IPL Records: Top 4 teams to play the most playoff games in the tournament's history
The 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is just a few days away. 10 IPL teams will be taking part in this year’s event following the addition of two new franchises - Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants. The format has been tweaked to an extent with the 10 sides being divided into two virtual groups of five each. However, the IPL 2022 schedule has been arranged in a manner wherein each team will still end up playing 14 matches in the league stage.
The playoffs format remains the same - two Qualifiers and one Eliminator apart from the grand final. While the ultimate aim of every franchise is to win the trophy, they need to display consistent performances before that to make it to the IPL playoffs. Only a handful of franchises have been able to do so over the 14 editions of the IPL that have been held.
Teams who have featured in most IPL playoff matches
In the build-up to the IPL 2022 season, we look at four teams that have played the most number of matches in the playoffs stage over the years.
#4 Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) - 13 matches
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) may never have won the IPL title, but they have made quite a few appearances in the playoffs, featuring in 13 matches. They have been runners-up thrice - 2009, 2011 and 2016. Apart from that, they finished third in 2010 and 2015. After failing to qualify for the playoffs from 2017 to 2019, they came back strong in the last two seasons, but ended up losing the Eliminator.
RCB played three playoff matches during the 2011 edition. They lost the first Qualifier to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by six wickets and then defeated Mumbai Indians (MI) by 43 runs in the second Qualifier. However, they faltered in the final, going down to CSK again, this time by 58 runs.
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RCB will have a new IPL captain for the 2022 season. Under Faf du Plessis, they will be keen to break the jinx of having never won the T20 league.
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#3 Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) - 13 matches
Like RCB, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have also featured in 13 matches in the playoffs stage of the IPL. However, the major difference here is that the Kolkata franchise are two-time winners of the tournament. They won the title in 2012 and again in 2014, both times under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir.
Last season, they made an incredible comeback to finish runners-up. They had won only two matches during the first half in India, but the COVID-enforced break allowed them to rethink their strategy and they were a different team in the UAE. KKR finished fourth in the points table and ended up playing three playoff matches. They defeated RCB in the Eliminator and Delhi Capitals (DC) in Qualifier 2 before going down to CSK in the final.
KKR lost to Mumbai in the Eliminator in IPL 2011 and to Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016. In the 2017 and 2018 seasons, they won the Eliminator but lost in Qualifier 2. Having finished runners-up last season, Kolkata will look to go one step ahead under Shreyas Iyer’s leadership this season.
#2 Mumbai Indians - 18 matches
Mumbai Indians (MI) have won the most number of IPL titles but have not played the most number of playoff matches. This is because they struggled for consistency during the initial few years of the T20 league. MI have featured in a total of 18 playoff matches. They finished runners-up in 2010, going down to CSK by 22 runs in the final. MI reached the playoffs in the next two seasons but failed to make it to the final.
They finally broke the jinx under Rohit Sharma in 2013, defeating CSK by 23 runs in the summit clash to win the first of their five titles. After losing in the Eliminator in 2014, they roared back to clinch the trophy for a second time in 2015. MI again defeated arch-rivals CSK, this time by 41 runs. Their three other title wins came in 2017, 2019 and 2020 as they got the better of Rising Pune Supergiant, CSK and DC respectively.
MI failed to make the playoffs last year as they lost out to KKR in the fourth-place race in the net run rate scenario. Having revamped their side at the IPL mega auction, it remains to be seen whether Mumbai can continue to be a dominant force in the IPL.
#1 Chennai Super Kings - 24 matches
Despite being suspended for two seasons, CSK still hold the record for having played the most number of playoff matches in the IPL - 24. In fact, until the 2020 season, they had made it to the playoffs every season that they had taken part in. They overcame the disappointment of the 2020 edition by clinching their fourth IPL title last season, defeating KKR by 27 runs in the final.
CSK began their IPL journey by finishing runners-up in the inaugural edition, going down to the Rajasthan Royals by three wickets in a thriller. After finishing as semi-finalists in 2009, they won back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011, defeating MI and RCB in the respective finals. From 2012 to 2015 though CSK lost three finals in four years. KKR beat them by five wickets in 2012 while MI defeated them by 23 runs in 2013. In 2015, they again went down to MI.
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There was a bigger disappointment in store for CSK as they were suspended from the 2016 and 2017 editions. However, like a champion side, Chennai returned with a bang and clinched the 2018 title, thumping SRH by eight wickets on the back of a superb hundred from Shane Watson. After suffering heartbreak in the 2019 IPL final, losing to MI by just one run, CSK recaptured their lost glory by clinching the 2021 title, against all odds.