Lowest Team Scores in IPL History

When T20 cricket first came in 2003, several people asked a simple question, what is an ideal score? However, soon, people found out that the question itself had many iterations. On some tracks, in a certain situation, 200 will be difficult to defend, while sometimes 100 runs can be also defended. 

The Indian Premier League is a T20 competition famous for big-hitting. Its latest upcoming sixteenth edition is set to take place from Friday, March 31, 2023 as Gujarat Titans, the winners of last year competiton lock horns with four-time winners Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad.

In a country that produces a quality batsman every now and then, it is tough to believe that there have been really, really low scores in the IPL. As a matter of fact, there have been 45 occasions of a team not being able to score 100 runs. There have been much lower scores in the IPL. 

Let us look back at- 

7. Royal Challengers Bangalore 68 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2022

Royal Challengers Bangalore were stunned by the SRH pacers at the Brabourne Stadium after opting to bowl first. RCB were skittled for just 68 runs in the 17th over of the innings. Marco Jansen was the wrecker-in-chief picking up three wickets – Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Anuj Rawat – in a single over with the new ball. No other batter could play the anchor role as well with SRH picking wickets at regular intervals.

Only Glenn Maxwell and Suyash Prabhudessai could reach the double-figures for RCB as they were bundled out pretty early. Apart from Jansen, Natarajan also picked up three wickets and conceded only 10 runs while Jagadeesha Suchith also impressed with his figures of 2/12.

Interestingly, RCB’s low score came on the same day when they were bundled out for 49 runs, the lowest in the history of IPL in 2017. Another interesting fact is on the same day, they registered the highest score of IPL history as well

6. Kolkata Knight Riders’ 67 vs Mumbai Indians, 2008

The first season for the Kolkata Knight Riders doesn’t have too many memories to look back at. After Brendon McCullum scored 158 runs off 73 balls in the first match, KKR had a season, which they would rather forget. One of the major reasons why this season is a forgettable one is also because of their loss at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. 

Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and elected to bowl first on a track that should have produced a good contest to watch. However, KKR got absolutely no momentum during their innings losing wickets at regular intervals. None of their batters seemed to look set against the bowling unit of Mumbai. 

Shaun Pollock (3 for 12) and Dwayne Bravo (2 for 13) were the chief architects of KKR’s slump. They were bowled out for the lowest total in that season, 67. When it came to the chase, it took Mumbai just 5.3 overs to knock off the total. Sanath Jayasuriya was at his vintage best, racing along to 48 runs off 17 balls. 

Their incumbent skipper Shreyas Iyer is struggling with his back and might miss a few matches in the 2023 edition which won't help as the KKR schedule for the forthcoming edition looks fairly tough.

5. Delhi Capitals’ 67 vs Kings XI Punjab, 2017

Between 2012 and 2019, when they were renamed and relaunched as Delhi Capitals, the Delhi-based franchise saw some really tough seasons in the IPL. One of those seasons was 2017 one, where they once again failed to get any sort of momentum for themselves. On an evening in Mohali, Kings XI Punjab captain Glenn Maxwell won the toss and asked Delhi to bat. 

Sandeep Sharma, who has over the years been a great bowler to watch in the initial six overs, had one of his best days. He swung the ball beautifully as Delhi batters struggled to get a start. He bowled four overs by giving just 20 runs and picked up four crucial wickets. His spell jolted the Delhi team and the rest was taken care of by the other bowlers of Punjab. 

While chasing the total of 68, Punjab’s openers Hashim Amla and Martin Guptill made sure that the match result looked worse for Delhi as they went down by 10 wickets. Guptill scored a brisk 50 runs from 27 balls, while Amla hung around him as Punjab reached the target in 7.5 overs, achieving one of the biggest wins in the league. 

4. Delhi Capitals’ 66 vs Mumbai Indians, 2017

When we said that 2017 was one of the seasons where Delhi just couldn’t get their act together, we had another total to look. This match was interestingly played just a week after their loss against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings). Mumbai Indians were sent into bat by the Delhi captain Zaheer Khan. 

Lendl Simmons along with his West Indian teammate Kieron Pollard made sure that Delhi was chasing a huge total when they come out to bat. Simmons made 66 runs off 43 balls, opening the innings while Pollard, batting at no.3 scored 63 runs off 35 balls. Hardik Pandya’s cameo of 29 runs from 14 balls, took Mumbai’s total to 212 for 3. 

Chasing a big total, Delhi lost early wickets and never looked in control of the chase. It was 6 for 2, then 20 for 3, then 35 for 5, then 46 for 7 and eventually 66 bowled out. In a week’s time, the same time, with mostly the same players had been bowled for less than 70 twice. For Mumbai, Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharma starred with the ball picking up three wickets each. 

3. Rajasthan Royals 59 vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, 2023

The finalist of 2022 IPL, collapsed against Royal Challengers Bangalore in match number 60 of the Indian Premier League 2023. Batting first,  RCB posted a defendable total of 171/5 with the help of fine-knocks from Glenn Maxwell (54) and Faf du Plessis (55) in 20 overs. Chasing 172, Rajasthan Royals batters did not live-up the expectations from the first over, as they were bowled out for 59 runs inside 10 overs. Shimron Hetmyer and Joe Root were the only batters to go past double-digit mark. 

2. Rajasthan Royals’ 58 vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, 2009

It is very rare that any IPL has done well in back to back seasons. But, Rajasthan Royals, after winning the inaugural season in 2008, started the 2009 season in the most bizarre fashion. On the opening day where two matches were supposed to be played, Rajasthan met Royal Challengers Bangalore, who had finished seventh in 2008. 

Batting first, RCB didn’t get a huge total. Their newly appointed captain Kevin Pietersen scored 32 runs off 30 balls, while their former skipper Rahul Dravid played the match-defining knock of 66 runs from 48 balls. No other batter entered the double-figure mark as the Bangalore team could manage only 133 for 8 in their 20 overs. 

However, what followed was not anyone’s guess. Rajasthan Royals were bowled out for just 58, as the champions of 2008 recorded the lowest ever total in the league. The record was with them until 2017. Anil Kumble bowled a memorable spell of 5 for 5 in 3.1 overs, while he got some good support from Praveen Kumar and part-timer Jesse Ryder, both of whom picked up two wickets. 

1. Royal Challengers Bangalore’s 49 vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 2017

There are some bizarre cricket matches and then there is the match between RCB and KKR at the Eden Gardens from 2017. The match started with Sunil Narine taking apart his countryman Samuel Badree. Narine made 34 runs from 17 balls, setting up a platform for the Knight Riders. But, the RCB spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Pawan Negi shared five wickets between them to restrict the hosts. 

After being at 65 for 1 after 5.3 overs, KKR had slipped to being bowled out for 131 runs only. KKR captain Gautam Gambhir went in with his pace attack to defend a low score and set attacking fields. What followed was an exhibition of top-class fast-bowling in T20 cricket. The attack had Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Woakes, Umesh Yadav and Colin de Grandhomme. 

RCB was not charged for what they faced. The trio of Woakes, Coulter-Nile and de Grandhomme took three wickets each while Yadav got one wicket. In a dismal show, none of the RCB batsmen managed a double-digit score and they were bowled out for just 49 runs. Interestingly, with this, RCB held the record for the highest ever score in IPL along with the lowest ever score.

Lowest Team Totals in IPL History

*Last Updated on 16th April 2024