Pune Warriors, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Lions and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
• Kieron Pollard, AB de Villiers and Lasith Malinga are the only overseas players to have represented their respective franchises for more than 100 games.
• Only two Indian players have won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in IPL, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.
• Zaheer Khan has the distinction of playing in both his first and 500th match of IPL.
• Delhi Capitals are the only team that hasn’t played in an IPL final but they will be hoping to change that this season.
• Shikhar Dhawan has more runs in IPL than Chris Gayle, which puts him at number five in the list of highest run-scorers.
• MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina have been part of their teams’ playoffs the most number of times, with 11 matches each.
• Virat Kohli is the only player to represent only one franchise since the first IPL.
• MS Dhoni has represented his team in the final with the maximum number of eight matches in IPL.
• Rohit Sharma is the only player who has taken a hat-trick and has also been a part of hat-trick in IPL.
• Mustafizur Rahman is the only non-Indian cricketer to have won the Emerging Player of the Year award in IPL.
• Anil Kumble is the only player to have won the Man of the Match award on a losing side in the IPL final.
• Chris Gayle hit 37 runs in an over against Kochi Tuskers Kerala, a record that still stands.
• Sarfaraz Khan was only 10 years old when IPL started. Now he is 17 years old and playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore along with Gayle, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli.
• Piyush Chawla has bowled over 360 overs in his IPL career and is yet to bowl a single no ball, but he has also hit the most number of sixes in IPL.
• Gautam Gambhir holds the record for most fifties and most ducks in IPL, with 11 ducks and 26 fifties.
• Parthiv Patel has played for six different franchises, more than any other player.
• Ashok Dinda has played for four franchises but each time the respective team finished in the bottom four. He is now playing for Rising Pune Supergiants.
• Both Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa have played for four different IPL teams, but they have been in the same team for all eight seasons.
• More than 10 Indian players have managed to score 2000+ runs in IPL, yet Sachin Tendulkar is the only Indian player to have won the ‘Player of the Series Award’.
• In 2013, Dale Steyn bowled 212 dot balls, the most by any bowler. He bowled 407 balls in that season, of which more than 50% were dot balls.
• Adam Gilchrist has the best bowling figures in IPL, in his last IPL match he took just one ball to dismiss Harbhajan Singh.

The Indian Premier League has seen many remarkable performances from players over the years. From Aaron Finch traveling across seven teams to Virat Kohli’s loyalty to a single franchise, the IPL has seen it all. The league has also seen interesting statistics like Piyush Chawla’s no-ball record, Gautam Gambhir’s record for most fifties and double ducks and Chris Gayle’s brilliant 37-run over. With each season, new records are made and broken, adding to the excitement of one of the biggest T20 leagues in the world.