Who Has the Highest Score in IPL History? Full List

What Is the Highest Individual Score in IPL History?

Chris Gayle holds the record for the highest individual score in IPL history, with 175 runs in a single innings. BB McCullum holds the second-highest score at 158, and KL Rahul is third with 152. Unlike a career-total record, this list isn't about consistency at all — it captures one night where everything came together, regardless of how that player's broader career numbers compare to others in the competition.

This page tracks the top 100 individual innings scores in IPL history, ranked purely by runs scored in a single match.

Why a single-innings record behaves so differently from career records

A career-runs leader builds their total gradually across hundreds of innings, absorbing bad days along with good ones until the overall picture evens out. This list is decided in one sitting. The specific bowling attack faced that day, the ground's dimensions, the pitch conditions, whether dew came into play under lights, and the match situation all shape the outcome far more than they would for a record built up over years — which is part of why the names near the top of this list don't always overlap heavily with the names at the top of the career-runs table.

Chris Gayle's 175 represents the ceiling for what's been achieved in a single IPL innings to date, and it stands until someone else has both the opportunity and the form on the same day to push past it.

What conditions tend to produce record-breaking innings

Flat, high-scoring pitches with short straight boundaries generally give a batter the best platform to push toward a genuinely exceptional total, since even mistimed shots have a reasonable chance of clearing the rope. A bowling attack missing a strike bowler to injury, or a side forced to bowl an inexperienced fifth-bowler option because of how a match situation unfolded, can also open the door for an innings like this in a way that wouldn't be available against a full-strength attack.

None of that takes away from the batting involved — timing, shot selection under pressure, and the composure to keep going once a big total is already in sight are still entirely down to the player. But conditions do help explain why record-breaking innings tend to cluster at certain grounds and in certain seasons more than others.

How this list can change overnight in a way career records can't

Because this is a single-innings record, a player with a relatively modest overall career can still enter or move up this list with one outstanding performance — something that's structurally impossible on a cumulative list like most runs or most centuries, where a single match can only ever nudge a player's total up slightly rather than vault them into contention.

How is this ranking calculated?

Innings are ranked by the highest individual run total scored in a single IPL match, using ball-by-ball data.

Can this list change mid-season?

Yes — any player who scores enough in a single innings can enter or move up this list immediately after that match, unlike career-total records that build gradually over a season.

Does this list show each player's best innings only once?

Yes. This ranks distinct individual innings, so a player who has posted more than one high score across their career appears once per qualifying innings rather than once overall.

How many innings does this list track?

The page currently tracks the top 100 individual innings scores in IPL history.

Do conditions play a bigger role in this record than in career-total records?

Generally yes. A single innings is far more exposed to the specific pitch, ground dimensions, and bowling attack faced on that day than a career total, which averages out good and bad days across hundreds of innings.

Is the highest individual score always from a chase or a first-innings total?

It can come from either. Some record innings have come while setting a total, others while chasing one down, and the match context doesn't factor into how this list is ranked.