The biggest cricket carnival of India IPL has reached its 15th year. Indian fans witness many run-fests while these many years. But do you know there were many occasions where the defending teams restricted the chasing team within the very small score they put and clinched a nail-biting victory? Here are the lowest 5 totals that have been defended in the Indian Premier League over these years.
5. 120 by Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors India (2012)
In the number 5 position there comes the Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors India (2012) match 2012 where MI could put up only 120 runs in 20 over with a loss of 9 wickets. Sachin Tendulkar was the top scorer of MI with 34 runs (35 balls). Bhubaneswar Kumar and Ashish Nehra took 2 wickets each helping PWI to restrict MI to such a low score.
But the match was never easy for PWI batters as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. But the match kept going interesting when 15 runs were required in 10 balls. Mithun Manhas tried his best to win the match but his efforts fell short and MI won the nail-biter by just 1 run.
4. 119 by Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Pune Warriors India (2013)
PWI got another setback in 2013 when they couldn’t chase another small total of 119 which was put off by Sunrisers Hyderabad. SRH put up the score with a gritty knock of Biplab Samantray and Ashish Reddy.
But PWI never looked comfortable while chasing and got bundled in 108. Bhubaneswar Kumar picked up 3 crucial wickets while Amit Mishra chanted his spell of leg-spin by picking up 4 wickets. PWI left behind 11 runs of SRH.
3. 119 by Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians (2009)
The franchise of Punjab won a thriller against Mumbai Indians in 2009 while defending their lowest total of 119. KXIP managed to score only 119 runs with the help of Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara’s healthy knock of 45 runs.
Jp Duminy tried to take over MI over the victory line with 59 runs but he took 63 balls in this process. MI was able to score only 116 runs giving victory to KXIP by 3 runs in a nail-biting thriller.
2. 118 by Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Mumbai Indians (2018)
One of the most talked about the match of session 2018 was the MI vs SRH match when they met each other in the first leg. SRH could only put up a score of 118 with help of Yusuf Pathan’s knock (29).
But they had one of the best bowling attacks of that season. MI got budled in only 87 runs. Basil Thampi and Rashid Khan were stand-out performers for SRH as they made MI on their knees from a position of 61/3.
1. 116 by Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab (2009)
Chennai Super Kings holds the record of defending the lowest total in IPL. CSK put up a total of 116/9 in 20 overs against KXIP in 2009 with the help of Parthiv Patel’s 32 runs of 23 balls.
But Punjab never looked settled while chasing the score and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. Their inning crashed at only 92 runs in 20 overs. It was a combined team effort from CSK bowlers as four of them took 2 wickets each to hold the record in their name.
