The 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League is getting more intense day by day as the tournament is heading toward its business days. With the playoffs approaching, all the teams are fighting tooth and nail to qualify for the top four and reach a step closer to lifting the cup.
It was a do-or-die game for Rajasthan Royals as they locked horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday afternoon at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. RR was expected to churn out an expectational performance but they did the opposite by getting bundled out at a score of 59 runs.
Along with recording a defeat by a massive 112 runs, the Sanju Samson & Men managed to make a place for themselves in an embarrassing list. Are Rajasthan Royals the team with the lowest total in IPL history now? Let us take a look at the teams who occupy the top five places in this unwanted list.
#5 Delhi Daredevils: 67 runs
It was during the 36th match of IPL 2017 while playing against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Capitals) that Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) recorded a poor score of 67 runs. Led by Karun Nair, the visiting team won the toss at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali and elected to bat first.
It was not a good decision considering Delhi failed to make any impact and recorded the fifth-lowest total in IPL history. Sandeep Sharma was the main culprit as he picked a total of four wickets namely Sanju Samson, Sam Billings, Shreyas Iyer, and Kagiso Rabada. Axar Patel and Varun Aaron scalped two wickets each while Mohit Sharma and Glenn Maxwell were successful in picking a wicket each.
CJ Anderon was the top performer for Delhi with 18 runs as other batters struggled to score even 11 runs. It was an easy target to chase for Punjab and they cruised to a win in 7.5 overs by ten wickets.
#4 Delhi Daredevils: 66 runs
Delhi was bundled out at a score of 66 runs against Mumbai Indians in IPL 2017
It was a season to forget for DD (now DC) in 2017. After scoring only 67 runs against King XI Punjab, they collapsed at a score of 66 runs against Mumbai Indians in the 45th match of IPL 2017. Playing at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, Rohit Sharma’s men smacked a massive 212 runs in the allotted 20 overs. It was the exploits of Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard that steered the team to a massive score.
Following the score in the second innings, Delhi batters succumbed to pressure and got all out at a score of 66 runs. The host team batted for a total of 13.4 overs and Nair emerged as the top run-scorer for them with a knock of 21 runs. The team having good batters including Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant could not withstand Mumbai Indians’ seam attack.
The spin duo of Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharma picked three wickets each while bowling at an economy rate of 5.5 and 3 respectively. They were supported by Lasith Malinga who picked two wickets namely Anderson and Shreyas Iyer to help MI win by 146 runs.
Notably, 66 runs is Delhi’s worst score in the history of the Indian Premier League.
#3 Rajasthan Royals: 59 runs
Rajasthan Royals’ score of 59 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League occupies third place in the list of the lowest totals in the Championship. Chasing the score of 172 runs in the allotted 20 overs, Shimron Hetmyer was the only player to show some intent with a knock of 35 runs. He was the only saving grace for his team as all the other players were dismissed at a score of under 11 runs.
Wayne Parnell emerged as the major threat to the 2008 champions as he dismissed Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, and Joe Root. Michael Bracewell also played a major role by picking two wickets as RR scored a defeat by 112 runs.
#2 Rajasthan Royals: 58 runs
The first team to get out under a score of 60 runs in the Indian Premier League was Rajasthan Royals during the second edition. Playing their very first game of the 2009 season against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals got folded at a score of 58 runs. Batting first, RCB scored 133 runs as Rahul Dravid hammered 66 runs off just 48 balls.
Chasing the total, RR dished out their worst batting performance as they fell prey to the veteran spinner, Anil Kumble. The 52-year-old ran through RR’s bowling line-up to pick up as many as five wickets including Kamran Khan, Munaf Patel, Shane Warne, Yusuf Pathan, and Ravindra Jadeja.
Kumble found allies in Praveen Kumar and Jesse Ryder as they picked two wickets each at an economy rate of 2.33 and 3.5 respectively. Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, and Tyron Henderson scored the highest individual score for the Rajasthan Royals that day, i.e. 11 runs. The defending champions lost the fixture by a big margin of 75 runs under the leadership of Shane Warne.
#1 Royal Challengers Bangalore: 49 runs
RCB scored the lowest-ever total in the Indian Premier League in 2017
If there is one record that Royal Challengers Bangalore would want to get rid of in a heartbeat in the Indian Premier League, then it is having the lowest total in the tournament history. The team that has the record of scoring the highest total in IPL, 263 runs in IPL 2013, also got dismissed at a score of 49 runs once.
Playing the 27th match of IPL 2017 against Kolkata Knight Riders, the entire team of Royal Challengers Bangalore walked back to the pavilion in 9.4 overs after scoring an embarrassing 49 runs. Led by Gautam Gambhir, KKR underperformed with the bat by racking up a score of 131 runs in 19.3 overs.
However, their bowlers made up for the poor performance as they completely destroyed RCB’s bowling line-up. Nathan Coulter-Nile gave the first breakthrough to the Knight Riders on the third ball of the first over as Virat Kohli bagged a golden duck.
Nathan picked up two more wickets that night of AB de Villiers and Kedar Jadhav to put RCB in massive trouble. Chris Woakes and Colin de Grandhomme were the other two KKR bowlers to register a three-wicket haul.
Colin dismissed Pawan Negi, Tyamal Mills, and Yuzvendra Chahal while Woakes picked three crucial wickets of Chris Gayle, Stuart Binny, and Samuel Badree. RCB lost the game by 82 runs and rule the disappointing list of scoring the lowest total in the T20 extravaganza.