An unforgettable night when Chennai turned yellow with sixes and a calm Tamil Nadu boy turned into a storm
It’s 2025, the IPL is in full swing, and there’s no shortage of breathtaking knocks this season, either. However, when you rewind the tape and dust off the archives, one innings still roars louder than most — Murali Vijay’s thunderous 127 off just 56 balls against Rajasthan Royals. It wasn’t just CSK’s highest-ever individual score in the league; it was also a reminder that even in a team of icons, sometimes it’s the quiet lad from Chennai who steals the spotlight.
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Let’s go back to April 3, 2010. Chepauk was heaving. The sun was merciless, but what unfolded under it was absolute gold.
The early stages didn’t promise anything outrageous. Batting first, the Chennai Super Kings lost Matthew Hayden in the sixth over for a sprightly 34, and soon after, Suresh Raina fell cheaply to Shane Warne. At 83/2 in 8.2 overs, the Royals may have fancied themselves pulling things back. However, they hadn’t accounted for Murali Vijay’s surge.
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By the 11th over, Vijay brought up his half-century in 30 balls. Not in a hurry, but not holding back either. Clean hits, classical strokes, and controlled aggression — the sort of innings that builds up like a pressure cooker before it whistles.
Then entered Albie Morkel. If Vijay was fire, Morkel brought the gasoline. Together, they turned Chepauk square into a six-hitting carnival.
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From 91/2 at the halfway mark, Chennai climbed to 150 by the 14th over. Vijay shifted into another gear entirely, slamming Sumit Narwal for two towering sixes and leaving him with figures of 2 overs and 41 runs.
Morkel also wasn’t just playing second fiddle — he clubbed 62 off 34 balls with 5 sixes of his own. The two stitched together a 152-run standoff with just 67 balls — the kind of partnership that blows the match wide open.
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By the time Vijay brought up his century — off just 46 balls — the crowd had lost count of the sixes. He would eventually finish on 127, peppered with 8 fours and 11 sixes, striking at 226.78.
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If CSK’s 246/5 looked beyond reach, Rajasthan Royals had other plans. Naman Ojha and Shane Watson put up a fight that was nothing short of heroic. Ojha hammered an unbeaten 94 off 55, Watson bulldozed 60 off just 25, and by the 18th over, RR had reached 210.
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But Doug Bollinger’s debut spell (4-0-15-2) kept Chennai’s nerves in check. With wickets falling just as RR tried to go full throttle, CSK hung on. In the end, Rajasthan finished on 223/5 — a mighty effort, but still 23 runs shy.
It wasn’t just a win but a night of firsts and records. Vijay’s 127 remains the highest individual score for CSK in IPL history and is still the fifth-highest individual score by an Indian, even after 15 years. Their total of 246 was the highest team score in the 2010 IPL. And the 152-run stand between Vijay and Morkel? A CSK classic that has rarely been topped.
