From the ridiculous to the sublime. Comical mix-ups to brilliant fielding. The run out provides them all. Here we look at the batsmen run out the most times in the IPL.
Our first table then shows the top line stats of the batsmen run out the most times in the IPL.
Player | Run outs |
G Gambhir | 16 |
S Dhawan | 15 |
SK Raina | 13 |
AT Rayudu | 13 |
As is always the case though with these kinds of stats listing the batsmen who have done something the most number of times will always put those who have played a significant amount of matches at the top of the list. But are these really the worst runners in the history of the IPL?
Let’s try and add a couple of measures then to balance out the first table and consider the batsmen most likely to be run out in an IPL innings. First off we look at run outs as a % of total dismissals in the IPL.
Player | Total dismissals | Run outs | % dismissals run out |
A Mishra | 31 | 10 | 32.26% |
P Kumar | 38 | 10 | 26.32% |
Y Venugopal Rao | 44 | 11 | 25.00% |
Top of this particular list then is Amit Mishra a man more commonly associated with being the leading all-time wicket taker in the IPL is also the most likely “batsman” to end his innings run out.
In fact, so keen is Amit to maintain his position at the top of the list of batsmen run out the most times in the IPL that he is willing to give opposition teams 3 goes at running him out while he lingers in the middle of the wicket pondering his dinner reservations for later that night as the below clip shows.
Mishra is also joined on this list by a more established batsman in the form Yalaka Venugopal Rao. Given the number of games that Venugopal Rao played in the IPL is about a third of those of the initial list of batsmen run out the most times in the IPL it’d be fair to say that if his career were as long he’d be way out in front if the trend of getting run out once every 4 innings continued.
However, none of them can beat the man atop the next list who I believe can rightly be named the most entertaining batsman in the history of the IPL. He holds the record for the longest 6 in the history of the IPL, he was also the most likely to be out bowled in the IPL and now he’s claimed the crown of batsman most likely to be run out in the IPL. Ladies and Gentleman once again, I give you Praveen Kumar!
Batsman | Balls faced | Run outs | Balls faced per run out |
P Kumar | 323 | 10 | 32.3 |
A Mishra | 410 | 10 | 41.0 |
SK Warne | 219 | 5 | 43.8 |
You certainly don’t want to be popping off to the bathroom when Praveen walks into bat, anything could happen!
But lets not forget that when it comes to run outs it takes 2 to tango! In the next table we consider the batsmen who have been involved in the most run outs whether as the player run out or the one sheepishly trying to avoid the glare of the man trudging back to the pavilion.
Player | Run outs involved in |
RG Sharma | 36 |
KD Karthik | 34 |
MS Dhoni | 33 |
Interesting to see that these senior pros might be involved in a lot of run outs but they aren’t usually the player who is actually out! In the case of Rohit Sharma only 25% of the run outs he’s involved in end up with him being out. The first rule at Mumbai Indians is, you don’t run out Rohit. The second rule at Mumbai Indians is, you don’t run out Rohit!
Of course real humour can only come from a classic comedy duo, think the two Ronnies, Morecambe and Wise or in the case of the batsmen below perhaps the Chuckle Brothers would be a more appropriate comparison.
The most run outs involving a pair of batsmen in the IPL is currently held by David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan at 5. The openers put on many successful partnerships for Sunrisers Hyderabad but perhaps their history of “miscommunication” stems from this incident back in 2014 in a Test between Australia and India which resulted in the pair being fined 15% and 30% of their matches fees respectively.
Interestingly enough all 5 run outs have resulted in Shikhar being sent back to the pavilion but in compensation, Warner has gone onto average 100.75 in those 5 innings never failing to pass 50 on each occasion.
Nice detail. 16 seems absurd but it’s T20 and if you’ve played a lot. I guess that quite a few players, somebody like Mishra, are run out in the last couple of overs when you take that risk.
Absolutely, towards the end of the game added risk taking will always increase the chances of a run out and there is not much point in these guys carrying their bats for the not out. Although what Mishra was doing in that example also suggests a lack of game awareness too.