The Hundred League commenced in the last week of July and has reached near the quarterfinals stage now. Consisting of a total of 100 balls in each inning, this shorter format opened a new way of playing fast-paced cricket with a different strategy needed to be accustomed to other than all the other formats.
Many players got humbled in all the departments as per the demand of this format; for instance, Rashid Khan got hit for 5 consecutive by Kieron Pollard, who retired from IPL 2 years ago and still managed to hit these maximums against one of the greatest spin bowlers of the world.
Nicholas Pooran
Nicholas is a part of the Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League. He used to bat at number 5 during the middle overs and was given the role of a finisher for the team. Pooran scored a total of 499 runs in 14 matches, just a couple of runs behind the captain KL Rahul in the IPL, with a destructive strike rate of 178.21 and an impressive average of 62.37. He was the 8th highest scorer in the IPL season 2024 and the only batsman to enter the top ten after batting at number 5.
In the Hundred League, Nicholas Pooran sits in the 3rd position for the highest runs in this league. He plays for the Northern Superchargers and recently came into the limelight for his blistering innings of 66* off 33 balls against the Manchester Originals. In that gigantic innings, he also hit a six of 113 meters on the 74th ball of the innings, and Scott Burrie bowled the ball on the leg, which was clobbered on the mid wicket region by Nicholas Pooran.
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Phil Salt
Salt played as a top-order batsman from the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024. Phil made 435 runs in 12 matches with an average of over 40 and a lethal strike rate of 182. He opened with Sunil Narine, and both the batsmen combined gave a swashbuckling start for KKR. Salt and Narine combined made 559 runs in 12 innings, which was the third-best this season. The pair had six fifty-plus partnerships this season, the most by any pair.
In the Hundred League, he sits in the 4th position for the most runs scored list for the Manchester Originals. In 7 matches, he made 261 runs and averaged up to 30.85 with a satisfactory strike rate of 148.96.
Sam Curran
Sam played for Kings X1 Punjab in 2024; he is a bowling all-rounder who even opened for the team this season and played some clinical innings, which contributed to some victories for the team. This season for the Punjab Kings was not really good for the team, and a basic performance was given by Sam Curran. He made 246 runs this year with a satisfactory average of 26. Along with that, he took 16 wickets in the IPL 2024 season for the Punjab Kings in 13 matches, but had an expensive economy of around 10.15.
He plays for Oval Invincibles in the Hundred League and made 176 runs in 7 matches, which averages up around 26 and took 16 wickets, which is an impeccable record to sustain. He is the second highest wicket taker this year in the Hundred League. He became the first batsman to score a half-century and take five wickets in the same match in the Hundred.
Rashid Khan
He is considered one of the best bowlers of the T20 format around the world with astounding stats. He played for the Gujarat Titans this season (2024) and played 12 matches. Unfortunately, this season he was in his recovery phase after his back injury, due to which he bowled fewer overs and comparatively had a normal stat this season, taking only 10 wickets in 12 matches with an economy of 8.40. Along with that, he made 110 runs with the bat averaging up to 20.40.
In the Hundred League, he played for the Trent Rockets and took 9 wickets out of 5 matches. This season he became famous for getting hit for 5 sixes by Kieron Pollard from the Southern Braves; unfortunately, just after that match, Rashid Khan was unavailable to play the remainder matches and replaced by Chris Green. Due to injuries occurring this year, Rashid Khan suffered from not being able to give the best out of his performance.
Hopefully soon after the recovery he will make a comeback, as this year he made history by becoming one of the youngest captains of Afghanistan to lead in the T20 World Cup, and for the first time Afghanistan qualified for the semi finals, which were played against England.
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