How many teams who won Qualifier 2 went on to lift the trophy in IPL history?
The IPL 2024 season has reached its climax with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) set to battle for the prestigious trophy in Chennai on Sunday, May 26. While KKR bulldozed their way to the final with a dominant league phase and thumping win against SRH in Qualifier 1, SRH endured a harder path by defeating the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Qualifier 2 to book their place in the summit clash.
It is worth mentioning that the Qualifier-Eliminator Playoff format was instituted in the 2011 IPL season, making this the 14th edition with the format. Following SRH's win last night, fans have been curious to find out how often a team advancing to the final through the Qualifier 2 route has finished the deal with a title.
Unfortunately for Hyderabad fans, the result isn't all that promising as only thrice has a team making it to the grand finale with a Qualifier 2 victory gone on to lift the trophy in the previous 13 seasons of this format.
Having already defeated SRH twice this season, KKR's chances of a third title heightens even more going by the above trend.
Recalling the instances of teams going through Qualifier 2 to win the IPL title
SRH can take solace from the fact that their lone IPL title in 2016 came through the Qualifier 2 route.
The Orange Army finished third on the points table before going on an incredible playoff run, defeating KKR in the Eliminator before wins over the now-defunct Gujarat Lions and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Qualifier 2 and the final.
The Mumbai Indians (MI) are the only other franchise to triumph in an IPL season after playing and winning the Qualifier 2. They won 2 of their five titles by succeeding in this seemingly improbable task in 2013 and 2017.
After losing Qualifier 1 to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2013, MI overcame the RR challenger in Qualifier 2 before getting revenge on CSK in the grand finale.
They performed similar magic in 2017, losing Qualifier 1 to Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) before upstaging KKR and RPS in Qualifier 2 and the final.