Virat Kohli has the most centuries in the IPL. He has nine, from 275 innings between 2008 and 2026, and no one else has more than seven.
Jos Buttler is second on seven. Chris Gayle and KL Rahul have six each, Sanju Samson and Shubman Gill five. Kohli is still adding to his: the most recent came in May 2026.
In nineteen seasons the league has produced 125 centuries in total, and they have arrived far faster lately than they used to.
Most centuries in the IPL
| Player | Span | Mat | Runs | Ave | 100s |
| Virat Kohli | 2008-2026 | 283 | 9,336 | 40.41 | 9 |
| Jos Buttler | 2016-2026 | 138 | 4,646 | 39.70 | 7 |
| Chris Gayle | 2009-2021 | 142 | 4,965 | 39.72 | 6 |
| KL Rahul | 2013-2026 | 159 | 5,815 | 46.15 | 6 |
| Sanju Samson | 2013-2026 | 191 | 5,181 | 31.78 | 5 |
| Shubman Gill | 2018-2026 | 134 | 4,598 | 40.33 | 5 |
| David Warner | 2009-2024 | 184 | 6,565 | 40.52 | 4 |
| Shane Watson | 2008-2020 | 145 | 3,874 | 30.99 | 4 |
| Quinton de Kock | 2013-2026 | 118 | 3,441 | 31.28 | 3 |
| AB de Villiers | 2008-2021 | 184 | 5,162 | 39.70 | 3 |
| B Sai Sudharsan | 2022-2026 | 57 | 2,515 | 48.36 | 3 |
From ESPNcricinfo Statsguru. Figures to 31 August 2026.
Virat Kohli | 9 IPL centuries
Kohli has 9,336 runs at 40.41 in 283 matches, with 68 fifties alongside the nine hundreds. What the total hides is how unevenly they came: four of the nine arrived in 2016 alone, in the space of a month, and he then went two seasons without another.
Those four in a season are still a joint record, shared with Buttler’s four in 2022. Kohli’s ninth came on 13 May 2026, an unbeaten 105 against Kolkata Knight Riders at Raipur.
Jos Buttler | 7 IPL centuries
Buttler has 4,646 runs at 39.70 in 138 matches. His 2022 is the other great century season in IPL history: four hundreds in one campaign, matching Kohli’s 2016 and coming from a player who had scored one in his previous six seasons combined.
Chris Gayle and KL Rahul | 6 each
Gayle finished on six from 4,965 runs at 39.72, and one of them is the innings the format is still measured against: 175 not out against Pune Warriors at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on 23 April 2013, the highest individual score in T20 cricket anywhere, not just in this league.
Rahul is the one active player closing on Kohli. His six have come at an average of 46.15, the best of any multiple centurion in the league bar Sai Sudharsan, and his 152 not out against Punjab Kings in Delhi on 25 April 2026 is the third-highest score in IPL history.
How many centuries have been scored in the IPL?
125, across nineteen seasons from 2008 to 2026. They are not spread evenly, and the trend is the most interesting number on this page.
| Season | 100s | Season | 100s |
| 2008 | 6 | 2018 | 5 |
| 2009 | 2 | 2019 | 6 |
| 2010 | 4 | 2020 | 5 |
| 2011 | 6 | 2021 | 4 |
| 2012 | 6 | 2022 | 8 |
| 2013 | 4 | 2023 | 12 |
| 2014 | 3 | 2024 | 14 |
| 2015 | 4 | 2025 | 9 |
| 2016 | 7 | 2026 | 15 |
| 2017 | 5 |
The first four seasons produced 18 hundreds between them. The last four produced 50 — two fifths of every century in IPL history, in four of its nineteen seasons. 2026 alone produced 15, more than any season before it, and more than the league’s first three seasons combined.
The jump lines up with one rule change. The impact player, introduced in 2023, lets a side bat a twelfth man, and 2023 was the first season the league reached double figures for hundreds. That is a correlation and not a proven cause — 2025’s nine is a reminder that the line does not only go up — but somewhere around 2022 a hundred stopped being a freak event in this competition.
The first IPL century, and the most recent
The first was also the innings that announced the league. On the opening night, 18 April 2008, Brendon McCullum made 158 not out off 73 balls for Kolkata Knight Riders against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy. It stood as the highest score in the competition for five years, until Gayle’s 175 on the same ground.
The most recent, as of the end of the 2026 season, is Shubman Gill’s 104 against Rajasthan Royals at New Chandigarh on 29 May 2026.
For the quickest of the 125 rather than the biggest, see our page on the fastest century in the IPL. For the same question across every T20 competition, see most centuries in T20 cricket, where Gayle rather than Kohli leads.
Photo credit: Alamy