T20 cricket has gradually become a batsman's game. With bigger bats and smaller boundaries, teams are regularly crossing the 200 mark in twenty overs and there are now individual hundreds being scored. Chris Gayle has even hit 175* by himself in the IPL.
However, the batsmen do not always win. There have been times when teams packed with talent and firepower have failed completely. This article looks at the five lowest team scores in IPL history, with both the Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore featuring twice.
#5 Royal Challengers Bangalore - 70 vs Rajasthan Royals
When the Royal Challengers Bangalore met the Rajasthan Royals in the 14th match of the 2014 IPL, hosted in Abu Dhabi, fans were expecting a very close affair. Both sides were strong and Bangalore boasted the likes of Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Yuvraj Singh in their star-studded line-up. Yet, they ended up being dismissed for a shockingly low 70 in exactly fifteen overs.
RCB had a torrid start, losing two wickets in the first over of the innings, including a calamitous run out. Two wickets also fell in the second over, as Kane Richardson took two in two and notably forced De Villiers to play on and removed him for a golden duck.
Bangalore were then left reeling at 5-4 in just 2.2 overs. It is surprising that they managed to recover as well as they did. They survived and started to rebuild with Virat Kohli and Nitish Rana at the crease, but Shane Watson soon removed the latter.
From that point on, it was the Pravin Tambe show. The veteran spinner ended up bamboozling RCB's lower order, eventually claiming the prized wicket of Virat Kohli. His other victims included Albie Morkel, Mitchell Starc and Ashok Dinda as he finished with figures of 4-0-20-4. Kohli top-scored for RCB with his 21, followed by Starc's 18. They had three ducks on their scorecard.
Rajasthan were not that convincing in their chase, as they lost four wickets in the process. Nevertheless, it was still an emphatic win as they completed it in just 13 overs, thanks to cameos from Ajinkya Rahane and Shane Watson. Tambe was given man of the match for his devastating spell that humiliated Bangalore.
#4 Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils - 67
Two teams have been dismissed for the humiliating low total of 67, the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Delhi Daredevils. Kolkata's came first, back in the 2008 season, when the Mumbai Indians had an exceptionally strong bowling unit.
MI won the toss and elected to field, which proved to be the right choice as Shaun Pollock picked up three wickets in his opening spell. He claimed the key wickets of Salman Butt, David Hussey and Mohammad Hafeez. The wickets then fell at a steady stream and were shared among Dwayne Bravo, Rohan Raje and Dominic Thornely equally.
Only three batsmen reached double figures as seven of their batsmen failed to score more than five. They were all out for just 67, which remained the lowest score in IPL history for a year.
Mumbai then knocked off the runs effortlessly, as Sanath Jayasuria blasted 48* (17) against a bowling attack that contained Shoaib Akhtar and Ishant Sharma. MI won that game by eight wickets with an incredible 87 balls remaining.
The Delhi Daredevils scored this feeble score last year against the Kings XI Punjab in Mohali. Sandeep Sharma was responsible for most of the carnage, as he picked up three wickets inside the first five overs and went on to finish with figures of 4-0-20-4.
Amazingly, it took Delhi 17.1 overs to score their 67, with some very economical bowling from Varun Aaron and Thangarasu Natarajan applying the pressure. The wickets fell throughout their innings as Corey Anderson top-scored for them with just 18.
Glenn Maxwell bowled a tight spell of 4-0-12-1 showing just how badly Delhi batted and Aaron ended with 2-0-3-2. Punjab's opening pair of Martin Guptil and Hashim Amla knocked off the runs in 7.5 overs, with Guptil notably hitting 50* (27).
#3 Delhi Daredevils - 66 vs Mumbai Indians
Just one lower than last time, the Delhi Daredevils were bowled out for 66 just a few matches after they were bowled out for 67 in the IPL last year. This time, though, they were batting second and had to endure a brutal batting display first.
The West Indian duo of Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard hit 66 (43) and 63* (35) respectively, as Mumbai piled on 212/3 in their allocated overs. Delhi, however, never looked like chasing it and slumped to a shocking 146 run defeat.
Sanju Samson was dismissed on the first ball of their innings, and Lasith Malinga struck in the following over to leave them at 6-2 inside two overs. Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant then shared in a 14-run partnership, of which Pant contributed zero runs.
He was then dismissed for a duck by Jaspirit Bumrah. Somehow DD went from 31-3 to 66 all out in the space of just nine overs. The MI spinners had a good day out, with both Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharma picking up three wickets each. It was a humiliating day for Delhi and perhaps their darkest day in IPL history.
#2 Rajasthan Royals - 58 vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
The Rajasthan Royals are the only team in IPL history to have been dismissed for a score in the fifties and their dismal performance came in a match they could have easily won.
This match took place in 2009, at Cape Town, and Bangalore had posted a low 133/8 in their overs. Rahul Dravid hit a sublime 66 for them and their captain Kevin Pietersen hit a solid 32. Aside from those two, the rest of the Bangalore team contributed just 35 between them.
Rajasthan were probably expected to chase down this total, but they struggled to get going. Early wickets hampered them and they then effectively shut up shop and went through a painful period of failing to score frequently. They were at 28-5 after 8.4 overs, as Jesse Ryder and Praveen Kumar did the damage from Bangalore early on.
However, what this game will be remembered for is Anil Kumble's magical spell. India's greatest ever spinner produced one of the best spells in IPL history, as he took 5-5 and outfoxed the entirety of Rajasthan's middle and lower order.
RR were bowled out for just 58 and were handed a 75 run defeat, where the team batting first only scored 133. It was a dire performance from them but they were unlucky to be the victims of a vintage Kumble performance.
#1 Royal Challengers Bangalore - 49 vs Kolkata Knight Riders
The lowest score in IPL history is Bangalore's 49 against the Kolkata Knight Riders in a match which took place last year. You would never have guessed that a side containing Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and other Indian stars could have produced the worst batting performance of all time. No one made it into double figures.
Bangalore won the toss and elected to bowl first, which looked to be a good decision as they bowled KKR out for 131. Sunil Narine opened for them as a pinch-hitter and made an electric 34 (17) to get them off to a good start.
A few small cameos from Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav and Chris Woakes dragged KKR up to the semi-respectable total of 131. Going into the interval, Bangalore had the momentum and looked like sure favourites to chase down this low total.
It was not to be. KKR produced a fantastic display of fast-bowling, in which Chris Woakes, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Colin de Grandhomme each picked up three wickets. Chris Gayle had a torrid time opening the batting and struggled to really connect and ended up with a peculiar 7 (17).
In fairness, he was the only RCB batsman to last more than ten balls at the crease. The individual player scores read 7, 0, 1, 8, 9, 8, 2, 0, 2, 5, 0. It is impossible to think of a worse batting performance than that. They only lasted 9.4 overs and ended with just 49 runs on the board. It is hard to imagine there being a lower score than this in the upcoming IPL edition.
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