IPL Recap: A Look at the Past Winners Over the Years

The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is almost upon us and it is set to be another blockbuster season with the tournament beginning on April 9 in Chennai and ending on May 30 with the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Despite its return to India, the IPL this year will once again be behind closed doors for the first part of it, at least, because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic across the world. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will decide on whether to allow fans or not for the latter stages at a later date, depending on the situation at hand then.

Teams will also lose their home advantage as none of the sides will be allowed to play at home with games taking place at only six centres. Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Ahmedabad will host the tournament this year.

With home advantage gone, it could be a major blow for teams like Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, who rely on making life difficult for their opponents at the Wankhede and Chepauk,respectively and that also shows why they are the most successful teams in the history of the IPL.

As the new season beckons, we take a look at the winners from previous years:

MUMBAI INDIANS (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020)

Mumbai Indians are the most successful side in the 13-year history of the tournament with five championships and all of them coming in the previous decade. Mumbai started off very slow in the IPL but since making a bold call of handing over the captaincy to Rohit Sharma in 2013, the Mumbai franchise has been soaring and one of the most consistent teams in the tournament.

Mumbai’s first IPL came in 2013 when they beat Chennai Super Kings by 23 runs in the final with Kieron Pollard’s incredible 32-ball 60* being the highlight. In 2015, Lendl Simmons starred for them in the final as they beat CSK once again in a high-scoring game at the Eden Gardens. Their third win came in 2017 against a now defunct Rising Pune Supergiants side in a low-scoring thriller. Pune, despite being ahead for almost the entire game, succumbed to pressure and couldn’t chase 130 as they lost by 1 run. Krunal Pandya starred with the bat while Mitchell Johnson and Jasprit Bumrah made an incredible effort to defend the low score.

It was said that Mumbai will only win in odd years when they again won the title in 2019 — now four in a row in odd years. This time again Mumbai edged out by 1 run but the opposition was CSK, who won the tournament previous year. Bumrah was the star in another interesting game as CSK failed to chase down 150. Mumbai finally broke the odd year jinx when they beat Delhi Capitals at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last year by 5 wickets to win their record-extending fifth title with handy innings from Rohit and Ishan Kishan.

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS (2010, 2011, 2018)

It was a saying that every team plays the IPL to only meet CSK in the final as they made the summit clash in 2008 and lost to Rajasthan Royals as well as the 2010 and 2011 seasons where they won. In 2012 and 2013, they reached the final too but lost to Kolkata Knight Riders and MI, respectively. However, their dominance in the early years of the IPL was as big as MI’s right now.

CSK won their first IPL in 2010 by defeating MI by 22 runs in Mumbai. Suresh Raina starred with the bat that night as he slammed a 35-ball 57 and also grabbed a wicket for 21 runs as CSK defended their total. The following year, CSK defended their crown in style with squashing Royal Challengers Bangalore by 58 runs in Chennai. Murali Vijay (95) and Michael Hussey (63) starred as CSK posted an imposing total of 205 on the board. In reply, RCB could only manage 147/8.

Their redemption came in 2018 when they returned from the ban and won the IPL straight away with an ageing squad which most referred to as ‘Daddy’s Army’. Led by Dhoni, CSK beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets courtesy of a Shane Watson century 117* off just 57 balls in their chase of 179. It was Chennai’s third title in history.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS (2012, 2014)

Kolkata Knight Riders made some big changes in the 2011 auction with the franchise getting rid of Sourav Ganguly and getting Gautam Gambhir to lead the side. It was a big call and one that could backfire considering the city’s love for Ganguly but all was forgotten as KKR won two IPLs in three years under the astute captaincy of Gambhir.

In 2012, KKR beat CSK in a thriller at the Chepauk after Manvinder Bisla hit 89 off just 43 balls and a fine supporting knock from Jacques Kallis, who scored 69 off 49 balls in KKR’s steep chase of 191. They beat CSK by 5 wickets and two balls to spare. Two years later, KKR once again chased down another big total to lift their second title with Manish Pandey playing a sensational knock against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings). Chasing 200 to win, Pandey slammed 94 off 50 balls to trounce Wriddhiman Saha’s 55-ball 115 and win the game by 3 wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD (2016)

Sunrisers Hyderabad won their maiden title in 2016 in a high-scoring game against RCB at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. They enjoyed a solid campaign that year and capped it off with a win to register their name on the IPL trophy.

David Warner (69 off 38 balls) and Ben Cutting (39* off 15 balls) starred with the bat as they posted 208/7 from their 20 overs. Cutting also returned to grab two wickets with the ball as RCB finished 8 runs short despite fifties from Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli.

DECCAN CHARGERS (2009)

Held in South Africa, this year belonged to Deccan Chargers (now Sunrisers Hyderabad), who beat RCB to claim their first and only IPL title.

Anil Kumble’s 4/16 had restricted the Chargers to just 143/6 in their 20 overs but the Bangalore batters couldn’t press home the advantage and fell 6 runs short as Chargers won the title. Pragyan Ojha starred with the ball, picking up 3 wickets for 28 runs.

RAJASTHAN ROYALS (2008)

The inaugural edition of the IPL was won by Rajasthan Royals courtesy of some great captaincy from Shane Warner and some fantastic performances throughout the group stages by the young players.

Batting first CSK posted 163/5 with handy contributions from Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni. RR had to chase 164 to win the title and they only managed to do so on the last ball of the game. RR won the game by 3 wickets to lift the inaugural trophy. Yusuf Pathan top scored for Rajasthan with 56 runs from 39 balls.

Keywords: IPL 2020, IPL 2021, Indian Premier League, IPL previous winners, KKR, CSK, RCB, MI, SRH, RR, PK, DC

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