Tilak Varma has quietly grown into one of IPL’s most explosive young batters, stacking 1,499 runs in just four seasons with Mumbai Indians. Opening or floating in the middle order, the left-hander has faced 1,038 balls and smashed them at a scorching strike-rate of 144. Translation: every seven balls fetch at least one boundary, be it one of his 113 fours or 74 sixes. His fifty-plus scores already read eight, with a best of 84 not out, showing he can anchor or accelerate at will. More importantly, all the damage has come in only 51 innings; that is nearly 30 runs per knock and a boundary every other over. The numbers underline why MI have kept the Hyderabad prodigy in their core since 2022. While he has rolled his arm over occasionally—22 balls, 28 runs, no wickets—the story is overwhelmingly about the willow. In an era where 140-plus strike-rates define match-winners, Varma’s 144 slots him among the league’s elite finishers. Expect the tally of 1499 to race past 2,000 as he enters his prime seasons at the Wankhede cauldron.

Chris Gayle IPL story: 13 seasons, 4 965 runs, 357 sixes and one unforgettable 175. The self-styled “Universe Boss” walked into IPL 2009 with Kolkata Knight Riders, but it was at Royal Challengers Bengaluru from 2011-2017 that he became a global T20 icon—belting 404 fours and 357 sixes overall at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 148. In 141 innings he cleared the rope once every 9.3 balls and produced 31 half-centuries plus six blistering hundreds, the most famous being his record 175* off 66 balls at the Chinnaswamy in 2013. After his Bengaluru fireworks, Gayle took his power game to Punjab Kings, turning up in orange from 2018 to 2021 and continuing to pepper boundaries with the same ruthless ease. While he rolled his arm over occasionally—18 wickets in 38 bowling innings—his narrative is written in soaring sixes and match-winning hundreds that re-defined T20 batting forever.

Note: This overview is partially generated using AI and is based on statistical data. Please verify with official sources for complete accuracy.