IPL, being the grandest T20 league, is known for quick-fire batting and high-scoring matches. Even the scores above 180 have been chased with ease on multiple occasions in the IPL.
With that being said, it’s quite rare when a team scores a below-pat total and still manages to sneak a win. Revisiting such low-scoring encounters, here are the 5 lowest scores successfully defended in the IPL.
#5 120 runs (MI)
Match: Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors India | May 3 2012
Openers Sachin Tendulkar and James Franklin struck a slow yet steady 50-runs partnership, but the line-up lost its way after their dismissals. The middle-order couldn’t find boundaries, whereas the lower order struggled to put bat on ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ashish Nehra scamper two wickets apiece, whereas 4 MI batsmen were dismissed by virtue of run-outs.
Chasing a small total of 121, the PWI top-order played very slow to build pressure upon themselves. Despite a valiant effort by Mithun Manhas, the rest of the batsmen struggled for Pune, and the team lost by just 1 run.
Malinga and Harbhajan picked up 2 wickets each to detail the PWI batting line-up.
Brief Scores: MI – 120/9 (20 overs) (Samantray 37, Bhuvi 3/18) ; PWI – 119/6 (20 overs) (Manhas 42*, Harbhajan 2/18)
#4 119 runs (SRH)
Match: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Pune Warriors India | April 17 2013
Batting first, SRH struggled to score quickly with only Biplab Samantray and Amit Mishra going past the 30-runs mark. 19*(15) by No.9 batsman Ashish Reddy helped them reach 119/8 in the alloted 20 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar started with the ball for PWI, picking up 3 wickets.
Chasing 120 was supposed to be a cakewalk for Pune, but the SRH bowling attack had other plans. Kushal Perera picked up 3 wickets, including both the openers, whereas Amit Mishra picked up 4 wickets, including a hat-trick to sweep the tail. PWI could only get to 108 as Sunrisers pulled off a famous victory by 11 runs.
Brief Scores: SRH – 119/8 (20 overs) (Tendulkar 34, Bhuvi 2/9) ; PWI – 108 a/o (19 overs) (Uthappa 22, Mishra 4/19)
#3 119 runs (KXIP)
Match: Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians | April 29 2009
KXIP’s batsmen struggled to bat quick that day as they could only muster 119/8 playing full 20 overs. Kumar Sangakkara held one end up with a gritty 45* otherwise, things could’ve worsened even more for Punjab. Lasith Malinga was the pick of the bowlers for MI with 2/12 in 4 overs.
Mumbai started on a terrible note with the top 3 managing to score only 4 runs collectively. Coming in at no.4, JP Duminy scored a 59 (63), which is the slowest fifty (55 balls) in the history of IPL. 2 wickets apiece for Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Abdullah helped Punjab snatch the victory by mere 3 runs.
Brief Scores: KXIP – 119/8 (20 overs) (Sangakkara 45*, Malinga 2/12) ; MI – 116/7 (20 overs) (Duminy 59, Abdullah 2/19)
#2 118 runs (SRH)
Match: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Mumbai Indians | April 24 2018
Mayank Markande, Mitchell McClenaghan, and Hardik Pandya dismissed 2 batsmen each as SRH went on to lose all its wickets for a paltry total of 118. Captain Kane Williamson and Yusuf Pathan top-scored with 29 runs each.
Defending a below-par total, SRH bowlers bowled their heart out as Mumbai got bundled out for 87. SK Yadav (34) and Krunal Pandya (24) were the only two batsmen to score in double digits for MI. While every bowler bowled well, Sidharth Kaul was the pick of them with 3 wickets.
Brief Scores: SRH – 118 a/o (18.4 overs) (Williamson 29, Markande 2/15) ; MI – 87 a/o (18.5 overs) (Yadav 34, Kaul 3/23)
#1 116 runs (CSK)
Match: Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab | May 20 2009
Despite a decent start from the top order, CSK’s middle and lower order succumbed to the KXIP bowlers. Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan took 2 wickets each to restrict Chennai to a small total of 116/9 in 20 overs.
In the second innings, CSK’s terrible batting performance was compensated by their bowlers. Punjab’s batsmen had no answers to CSK’s tight bowling as 4 different bowlers picked up 2 wickets each. Luke Pomersbach (26) and Irfan Pathan (14) were the only two KXIP batsmen to score in double digits as CSK won the game by 24 runs.
Brief Scores: CSK – 116/9 (20 overs) (Parthiv 32, Sreesanth 2/23) ; KXIP – 92/8 (20 overs) (Pomersbach 26, Muralitharan 2/8)
Also Read: The Top Five highest Team Totals in IPL