(Cricket news) IPL has seen the highest run scorers every year breaking new barriers as the orange cap takes a lot of team effort too as more the matches, the more the chances they get to score. Players like Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, David Warner and Ab De Villers have redefined the art of attacking the bowlers. Indian players are also not far behind as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina have terrorised the bowlers in their own style.

When we look at the numbers, only twice has the orange cap holder scored less than 600 runs in a season, Mathew Hayden scored 572 runs in 2009 and David Warner scored 562 runs in 2015 which is the lowest for an orange cap holder. Virat Kohli has scored the most runs in a single season when he scored 973 runs in the 2016 season, no one has been able to touch the 900 run mark and the closest was in the same season when David Warner finished second with 848 runs.

Shaun Marsh was the first player to score over 600 runs in a single season as he took the orange cap in 2008, Sachin Tendulkar became the first Indian to score 600 runs in a season as he scored 618 runs in the 2010 season. Chris Gayle became the first player to break the 700 run barrier as he scored 733 runs in the 2012 season, Virat Kohli became the first Indian to score more than 700 runs in a year in the 2016 season and was joined by David Warner. Warner and Kohli are the only batsmen to score more than 800 runs in a year.

Sunrisers Hyderabad has had a batsmen score more than 600 runs a year four consecutive times and Royal Challengers Bangalore being the other one who have done it four times but on separate occasions. Punjab Kings have done it thrice, Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals have done it twice, Mumbai Indians and Kolkota Knight Riders have done it once with Rajasthan yet to do it. David Warner has won the orange cap a record three times.

Virat Kohli is leading the run chart overall with 6076 runs, he is the only player to go past the 6000 run mark and is followed by Shikhar Dhawan who has 5577 runs to his name. David Warner has the highest runs for an overseas player as he has scored 5447 runs with De Villers coming in second with 5056 runs. Dhawan can cross the 5600 run mark while Warner can enter the 5500 mark in this season.

Warner has scored the most fifties as he has scored it fifty times in 148 innings and has a narrow lead over Dhawan who has 44 fifties to his name. Chris Gayle is on top in the century list as he has 6 hundreds to his name and is challenged by Virat Kohli who has five in which four came in the 2016 season which is itself a record. The first hundred was scored by Brendon McCullum in the very first match of the IPL in 2008, he was playing for Kolkata and scored it against Bangalore. Manish Pandey scored the first hundred by an Indian in the IPL, he was playing for Bangalore and scored it against Deccan Chargers in 2009. 

Chris Gayle has scored the fastest century as it took him only 30 balls to reach the three figure mark against Pune Warriors India in 2013 and the Indian record is held by Yusuf Pathan when he scored a century in 37 balls against Mumbai Indians in 2013. The IPL is known to bring in records every season and has seen batsmen smashing sixes all over the stadium and even out of the stadium. This season, the batsmen will have more challenges as the UAE pitches are not batsmen friendly so they won't have the same advantage that they had in India. However, this format is all about challenges and this time too it will be handled with brutal force and power.

Also read: The top five run scorers in the first phase of the Indian Premier League