Sai Sudharsan smashes Sachin Tendulkar's towering record, hits breathtaking maiden IPL century in GT vs CSK match
GT vs CSK: Sai Sudharsan became the fastest Indian to reach a 1000 IPL runs bettering Sachin Tendulkar and Ruturaj Gaikwad's record.
Sai Sudharsan peppered the record books with a breathtaking century in an IPL 2024 match against the Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday. He got to his century off just 50 balls with a lap shot that went for a six off Simarjeet Singh. Gujarat Titans needed a big win to stay alive in tournament and their two best batters - Sudharsan and captain Shubman Gill - stepped up the occasion.
Sudharsan, who is GT's reigning highest-scorer of the current season, was promoted to open the innings with Gill as GT finally ran out of patience with and under-performing Wriddhiman Saha. The move worked wonders for GT. Gill and Sudharsan put up the joint-highest opening partnership (210) in the history of IPL.
GT vs CSK Live Score
Sudharsan, who smashed his maiden IPL century, became the fastest Indian to 1000 runs in the IPL. The left-hander, who took only 25 innings to reach a thousand IPL runs, beat the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and Ruturaj Gaikwad to the milestone. Tendulkar and Gaikwad jointly held the record for scoring 1000 runs in the IPL in 31 innings.
The third in the list is Mumbai Indians bater Tilak Varma who took 33 innings to score 1000 IPL runs.
In the overall list, Sudharsan is fourth. The record for the fastest 1000 runs in IPL history still stands with Australia's Shaun Marsh, who had taken only 21 innings, followed by West Indies opener Lendl Simmons (23) and Australia great Matthew Hayden (25). Sudharsan went past England's keeper-batter Jonny Bairstow, who had taken 26 innings.
Fewest innings to 1000 IPL runs
21 - Shaun Marsh
23 - Lendl Simmons
25 - Matthew Hayden
25 - Sai Sudharsan*
26 - Jonny Bairstow
Sudharsan was 69 runs short of the milestone when he started his innings on Friday. The left-hander started off slowly - four of his first seven balls were dots - but the moment he hit his first six of the night off Shardul Thakur, there was no stopping him. Sudharsan hit another biggie in the next over off Tushar Deshpande to make his intentions crystal clear.
There was a bit of a lull after that as Sudharsan could not hit a boundary for the next five overs but he once again got into top gear in the 9th over of the GT innings. The youngster smashed Ravindra Jadeja for a four and a six. He was particularly severe against Simarjeet and Daryl Mitchell, hitting the medium pacers for boundaries at will.
Sudharsan brought up his half-century off 32 balls and then went berserk. He took only 18 more balls to bring his maiden IPL century. He was finally dismissed for 103 when he tried to hit Deshpande for another six in the 18th over of the GT innings.
The knock made Sudharsan the fourth player to cross the 500-run mark this year after Virat Kohli, Gaikwad, and Travis Head. The GT batter sits at No.4 in the Orange Cap list with 527 runs in 12 matches.
