After its inception in 2008, the Indian Premier League (IPL) carved out a niche for itself and every year, its legacy increases with more commercial deals, bigger contracts/salaries, the best players from around the world, more records being broken, and more talented players being scouted out. The league has taken sports management in India to a much higher level, rubbing off on other tournaments as well.
Over the years, many cricketers have gone on to etch their names in the IPL history books, some with the bat, some with the ball, and some just because they’ve been around for that long. So today, we’re going to talk about the handful number of cricketers who have played 250+ IPL matches over the years and across their respective careers.
Players with 250+ IPL matches
When you talk about the IPL and most other T20 franchise leagues, you know that there’s a bias towards the batsman, often called a batsman’s game. Hence, we don’t have any genuine bowler who has reached the milestone of 250+ career IPL matches, with the current list being full of genuine batsmen and wicket-keeper batsmen.
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While there’s a major influence of overseas players in this tournament, all those to have played 250+ IPL career matches till date (last updated on 21st April 2024) are Indian cricketers itself. And with the brief history of the tournament, all the players in this special 250-match club are those who have played the tournament from the first edition till date.
Complete 250+ IPL matches list
| Career span | Player | Matches | Runs | Wickets |
| 2008-2024 | MS Dhoni | 257 | 5,169 | 0 |
| 2008-2024 | Dinesh Karthik | 250 | 4,742 | 0 |
| 2008-2024 | Rohit Sharma | 250 | 6,508 | 15 |
| 2008-2024 | Virat Kohli | 245* | 7,624 | 4 |
| TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
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One of the most legendary Indian cricketers, MS Dhoni tops the list with 257 career IPL matches and we don’t recollect him missing too many games in this tournament over the years either. This number he achieved during the IPL 2023 season and since we believe IPL 2024 will surely be his last season, he won’t be at the top of this list for more than a year from today.
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Another leading light of Indian cricket in Rohit Sharma features in this list with 250 while wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik became the third to join the 250-match IPL club, being the only one on this list who didn’t have a prominent international career. However, he’s been a vital member of the multiple IPL squads he’s represented over the years, last being RCB in IPL 2024.
Virat Kohli is the only player on the list to have represented a single IPL franchise over the years – Royal Challengers Bangalore. He’s still at 245 games when we last updated this list, but he’s projected to become the fourth person to join the 250-match milestone club in the Indian Premier League.
Dinesh Karthik becomes only the 3rd player after Dhoni and Rohit in IPL history to play 250 matches. pic.twitter.com/j74N66NBfA
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 21, 2024
Others who are trailing Kohli who are still active players in the league include Shikhar Dhawan (222 games), Ravi Ashwin (203 games), and David Warner (183 games). For more updates from the Indian Premier League and other cricketing events from around the world, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com.
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