Getting dismissed on 99 is upsetting for any batsman, but going unbeaten or being stranded on 99 is what sticks in a batsman’s mind the most. This is exactly what occurred to a few batsmen in the IPL, who stayed undefeated while falling one run short of their individual hundreds.
Starting with the inaugural match in 2008, when Brendon McCullum of the Kolkata Knight Riders wreaked havoc on the Royal Challengers Bangalore with his 158* off 78 balls, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has seen a plethora of outstanding batting performances.
There have been several instances since then of batsmen hitting the three-figure mark.
Suresh Raina (99*) v SRH, IPL 2013
In the 2013 IPL, Suresh Raina became the first batsman to miss a century by one run against Sunrisers Hyderabad. CSK was sent in to bat first and Hussey and Vijay got off to a good start. Raina came in at 45/1 and teamed up with Hussey to form a 133-point partnership. Raina took it slowly at first, working his way up to the thirties in just 22 deliveries. After reaching his half-century off 35 balls in the 16th over, he began to pace his innings. In the following 17 deliveries, Suresh Raina blasted 49 more runs. Raina had reached 93 runs before the penultimate delivery of the innings, but a no-ball from Sammy on the final ball let him reach 95. He couldn’t clear the ropes on the final ball, but he did get a four to finish with a score of 99*. Raina’s man-of-the-match effort of 99 runs off 52 balls led CSK to a huge 223 runs and a 77-run victory.
Chris Gayle (99*) v RCB, IPL 2019
Chris Gayle is the second player in the Indian Premier League to score an undefeated 99. It happened to him in the IPL 2019’s 28th match. He crushed his old franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore while playing for Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) and led his team to a 173/4 victory. Despite a lack of help at the other end, Gayle nearly single-handedly raised the score to 173. Gayle’s 60-ball knock was not typical of him, but it was exactly what the occasion needed. He scored more than 57 percent of his team’s runs with his knock, which featured 10 fours and five sixes. Despite Gayle’s unbeaten 99, KXIP was defeated by eight wickets thanks to Kohli, De Villiers, and Stoinis’ heroics.
Mayank Agarwal (99*) v DC, IPL 2021
The most recent addition to this list is Mayank Agarwal. In the 29th match of IPL 2021, he became only the third batsman in IPL history to finish his innings on 99*. Mayank was captaining the Punjab Kings against the Delhi Capitals, and in the absence of KL Rahul, he began the innings with Prabhsimran Singh. In the 16th over, Mayank reached his half-century off 37 balls. PBKS, on the other hand, had already lost four batsmen for a total of 102 runs. Despite losing two more wickets and his colleagues’ below-par batting, Mayank Agarwal led his side to a battling total of 166/6. He did, however, fall one run short of a century, scoring 99* off 58 balls.
