The fastest sprinters off the blocks

105 for 0, Kolkata Knight Riders v Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2017
Chasing 159, Knight Riders sprung a surprise by opening with pinch-hitter Sunil Narine, who many thought would drop back down the order with Chris Lynn returning from injury and Gautam Gambhir still around. It led to RCB being under attack from both ends. Lynn scored 14 runs in the first over and another 14 in the third, and then Narine smashed the fourth over for 26. By the end of the Powerplay, Narine had reached his fifty, the joint-fastest in IPL, while Lynn was on 49. The score of 105 was a record for highest Powerplay in not just the IPL but in all Twenty20 matches (where ball-by-ball data is available).

100 for 2, Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab, 2nd qualifying play-off, IPL 2014
The first 36 balls of Super Kings' chase of 227 in a knock-out game featured the following - 87 runs off Suresh Raina's bat alone, featuring 18 hits to the fence, apart from two wickets in between. It remains the only three-figure Powerplay score in IPL history, and astonishingly enough, the only one on this list to feature in a losing cause.

90 for 0, Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians, IPL 2015
A whirlwind opening partnership between Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith virtually shut Mumbai out of a game they were bossing until that point. Between the fourth and sixth overs, the duo put on 61 runs, smashing each of Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh and J Suchith for three fours in their overs. Eventually, a pursuit of 184 was closed out with 20 balls to spare.

87 for 2, Kochi Tuskers Kerala v Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2011
In their final league game, Kochi comprehensively outplayed Royals in a thoroughly one-sided affair. After bundling them out for just 97, they chased down the total in 7.2 overs, to give themselves a slim chance of progressing from the league phase, which they missed out eventually.

86 for 1, Kings XI Punjab v Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2014
A chase of over 200, with the likes of Dale Steyn and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to contend with, should technically be among the harder match situations to deal with in a T20 game. Yet, Manan Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha went about tonking them to all parts of their home ground, as they put together 91 runs off 41 balls, notwithstanding the early loss of Virender Sehwag. In the end, this Powerplay sprint would prove the difference as Sunrisers went about choking the run flow through the middle overs.

84 for 1, Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils, semi-final, IPL 2009
It was the night Gilchrist was in excelsis, as he lived up to his promise of erasing Chargers' nightmarish memories from the first season. At the end of six overs, the aggregate score by batsmen at the other end read 5 off 13 balls. Gilchrist, batting on another planet, had raced to 74 off 25 balls, sealing a maiden final berth for his side.

83 for 4, Royal Challengers Bangalore v Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2015
In a rain-affected chase, the Powerplay was but the game itself, as yet another Chris Gayle-Virat Kohli show chased down 83 with a ball to spare. After Gayle's departure - and 39 needed off 21 balls - there was time for a mini-collapse before Kohli took matters into his own hands to close the chase with 14 runs off the last three balls.

82 for 1, Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians, IPL 2017
Kings XI had set Mumbai a formidable target of 199 after a Hashim Amla century, so a quick start was required in the chase. Jos Buttler and Parthiv Patel provided it. Buttler did the early hitting, smashing Sandeep Sharma for two big sixes, and then Parthiv attacked Ishant Sharma. Mumbai rode on the momentum and ended up winning inside 16 overs.

79 for 0, Sunrisers Hyderabad v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2017
David Warner had had some uncharacteristically subdued starts in the first half of the 2017 IPL. It seemed like he had decided to try to bat through the innings and go big in the end. There was none of that, though, against Knight Riders. He reached his half-century off the first ball of the fifth over and was on 62 off 25 balls by the end of the Powerplay. His opening partner, Shikhar Dhawan, was on 13.

79 for 1, Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kochi Tuskers Kerala, IPL 2011
There are multiple gears to choose from when sides chase 126 runs in a T20 game. Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan did it in the only one they know. Dilshan took care of Ramesh Powar in the second over, followed by Gayle's 37-run assault off Prasanth Parameswaran in the third. Wearing bandanas, both men plundered runs in a manner any seasoned pirate would have been proud of.