IPL Stats: Lowest Totals Defended In IPL History

IPL Stats & Records - Here are the top 5 lowest defended totals in IPL history.

IPL Stats & Records - The T20 festival of India, Indian Premier League has returned to India for its fifteenth edition after one and a half-season was held outside India due to covid restrictions. IPL 2022 kicked off on March 26th when IPL 2021 runners-up Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed defending champions Chennai Super Kings. 

In the batter-dominated T20 format, oftentimes a team ends up with a batting collapse which leads to a small total. Here's where the bowlers have to show up, and sometimes the bowlers succeed in defending this low total, either with assistance from playing conditions or excellent planning. 

Here are the top 5 lowest defended totals in IPL history. 

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#5. Mumbai Indians (120/9, IPL 2012)

After opting to bat first against Pune Warriors, Mumbai Indians were limited to 120/9 courtesy of brilliance from Pune fielders and bowlers - inflicting 4 runouts. Bhvuneshwar Kumar & Ashish Nehra picked up 2 wickets each while Ashok Dinda picked up 1 wicket. In reply, MI bowlers equalled or even bettered PW's bowling performance, stopping the opposition at 119/6 and winning the match by 1 run. Lasith Malinga & Harbhajan Singh picked up 2 wickets each while Munaf Patel & Pragyan Ojha managed 1 wicket. 

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#4. Sunrisers Hyderabad (119/8, IPL 2013)

The Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise had been famed for defending low totals and the match against Pune Warriors was the same instance. After being told to bat first, SRH posted 119/8 in 20 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up 3 wickets for Sunrisers, Rahul Sharma picked up 2 wickets while Ashok Dinda and Mitchell Marsh managed 1 wicket each. In reply, SRH bowlers pulled off a brilliant performance to restrict PW to 108 in 19 overs, winning the match by 11 runs. Amit Mishra picked up 4 wickets, Thisara Perera picked 3 while Ishant Sharma, Dale Steyn and Karna Sharma picked up 1 wicket each. 

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#3. Punjab Kings (119/8, IPL 2009)

In the second season of IPL, Punjab were limited to 119/8 after opting to bat first against Mumbai Indians. Amongst MI bowlers, Lasith Malinga picked up 2 wickets while Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Jean-Paul Duminy & Sanath Jayasuriya managed 1 wicket each. Punjab Kings' bowlers then showed up and stopped MI at 116/7 in 20 overs, winning the match by 3 runs. Irfan Pathan & Yusuf Abdulla picked up 2 wickets each for Punjab while Vikramjeet Malik, Ramesh Powar & Piyush Chawla picked up 1 scalp apiece. 

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#2. Sunrisers Hyderabad (118/10, IPL 2018)

Sunrisers Hyderabad yet again defending a low total. In IPL 2018 after being put in to bat first against Mumbai Indians, Hyderabad were restricted to a total of 118 in 18.4 overs. Mitchell McClenaghan, Hardik Pandya and Mayank Markande picked up 2 wickets each while Jasprit Bumrah and Mustafizur Rahman picked up 1 wicket each. In reply, however, SRH pulled off another spectacular bowling performance, bowling out MI for just 87 runs in 18.5 overs. Siddhart Kaul picked up 3 wickets for Hyderabad, Rashid Khan & Basil Thampi picked up 2 wickets while Sandeep Sharma, Mohammad Nabi and Shakib Al Hasan picked 1 wicket each as SRH won the match by 31 runs. 

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#1. Chennai Super Kings (116/9, IPL 2009)

The four-time champions Chennai Super Kings stand atop the list. In the 54th match of IPL 2009 at Durban, CSK posted 116/9 after opting to bat first. Brett Lee & Sreesanth picked up 2 wickets each for Punjab while Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla and Wilkin Mota picked up 1 wicket per head as well. CSK bowlers then made an easy job out of the low total defence and restricted Punjab to 92/8 in 20 overs, winning the match by 24 runs. Muralidaran, Ashwin, Raina & Thushara picked up 2 wickets each to register the lowest total defence in the history of IPL.