3 min readUpdated: Apr 3, 2026 07:04 PM IST
Powerplays have never been more frenetic than they have been in the last few years in the IPL since the introduction of the Impact Sub rule in 2023. The new-ball phase, with only two fielders outside the 30-yard circle, has become the most conducive platform for teams to go all gung-ho and set the stage for gargantuan scores.
Sample this: Across all 18 previous editions of the IPL until 2025, the overall tournament strike rate in a season crossed the 150-mark for the first time in 2024. That moved to an all-time high at 152.39 in 2025 across 73 matches, with 7887 Powerplay runs coming at a staggering 151.96 strike rate. Yet, none of them can match up to the chilling effect Suresh Raina produced 12 years ago in an emphatic Powerplay innings, single-handedly.
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The IPL 2014 Qualifier 2 match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab first had Virender Sehwag roll back the years and carve a career-best 122 before Raina played an all-timer knock, ranking among the very best in IPL history.
Interestingly, Raina’s stunning assault on a quality Punjab attack continues to find relevance to this day in 2026, for it continues to be the benchmark of Powerplay batting in all IPL and T20 cricket across the globe. Raising all possibilities in CSK’s pursuit of a 227-run target that evening in Mumbai, Raina came ever so close to batting perfection in the format.
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How Raina’s 87 off 24 is still the highest Powerplay batting score?
Walking in at 1 for 1 in the third delivery of the innings, Raina played 24 of the remaining 34 deliveries in the Powerplay. He clubbed 18 of them for boundaries – 12 fours and six sixes – and only played out four dot balls. The 84 runs through boundaries were more than every IPL team score in the Powerplay up until that point. And while teams have moved past that mark, Raina’s 87, which ended in anti-climatic run-out off the first ball after the Powerplay, is still the highest knock by a batter in a Powerplay innings.
Highest T20 Powerplay scores by a batter
Three of the best individual scores by a batter in a T20 Powerplay have been etched in the IPL. Australians Travis Head and Jake-Fraser McGurk had put on blinding starts of 84 and 78 respectively, in 2024, still falling behind Raina.
IPL 2014 QUALIFIER 2
SURESH RAINA
87(24)
Strike Rate: 348 | Chennai Super Kings vs KXIP
Highest Powerplay Score in All T20 Cricket History | 12 Years Unbeaten
Top 5 Powerplay Performances
1
Suresh Raina
CSK vs KXIP | IPL 2014 | Wankhede Stadium
2
Travis Head
vs SRH | IPL 2024
3
Jake Fraser-McGurk
vs MI | IPL 2024
4
Alex Hales
vs Durham | 2017 T20
5
Evin Lewis
vs Patriots | CPL 2017
Raina’s Historic Powerplay
18
Boundaries (12×4, 6×6)
Indian Express InfoGenIE
One can understand how singularly supreme Raina’s knock from the fact that there have only been 141 instances of a batter producing at least 50 runs in a Powerplay innings in all T20 cricket history. The number dwindles to 32 in all of IPL history with Raina standing firmly on top.
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Such blitzes are still a rare feat, even for the modern-day aggressors in India. There have only been 22 instances of a 50-plus Powerplay score by an Indian batter in all T20s, interestingly involving 22 different batters each. As another Chennai-Punjab contest comes around in IPL 2026, a batallion of batting marauders are present on both sides. Yet, matching up to Raina’s famous 87, still the Powerplay benchmark across over 16,000 T20 games, will take some doing.
