It’s fair to say that the Indian Premier League is the most anticipated cricket tournament for fans across the calendar. Since its inception in 2008, the twenty-20 league has only become more competitive. Every single match in the cricket league is a rollercoaster ride always full of thrill and fun.
Over the years, many franchises have emerged and diminished while few have gone through a sheer rebranding, however, only some have managed to remain unchanged. Last season, we saw Gujarat Titans lifting their first IPL title in their inaugural season under the Captaincy of former Mumbai Indians star Hardik Pandya.
Similarly like the two faces of a coin, a team lifts silverware while one side finishes its campaign on the very last spot. Fans of the game can easily recall the winners from all the past seasons, but they often tend to forget about the bottom-place securing sides.
Hence, come with us as we take a look at the list of the top 5 teams with the lowest points in a single IPL season.
#5 Sunrisers Hyderabad: 6 Points (IPL 2021)
Starting the list with the most recent affair, 2021 was Sunrisers Hyderabad’s worst-ever season in all aspects. With Kane Williamson, David Warner, Jason Roy, and Jonny Bairstow in batting and Rashid Khan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, and T Natarajan in bowling, the Sunrisers seemed like a strong and stable side.
However, it wasn’t their season. Out of the initial six matches, they managed to win only one and as a result of that, Kane Williamson was named the captain of the side replacing David Warner for the remaining matches.
The second leg of the IPL was to be played overseas and the Australian batter was dropped for the whole period. Watching a prolific batsman like him, not in the starting line-up fueled a social media backlash for Sunrisers Hyderabad from their own fans.
In the same season, Warner also publicly announced that he wants to leave the side following the lack of opportunities. Hyderabad won only three matches and their top scorer for the campaign was Manish Panday with 292 runs while Rashid Khan took 18 wickets and became the highest wicket-taker for the orange side.
#4 Kings XI Punjab: 6 Points (IPL 2015)
The famous IPL trio of Glenn Maxwell, David Miller and George Bailey failed to work wonders in 2015
Kings XI Punjab has been highly unlucky in the Indian Premier League. In 2014, they reached the final of the tournament where they lost against Kolkata Knight Riders. The next season, Punjab made minimal changes and tried writing the same script under the captaincy of Australian batsman, George Bailey.
However, nothing like that happened in that season because the 2015 edition was held in India, unlike the initial matches of IPL 2014 that were played in UAE. As a fact, the grounds of Sharjah, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi are highly favorable for overseas batters, especially after evening because of the dew factor.
Anyways, talking about the 2015 season, the Kings managed to capture only three wins, and from April 25 to May 11, they suffered seven continuous defeats. The squad wasn’t flawed in any way as they had the likes of Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay, Glenn Maxwell, George Bailey, Mitchell Johnson, and more but they were all, unfortunately, out of form.
#3 Delhi Daredevils: 6 Points (IPL 2013)
Before the rebranding in 2018, Delhi Daredevils were the most infamous franchise in IPL. However, their 2013 season is something they’ll look forward to forgetting anyhow. After a prosperous season and finishing in the first spot, the Capital side won only three out of 16 matches securing the last spot on the league table in 2013.
Nothing from the arsenal of Eric Simons was working in that respective season. Consequently, their first win came after six consecutive losses. They won their first match against Mumbai Indians. Following the momentum, Daredevils also won two more matches against Pune Warriors India and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively.
Delhi’s top order of Sehwag, Jaywardhane and Pietersen, who helped them win numerous matches last season, lost its charm utterly in 2013. As a result of that, the dismal run for Mahela Jaywardhane’s side started again as his side lost their last six matches too.
#2 Deccan Chargers: 4 Points (IPL 2008)
Only Adam Gilchrist was the shining star in Deccan Charges’ disastrous 2008 run
Deccan Chargers triumphed in the 2009 IPL season in great fashion. However, the inaugural season of the Indian Super League wasn’t really good for them. In 2008, DC was seen as a front-runner of the race as they had one of the most expensive squads in the competition.
VVS Laxman had the charge to lead the pack consisting of major names such as Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, Herschelle Gibbs, RP Singh, Chaminda Vaas, and Scott Styris.
However, the Chargers didn’t get a favorable start to the first season. They suffered a heartbreaking loss against Kolkata Knight Riders after posting only 110 runs on the board. The series of losses continued until match four, where Adam Gilchrist’s heroic century turned the match upside down against Mumbai Indians.
However, one of their most expensive players, Andrew Symonds withdrew from the competition following his international duty. After a couple of weeks, VVS Laxman’s season ended early as he suffered a wrist injury. Hence, Gilchrist was named the new captain in the clutch. With only two wins against Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers ended their campaign in the last spot.
#1 Delhi Daredevils: 4 Points (IPL 2014)
On the first spot, we have Delhi Daredevils’ miserable 2014 run, under the captaincy of Kevin Pietersen. After a terrible last season, Daredevils decided to go into the Auction with a full purse.
Hence, with the funds, the team managed to capture many big names from different nations. It included the likes of JP Duminy, Ross Taylor, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik, Mohammed Shami, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Quinton de Kock, Jaydev Unadkat, and Manoj Tiwary.
The team looked unbeatable on paper but what we saw was the exact opposite. They started their campaign under the captaincy of Dinesh Karthik because Pietersen was out following a finger injury. In the first match, Daredevils suffered a loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Consequently, Delhi won their next match and after five matches, it seemed like their tactics were partially working and their prolific captain was also back. However, it was just the start and the worst was about to come.
Kevin Pietersen’s side lost all of their last nine fixtures as the English star batter failed in captaincy as well as batting. However, JP Duminy was their highest scorer with 410 runs, while Imran Tahir was the most successful bowler for the side with 9 wickets.