IPL 2020: 3 teams who have won the title and also finished at the last position
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the most popular domestic cricket tournament globally. Eight city-based franchises sign the world's best players in the auction and fans get to witness cut-throat competition between them on the field.
The format of the tournament is relatively straightforward. All teams play against each other twice in the league stage, with the top four teams advancing to the next round. Earlier, the organizers had planned two semifinals between the four best teams, but they have since replaced it with the playoffs.
Under the playoff format, the top two sides get two opportunities to make it to the final. Meanwhile, the third and the fourth-placed teams need to win three matches on the trot to secure the championship.
In the 13 years, six teams have lifted the IPL title, while seven have finished in last place. Only three champion teams have achieved the dubious feat of ending their season at the rearmost rank, and here's a list of those three franchises.
3. Rajasthan Royals - (IPL 2008 Champion, finished last in IPL 2020)
The Rajasthan Royals had kicked off their IPL journey with a fantastic performance in 2008. They won 11 of their 14 league fixtures and then knocked out the Delhi Daredevils in the semifinals to set up a summit clash with the Chennai Super Kings.
The IPL 2008 final went down to the wire, with RR prevailing by three wickets on the last ball. In the previous twelve years, even though the Jaipur-based franchise did not make it to a single final, they hadn't finished in last place.
However, under the captaincy of Steve Smith, the Royals won only six matches this year. Their net run rate of -0.569 handed them the wooden spoon.
2. Kolkata Knight Riders - (IPL 2012 and 2014 Champion, finished last in IPL 2009)
The Kolkata Knight Riders had some big names like Sourav Ganguly, Brendon McCullum, Ricky Ponting, Shoaib Akhtar, Ishant Sharma, and others in their squad during the first three seasons. Unfortunately, KKR could not get going and failed to make it to the top 4 from 2008 to 2010.
The 2009 season was their worst as the Knight Riders managed only three wins in 14 matches to finish in last place. The team management revamped the entire squad ahead of the 2011 season. Gautam Gambhir became the team's new captain and led the franchise to two championships in the next four years.
The Kolkata Knight Riders were inconsistent in IPL 2020 and missed out on a top 4 spot because of their inferior net run rate.
1. Deccan Chargers - (IPL 2009 Champions, finished last in IPL 2008)
The first IPL team to achieve this feat were the Deccan Chargers, who won only two matches in the inaugural season, but bounced back in style to win the trophy in 2009.
VVS Laxman captained the team in the first season. Despite having T20 specialists like Adam Gilchrist, Rohit Sharma, Shahid Afridi, RP Singh, and Andrew Symonds in the squad, the Chargers ended the season with only four points.
Adam Gilchrist took over the reins of the franchise soon, and in 2009, his team became the first one to win the IPL outside India.
The Chargers had won only seven league matches. However, they managed to win the IPL title with a superb performance in the knockouts.