Highest Powerplay Scores in IPL History: Explosive Starts

The Powerplay often decides the direction of an IPL match before the innings has properly settled. During the first six overs, only two fielders can stay outside the 30-yard circle, giving opening batters their best chance to attack pace, exploit gaps and put the bowling side under immediate pressure.

For many years, a score of around 50 or 60 after six overs was considered an excellent start. Modern IPL batting has changed that standard completely. Teams now regularly target 70 or 80, while a few extraordinary opening partnerships have pushed beyond 100 before the fielding restrictions end.

Sunrisers Hyderabad hold the all-time IPL Powerplay record with 125/0 against Delhi Capitals in 2024. Punjab Kings moved into second place with 116/0 against the same opposition in 2026, while SRH also own the third-highest total with 107/0 against Lucknow Super Giants. Six Powerplays have reached 100 runs through the completed 2026 season.

Highest Powerplay Scores in IPL History

The list shows how dramatically IPL Powerplay batting has changed. Nine of these 12 scores have come since the start of the 2024 season. The average Powerplay score across the competition also rose to 60.5 in 2026, compared with only 41.3 in 2013.

1. Sunrisers Hyderabad – 125/0 vs Delhi Capitals

Sunrisers Hyderabad produced the greatest Powerplay assault in IPL history at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on April 20, 2024.

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma attacked from the opening over and never allowed Delhi Capitals to regain control. SRH reached 100 in only 4.6 overs and finished the six-over phase on an astonishing 125 without loss.

Head did most of the damage, scoring 84 from 26 balls during the Powerplay. Abhishek contributed 40 from only 10 deliveries. Together, they hit 24 boundaries during the first six overs, including 11 sixes.

Head eventually made 89 from 32 balls and SRH finished with 266/7. Delhi were bowled out for 199 as Hyderabad won by 67 runs.

The performance changed expectations around Powerplay batting. Before that night, KKR’s 105/0 had stood as the IPL record for almost seven years. SRH did not simply break it; they added 20 runs to it.

2. Punjab Kings – 116/0 vs Delhi Capitals

Punjab Kings came remarkably close to SRH’s record during their historic chase against Delhi Capitals in 2026.

Delhi had posted 264/2, leaving Punjab with one of the most difficult targets ever seen in the competition. Instead of beginning cautiously, Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya attacked immediately.

PBKS reached 50 in only 2.5 overs and crossed 100 after 5.2 overs. At the end of six overs, they were 116/0, the second-highest Powerplay total in IPL history. Prabhsimran had already reached 71, while Arya had contributed 38.

Prabhsimran eventually finished with 76 from 26 deliveries. Punjab maintained the required rate and completed the chase at 265/4 in 18.5 overs.

The innings was important beyond the Powerplay record. It became the highest successful chase in IPL history and showed how an explosive first six overs can make even a target above 260 manageable.

3. Sunrisers Hyderabad – 107/0 vs Lucknow Super Giants

Sunrisers produced another extraordinary Powerplay only weeks after making 125 against Delhi.

Lucknow Super Giants had scored 165/4 in Hyderabad, a total that appeared competitive. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma made it look tiny.

SRH raced to 107/0 after six overs. Head and Abhishek attacked every type of bowling, preventing Lucknow from finding even one quiet over. The sixth over alone cost 20 runs as Abhishek struck two sixes and two fours.

The assault did not stop when the field spread. Hyderabad chased down 166 in only 9.4 overs without losing a wicket.

Head finished unbeaten on 89 from 30 balls, while Abhishek made 75 not out from 28. It remains one of the most dominant chases in IPL history and demonstrated why the Head-Abhishek partnership became one of the league’s most dangerous opening combinations.

4. Kolkata Knight Riders – 105/0 vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Before SRH transformed Powerplay scoring, Kolkata Knight Riders owned the record.

Chasing 159 against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in 2017, KKR made a tactical move by promoting Sunil Narine to open alongside Chris Lynn.

The experiment produced instant destruction.

Narine smashed a 15-ball fifty, while Lynn attacked from the other end. Their partnership reached 100 from only 36 deliveries, and Kolkata ended the Powerplay on 105/0. Narine had 54 and Lynn 49 at the six-over mark.

KKR eventually completed the chase in only 15.1 overs, winning by six wickets.

The innings was influential because Narine was not a conventional opening batter. His success encouraged IPL teams to think more creatively about using pinch-hitters against fielding restrictions.

5. Sunrisers Hyderabad – 105/0 vs Punjab Kings

Sunrisers Hyderabad returned to the top five again in 2026, this time against Punjab Kings in New Chandigarh.

Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head once again set the tone. The pair raced to 105 without loss after six overs, matching KKR’s famous 2017 total.

Abhishek was particularly aggressive and eventually made 74 from 28 balls, while Head scored 38 from 23. The pair added 120 in eight overs before Punjab finally broke the partnership.

Unlike several other record Powerplays, however, this start did not produce victory. SRH slowed considerably after the opening partnership and finished with 219/6.

Punjab responded with a spectacular chase of their own and reached 93/0 in the Powerplay before winning by six wickets.

The match demonstrated an important T20 lesson: even a 100-plus Powerplay does not guarantee victory if the scoring rate falls sharply during the middle overs.

Highest Individual Powerplay Scores in IPL

Some of the greatest IPL Powerplays have been driven primarily by one batter rather than an evenly shared opening partnership.

Suresh Raina still holds the record for the most runs scored by an individual during the first six overs of an IPL innings.

Raina’s 87 came from only 25 balls in the 2014 Qualifier 2 at Wankhede Stadium. CSK were chasing 227, and Raina attacked from the moment he arrived. He hit 12 fours and six sixes before being run out. Remarkably, the record still stands despite the increasingly aggressive Powerplay batting of recent seasons.

Head came closest during SRH’s record 125/0 in 2024, scoring 84 of those runs himself.

Jake Fraser-McGurk’s 78 against Mumbai Indians and Josh Inglis’ 77 against CSK show how modern openers now approach the first six overs with almost no settling period.

Most Sixes in an IPL Powerplay

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi created a new six-hitting benchmark during the 2026 IPL playoffs.

The Rajasthan Royals youngster smashed eight sixes inside the Powerplay against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator. He eventually scored 97 from 29 balls with 12 sixes overall.

Before Sooryavanshi broke the record, seven sixes in a Powerplay had been achieved by several players, including Sanath Jayasuriya, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Abhishek Sharma.

Sooryavanshi also led the 2026 season with an extraordinary 46 Powerplay sixes and became the first batter to score more than 500 Powerplay runs in a single IPL season.

Famous Explosive Powerplay Performances in IPL

Suresh Raina’s 87 Against Punjab

Raina’s 2014 innings remains one of the most extraordinary examples of Powerplay hitting because it came in a playoff while CSK were chasing 227.

He reached 87 from only 25 deliveries before a run-out ended the assault. Chennai had already reached 100/2 after six overs.

Although CSK eventually lost by 24 runs, Raina’s individual Powerplay record has survived more than a decade of increasingly aggressive IPL batting.

SRH Rewrite the Record Book in Delhi

The Head-Abhishek partnership against Delhi in 2024 represents the modern Powerplay at its most extreme.

They did not simply target weaker bowlers or wait for bad deliveries. Both batters attacked almost every over, reaching 100 before five overs had been completed.

Their 125/0 remains the benchmark against which every future IPL Powerplay will be measured.

Prabhsimran Leads Punjab’s Historic Chase

Punjab’s 116/0 against Delhi in 2026 came under enormous scoreboard pressure.

Prabhsimran Singh even struck six fours in a single over against Mukesh Kumar, becoming only the third IPL batter to hit six boundaries in an over. He had 71 runs by the end of the Powerplay.

That start gave Punjab enough momentum to chase 265, turning an apparently unrealistic target into a successful pursuit.

Narine Changes the Role of an IPL Opener

Narine’s 54 from 17 balls against RCB in 2017 helped transform how franchises viewed Powerplay batting.

Rather than selecting an opener only for technique and consistency, KKR used a bowling all-rounder as a specialist early-overs attacker.

The strategy worked perfectly as Narine and Lynn reached 105 without loss after six overs, setting a record that stood until 2024.

How Powerplay Batting Has Changed in the IPL

The numbers clearly show an evolution.

The average IPL Powerplay produced only 41.3 runs in 2013. By 2024, that figure had climbed to 56.8. It increased again to 57.9 in 2025 and reached 60.5 in 2026.

Teams now select openers partly for their ability to score immediately rather than simply preserve wickets. The Impact Player rule has also provided deeper batting lineups, allowing top-order players to accept more risk.

The result is visible in the record table. Scores that would once have been considered extraordinary are increasingly common, and nine of the top 12 Powerplays have been recorded since 2024.

FAQs

What is the highest Powerplay score in IPL history?

Sunrisers Hyderabad hold the record with 125/0 against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in 2024. Travis Head scored 84 and Abhishek Sharma made 40 during the first six overs.

Which team has the second-highest IPL Powerplay score?

Punjab Kings are second with 116/0 against Delhi Capitals in 2026. Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya powered the record start while chasing 265.

Who has scored the most individual runs in an IPL Powerplay?

Suresh Raina holds the record with 87 runs during the first six overs against Punjab Kings in the 2014 Qualifier 2.

Who has hit the most sixes in one IPL Powerplay?

most sixes in IPL.

How many teams have scored 100 runs in an IPL Powerplay?

There have been six IPL Powerplays of 100 or more runs through the completed 2026 season. SRH have achieved the feat three times.

What overs count as the Powerplay in the IPL?

In a standard 20-over IPL innings, the mandatory Powerplay covers overs 1 to 6. During this period, only two fielders are permitted outside the 30-yard circle.