IPL Stats: Top 5 records held by Kings XI Punjab
The Kings XI Punjab have featured in all twelve seasons of the Indian Premier League to date, but they have never won the trophy. The closest they came to the title was in 2014 when George Bailey led the franchise to the final, only to fall short against the Kolkata Knight Riders, and they have not made it to the playoffs since.
The Mohali-based franchise has been home to some great players like Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle, Kumar Sangakkara, Brett Lee, Mahela Jayawardene, and Glenn Maxwell. This year, KL Rahul will lead the team, and the new captain will expect his men to pull off a feat that no other Kings XI Punjab team could. Although the Preity Zinta-owned franchise has never clinched the gold, they own some impressive (and unwanted) records to their name.
Here's a look at 5 records by Kings XI Punjab in tournament history.
#5 Most runs conceded in a home match
During the 44th match of IPL 2018, Kings XI Punjab hosted two-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. Ravichandran Ashwin won the toss and invited the guests to have a bat first on what looked like batting paradise.
Sunil Narine went berserk in Indore as he played the best knock of his IPL career, scoring 75 runs off just 36 deliveries. The West Indian hit nine fours and four sixes in his innings.
Skipper Dinesh Karthik scored a 23-ball 50, while cameos from Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, and Shubman Gill powered Kolkata to a score of 245/6 in 20 overs. The home side tried their best, but fell short by 31 runs in the run chase.
Punjab broke their own record of conceding the most runs in a home game. Back in 2008, they had given away 240 runs to Chennai Super Kings at Mohali.
#4 Least runs conceded in the first innings of a 20-overs IPL match (Shared record)
Playing against the Delhi Daredevils in 2017, Punjab bowled first in Mohali. Sandeep Sharma's dream spell reduced Delhi to 22/3 in the first five overs. Axar Patel, Varun Aaron, Mohit Sharma, and Glenn Maxwell then united forces to destroy the Daredevils as Punjab shot them out for just 67 runs.
Hashim Amla and Martin Guptill's 68-run stand for the first wicket guided the home side to the win in the eighth over itself. In this game, Punjab matched Mumbai Indians' record of conceding the least runs in the first innings of a 20-over IPL match, as Mumbai had bowled the Kolkata Knight Riders out for 67 runs in IPL 2008.
#3 Most 10-wicket losses in IPL
Four teams have lost a match by ten wickets twice, but only Kings XI Punjab have suffered a defeat by this landslide margin thrice.
The Delhi Daredevils handed them their first 10-wicket defeat in 2009 when they chased down a revised target of 54 runs under the D/L method.
Chennai Super Kings became the second team to beat Kings XI Punjab by ten wickets. The MS Dhoni-led outfit achieved this feat in 2013 when half-centuries from Murali Vijay and Michael Hussey helped Chennai chase 139 runs without breaking a sweat.
The most recent 10-wicket defeat in the IPL involved Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Playing at the Holkar Stadium in 2018, Bangalore bowled out the hosts for just 88 runs, and only three batsmen from Punjab could touch double digits. Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel's 92-run opening stand sealed the deal for the Royal Challengers in the ninth over.
#2 Most hat-tricks by a team (Shared record)
There have been 19 hat-tricks in the history of the IPL, and players from Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals feature in this elite list with four hat-tricks each.
Former Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh was the first player to take a hat-trick for his franchise, and he took not one but two hat-tricks for the team in 2009. The all-rounder's first hat-trick came against Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he dismissed Robin Uthappa, Jacques Kallis, and Mark Boucher. Unfortunately, Punjab lost that match.
Singh recorded his second hat-trick against the eventual champions, Deccan Chargers. The left-arm spinner sent Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds, and Venugopal Rao back to the pavilion to help Punjab win the match by one run.
Seven years later, Axar Patel joined Yuvraj in the elite club as he picked up the wickets of Dinesh Karthik, Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja in his hat-trick against the Gujarat Lions.
The latest entrant on this list is English pace bowler Sam Curran, who guided his team to victory in a close match against the eDelhi Capitals, dismissing Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, and Sandeep Lamichhane in his hat-trick.
#1 Highest score by a batsman in a playoff match
While many batsmen have recorded centuries in the IPL, very few have achieved this feat in the knockout phase of the tournament. Former Indian opener, Virender Sehwag, slammed a magnificent 122 in the 2nd Qualifier of IPL 2014 against the Chennai Super Kings to make the record for the highest score in an IPL playoffs game his own.
Sehwag opened the innings for Punjab in the high-stakes match, and he hit 12 fours and 8 sixes in his epic knock. His brilliance took the George Bailey-led team to a score of 226 runs in 20 overs. Despite Suresh Raina's unbelievable innings of 87 off 25 deliveries in the second half of the match, Punjab progressed to their maiden final with a 24-run victory.