When was the last time a team had 2 matches with no result due to rain in an IPL season?
Gujarat Titans' (GT) IPL 2024 campaign ended in a damp squib as their final two league games against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) were washed out due to rain. They finished their campaign in eighth position with five wins and two no-results giving them 12 points.
While rain has affected IPL games in the past and while matches have been called off, there have been very few instances where a particular team has been so unfortunate that they got two of their games producing a no-result in the same season. GT aren't the first team this has happened to and two no-results certainly means loss of two points that have proven to be vital in some instances.
On that note, let's take a look at when was the last time an IPL team faced no result in two of their games in the same season:
RCB, RR & the curious case of IPL 2015
One has to go as many as nine years back to find the last instance of a team losing a point each in two matches because of rain. Interestingly, it happened to two teams in the same season - the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and the Rajasthan Royals (RR) - in IPL 2015.
Match 25 of the season between the Royals and the Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens was abandoned without a ball being bowled as the rain just didn't allow any cricket to happen. The Royals had another no-result against RCB, however, this time, there was a whole innings played before rain intervened.
A final 57 from AB de Villiers and a flashy cameo of 45 from Sarfaraz Khan allowed RCB to post a mammoth 200/7 in their 20 overs. However, even potential shortened chase never happened because the rain gods showed no mercy.
RCB's last game of the IPL 2015 season gave them an opportunity to finish in the top two spots had they beaten the Delhi Daredevils (now known as Delhi Capitals). However, another rain intervention and another no-result formed a situation in the points table that baffled quite a few people.
RCB and RR both finished on 16 points with two no-results each, level on points with the Mumbai Indians (MI). Both RCB (+1.037) and RR (+0.062) and a better net run rate than MI (-0.043) and yet it were Mumbai who finished in the second place and played Qualifier 1.
A per the rules, when teams are level on points, the first factor that's given priority is matches won and only then it goes to the net run rate. Since Mumbai had won eight matches in the league phase, one more than both RCB and RR, they got the extra bite of the cherry to go to the final.
MI beat CSK in the Qualifier 1 and again in the final to clinch their second IPL title. RCB and RR, meanwhile had to play the Eliminator where the former won.
RCB made it to Qualifier 2 and came very close to beating CSK as the latter won by three wickets with just one ball to spare while chasing 140.