It’s become an annual ritual in the Indian Premier League for those interested in nerdy statistics or curious patterns, whenever a Kolkata Knight Riders player nears a century.

On April 18, 2008 the phenomenon called the IPL came to life. And it was not just any steady start. It was a whirlwind. When Brendon McCullum smacked that unbeaten 158* for KKR in the first-ever IPL match, the league got a dream start.

On April 11, 2021, when Nitish Rana was dismissed for 80 in KKR’s first match of the 14th season against Sunrisers Hyderabad, one of the more jaw-dropping statistical wait continued. Not a single KKR batsman has scored a century in the league since McCullum did on the first night. Rana himself has come close thrice in the last couple of seasons, with three scores of 80-or more in his last innings. Dinesh Karthik’s 97* against Royals in 2019 remains the second-highest score by a KKR batsman.

Top 5 scores by KKR batsmen

Player Runs SR Opposition Ground Match Date
McCullum 158* 216.43 v RCB Bengaluru 18 Apr 2008
DK 97* 194.00 v Royals Kolkata 25 Apr 2019
Pandey 94 188.00 v Kings XI Bengaluru 1 Jun 2014
Lynn 93* 226.82 v Guj Lions Rajkot 7 Apr 2017
 Gambhir 93 182.35 v RCB Kolkata 28 Apr 2012
via ESPNCricinfo

Now, that got us thinking. KKR have not done half bad in the tournament over the years. They are the only team other than Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians to have won multiple IPL titles. Is it a big deal that they have not had a centurion since their current head coach?

Make no mistake, hitting a century in a T20 match more often than that helps your side win. For instance, in the IPL, out of the 63 scored so far, 48 have been centuries in winning cause while only 15 have come in defeats. That’s a success rate just more than 76%.

But a closer look at the scorers of those centuries reveals an interesting pattern. Out of the 63 centuries (before IPL 2021), 36 had been scored by batsmen playing for Kings XI Punjab (13), Royal Challengers Bangalore (13), Delhi Daredevils / Capitals (10). Those are three teams that have not won the title even once.

Whereas Chennai Super Kings (8), Mumbai Indians (4), Kolkata Knight Riders (1) accounted for 13 centuries. But they also account for ten IPL titles between them. This is not to say scoring fewer centuries is helpful, and no direct correlation can be made, but it does suggest collective batting efforts mean more in a format like T20 rather than one batsman scoring big.

Team No of centuries in the IPL
Royal Challengers Bangalore 14
Punjab (Kings XI / Kings) 13
Delhi (Daredevils / Capitals) 10
Rajasthan Royals 9
Chennai Super Kings 8
Mumbai Indians 4
Sunrisers Hyderabad 3
Rising Pune Supergiants  2
Deccan Chargers 2
Kolkata Knight Riders 1
As of May 2, 2021

Players with most centuries in IPL history

PLAYER Inns HS 100
Chris Gayle 131 175* 6
Virat Kohli 185 113 5
David Warner 143 126 4
Shane Watson 141 117* 4
AB de Villiers 157 133* 3
Sanju Samson 110 119 3
As of May 2, 2021

As an extension, Mumbai Indians — the most successful side in IPL history — have not had a batsman score a century since 2014 (Lendl Simmons). In fact, none of the four MI centuries so far have come in seasons where the title was won by Rohit Sharma and Co.

Which takes us to the next data set. Of the total of 63 centuries that have been scored in the tournament, only four of those came in a team’s title-winning season. The eventual champions did not have a single century-maker during the course of a title-winning campaign in 11 out of the 13 editions till date.

Centuries for champions in an IPL season

Season Champions Centuries scored during season
2008 Rajasthan Royals 0
2009 Deccan Chargers 0
2010 Chennai Super Kings 1 (M Vijay)
2011 Chennai Super Kings 0
2012 Kolkata Knight Riders 0
2013 Mumbai Indians 0
2014 Kolkata Knight Riders 0
2015 Mumbai Indians 0
2016 Sunrisers Hyderabad 0
2017 Mumbai Indians 0
2018 Chennai Super Kings 3 (Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu)
2019 Mumbai Indians 0
2020 Mumbai Indians 0
Before IPL 2021

This offers no conclusive proof as a statistic, but in a roundabout way, it lends to credence one of the cliches we hear in cricket: individual brilliance can win you matches, to win tournaments takes a lot more.

Full list of IPL centuries

Player Runs Balls SR Team Opposition Ground Match Date
McCullum 158* 73 216.43 KKR v RCB Bengaluru 18 Apr 2008
Hussey 116* 54 214.81 Super Kings v Kings XI Mohali 19 Apr 2008
Symonds 117* 53 220.75 Chargers v Royals Hyderabad (Deccan) 24 Apr 2008
Gilchrist 109* 47 231.91 Chargers v Mum Indians Mumbai 27 Apr 2008
Jayasuriya 114* 48 237.50 Mum Indians v Super Kings Mumbai 14 May 2008
Marsh 115 69 166.66 Kings XI v Royals Mohali 28 May 2008
de Villiers 105* 54 194.44 Daredevils v Super Kings Durban 23 Apr 2009
Pandey 114* 73 156.16 RCB v Chargers Centurion 21 May 2009
Pathan 100 37 270.27 Royals v Mum Indians Mumbai (BS) 13 Mar 2010
Warner 107* 69 155.07 Daredevils v KKR Delhi 29 Mar 2010
Vijay 127 56 226.78 Super Kings v Royals Chennai 3 Apr 2010
Jayawardene 110* 59 186.44 Kings XI v KKR Kolkata 4 Apr 2010
Valthaty 120* 63 190.47 Kings XI v Super Kings Mohali 13 Apr 2011
Tendulkar 100* 66 151.51 Mum Indians v Kochi Mumbai 15 Apr 2011
Gayle 102* 55 185.45 RCB v KKR Kolkata 22 Apr 2011
Sehwag 119 56 212.50 Daredevils v Chargers Hyderabad (Deccan) 5 May 2011
Gayle 107 49 218.36 RCB v Kings XI Bengaluru 6 May 2011
Gilchrist 106 55 192.72 Kings XI v RCB Dharamsala 17 May 2011
Rahane 103* 60 171.66 Royals v RCB Bengaluru 15 Apr 2012
Pietersen 103* 64 160.93 Daredevils v Chargers Delhi 19 Apr 2012
Warner 109* 54 201.85 Daredevils v Chargers Hyderabad (Deccan) 10 May 2012
Sharma 109* 60 181.66 Mum Indians v KKR Kolkata 12 May 2012
Gayle 128* 62 206.45 RCB v Daredevils Delhi 17 May 2012
Vijay 113 58 194.82 Super Kings v Daredevils Chennai 25 May 2012
Watson 101 61 165.57 Royals v Super Kings Chennai 22 Apr 2013
Gayle 175* 66 265.15 RCB v Warriors Bengaluru 23 Apr 2013
Raina 100* 53 188.67 Super Kings v Kings XI Chennai 2 May 2013
Miller 101* 38 265.78 Kings XI v RCB Mohali 6 May 2013
Simmons 100* 61 163.93 Mum Indians v Kings XI Mohali 21 May 2014
Sehwag 122 58 210.34 Kings XI v Super Kings Mumbai 30 May 2014
Saha 115* 55 209.09 Kings XI v KKR Bengaluru 1 Jun 2014
McCullum 100* 56 178.57 Super Kings v Sunrisers Chennai 11 Apr 2015
Gayle 117 57 205.26 RCB v Kings XI Bengaluru 6 May 2015
de Villiers 133* 59 225.42 RCB v Mum Indians Mumbai 10 May 2015
Watson 104* 59 176.27 Royals v KKR Mumbai (BS) 16 May 2015
de Kock 108 51 211.76 Daredevils v RCB Bengaluru 17 Apr 2016
Kohli 100* 63 158.73 RCB v Guj Lions Rajkot 24 Apr 2016
Smith 101 54 187.03 Supergiants v Guj Lions Pune 29 Apr 2016
Kohli 108* 58 186.20 RCB v Supergiants Bengaluru 7 May 2016
Kohli 109 55 198.18 RCB v Guj Lions Bengaluru 14 May 2016
de Villiers 129* 52 248.07 RCB v Guj Lions Bengaluru 14 May 2016
Kohli 113 50 226.00 RCB v Kings XI Bengaluru 18 May 2016
Samson 102 63 161.90 Daredevils v Supergiant Pune 11 Apr 2017
Amla 104* 60 173.33 Kings XI v Mum Indians Indore 20 Apr 2017
Warner 126 59 213.55 Sunrisers v KKR Hyderabad (Deccan) 30 Apr 2017
Stokes 103* 63 163.49 Supergiant v Guj Lions Pune 1 May 2017
Amla 104 60 173.33 Kings XI v Guj Lions Mohali 7 May 2017
Gayle 104* 63 165.07 Kings XI v Sunrisers Mohali 19 Apr 2018
Watson 106 57 185.96 Super Kings v Royals Pune 20 Apr 2018
Pant 128* 63 203.17 Daredevils v Sunrisers Delhi 10 May 2018
Rayudu 100* 62 161.29 Super Kings v Sunrisers Pune 13 May 2018
Watson 117* 57 205.26 Super Kings v Sunrisers Mumbai 27 May 2018
Samson 102* 55 185.45 Royals v Sunrisers Hyderabad (Deccan) 29 Mar 2019
Bairstow 114 56 203.57 Sunrisers v RCB Hyderabad (Deccan) 31 Mar 2019
Warner 100* 55 181.81 Sunrisers v RCB Hyderabad (Deccan) 31 Mar 2019
Rahul 100* 64 156.25 Kings XI v Mum Indians Mumbai 10 Apr 2019
Kohli 100 58 172.41 RCB v KKR Kolkata 19 Apr 2019
Rahane 105* 63 166.66 Royals v Capitals Jaipur 22 Apr 2019
Rahul 132* 69 191.30 Kings XI v RCB Dubai (DSC) 24 Sep 2020
Agarwal 106 50 212.00 Kings XI v Royals Sharjah 27 Sep 2020
Dhawan 101* 58 174.13 Capitals v Super Kings Sharjah 17 Oct 2020
Dhawan 106* 61 173.77 Capitals v Kings XI Dubai (DSC) 20 Oct 2020
Stokes 107* 60 178.33 Royals v Mum Indians Abu Dhabi 25 Oct 2020
Samson 119 63 188.88 Royals v Punjab Kings Mumbai 12 Apr 2021
Padikkal 101* 52 194.23 RCB v Royals Mumbai 22 Apr 2021
Buttler 124 64 193.75 Royals v Sunrisers Delhi 2 May 2021
via ESPNCricinfo (as of May 2 2021)