IPL gives rise to plenty of blockbuster innings and cricketers are so eager to work something out and register big totals in the scoreboard. On the one hand, bowling attacks should try to come back hard but this usually leads to poor scores which now become the batting side’s targets.
Once in a while, if a team would score below 125 and yet win the match, it would be considered an unusual occurrence, but that’s the IPL where everything is unexpected. In this article let’s take a look at the lowest total defended in IPL.
Lowest total defended in IPL history
Teams constantly strive to win in the IPL but things are never the same and the result of the tournament is unpredictable. The truth is that the IPL is not at all predictable. Over and over bowlers are smacked for consecutive sixes in one over, people being bowled out within the team for just a run, runs totaling twice more than an average ODI and being scored in house-to-house matches spring up from the IPL. Below is the table for lowest defended total in IPL.
| S.No | Team | Score | Opposition | Result | Date |
| 1 | Chennai Super Kings | 116/9 | Kings XI Punjab | CSK Won by 24 Runs | 20 May 2009 |
| 2 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 118 | Mumbai Indians | SRH Won by 31 Runs | 24 April 2018 |
| 3 | Kings XI Punjab | 119/8 | Mumbai Indians | KXIP Won by 24 Runs | 20 April 2009 |
| 4 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 119/8 | Pune Warriors | SRH Won by 11 Runs | 17 April 2013 |
| 5 | Mumbai Indians | 120/9 | Pune Warriors | MI Won by 1 Run | 3 May 2012 |
| 6 | Punjab Kings | 125/7 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | PBKS Won by 5 Runs | 25 September 2021 |
| 7 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 126/8 | Chennai Super Kings | RCB Won by 14 Runs | 21 May 2008 |
| 8 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 126/6 | Pune Warriors | SRH Won by 22 Runs | 5 April 2013 |
| 9 | Kings XI Punjab | 126/7 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | KXIP Won by 12 Runs | 24 October 2020 |
| 10 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 126/9 | Lucknow Super Giants | RCB Won by 18 Runs | 1 May 2023 |
| 11 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 129/7 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | KKR Won by 5 Runs | 8 May 2008 |
| 12 | Deccan Chargers | 129/7 | Kochi Tuskers Kerala | DEC Won by 55 Runs | 27 April 2011 |
| 13 | Pune Warriors | 129/9 | Mumbai Indians | PWI Won by 28 Runs | 6 April 2012 |
Top 5 lowest total in IPL defended
Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab (CSK vs KXIP)
Chennai Super Kings have the credit for defending the lowest score recorded in IPL history, which took place during the second year of the premier tournament. The five-time champions reached 116/9 in 20 overs with Parthiv Patel scoring 32 runs from 23 deliveries.
However, the Punjab shot was down by the superior bowlers of CSK, and Dhoni used his bowlers to beat an impossible robbery. The Punjab batsman missed the chance to come out hard and complete the game on their terms. As a result, CSK defeated Punjab with 24 runs, having them limited to 92/8 in the second innings. The year was almost 15 years back and CSK are still celebrating the throwback moment as they hold the record of defending the lowest total in the league, which has only stressed upon their domination in the cash-rich league.
Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Mumbai Indians (SRH vs MI)
In the 23rd encounter of the 2018 edition , Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, a prestigious ground, once again played host to an exciting low-scoring thriller between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians. The Mumbai team led by Rohit Sharma managed a miserly total of a mere 118 for the opposition team who were quickly bowled out for an appalling score of 18.4 overs. While the hosts had an advantage during the chase because of their home conditions, clinical bowling spells from unlikely sources (i.e., a seemingly unimpressive Hyderabad team) also gave them a taste of what it feels like to be facing a strong, experienced opponent who knows how to time their shot well and play within their strengths.
Siddarth Kaul gave 3/23 in his span of 4 overs, which was well supported by Thampi’s 2/4 figure in 1.5 overs. The veteran spinner of SRH Rashid Khan tightened the things for MI by giving runs just 11 in his spells and also bowled out two batsmen. And probably one of the most memorable matches in the tournament was the Hyderabad-based franchise coming out from the low of their defeat just to keep themselves alive in the tournament.
Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians
Kings XI Punjab had already witnessed Yuvraj Singh as their captain and knew that the team had a strong squad under his leadership. The 20th game in Durban tested their batting, when they batted first against Mumbai Indians, they only scored a tally of 119/8 in the first innings. The power was from wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Sangakkara that scored 45 in 44 balls.
With the start of the run chase, Mumbai did not get off the blocks strongly with the batters losing three wickets in the very fifth over. Nevertheless, Proteas all-rounder JP Duminy was the one who kept on going in the first innings. However, there was no support from the other end which meant that Duminy’s 59 (63) went in vain and kept the chase to 116/7 pegged at the end of 20 overs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Pune Warriors
This was the time when Pune Warriors were outright disappointed by their batting and they were facing a chase of 121 runs. The scorecard showed that SRH had secured 119/8. The major contributions were from Biplab Samantray (37) and Ashish Reddy (19). Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 3 wickets. On the other hand, Pune Warriors was bowled out cheaply at 108 and as a result, they failed to chase the total of 119.
Spinner Amit Mishra bowled brilliantly by claiming 4 wickets for 19 runs. Nevertheless, Mishra, famous for his bowling, played a key role with the bat, making 30 runs off 24 bowls.
Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors
While they aimed for this goal, Pune’s batting order kept falling like dominoes and wickets seemed to fall every now and then. In the second ball of the nineteenth over, at 105/6 to run, they lost the wicket that was the sixth, and now they had to score the remaining 15 runs off the last ball. Mithun Manhas, batting at number 5, produced a valiant effort for his side with his 42 runs off 34 balls but the chase was too steep for him to finish the game single-handedly. Mumbai registered a sensational victory in the last-ball by 1 run.
FAQs
What is the lowest score defended in IPL?
Chennai Super Kings defended the lowest score in IPL (119 runs) against Kings XI Punjab.
What is the lowest total defended by Mumbai Indians in IPL history?
Mumbai Indians defended the lowest total of 120 runs against Pune Warriors.
Which are the top 5 teams that defended the lowest total in IPL history?
Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indian defended the lowest total in IPL history.
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