Five Lowest Totals Defended in Indian T20 League History

T20 cricket was the result of the gradual monotony that was setting into the conventional formats of the game cutting down the viewers. The newest format of the game came with a guaranteed promise of full-on entertainment.

The youngest format of the game apparently came with a great promise for the batters. It was believed that the shortened version of the game is going to be a cake walk for the batsmen. But with time the bowlers have found their foot in the format and taken away the predicted one-dimensional batting domination aspect from the format.

The Indian T20 League, the best of the T20 leagues round the world has witnessed some great batting displays. But the bowlers have also shown some spectacular performances in the league. Here are some of the best performances by the bowling sides restricting the opposition to some pretty ordinary scores while defending some modest totals.

1.116 Defended by Chennai against Punjab, 2009: Durban saw the best bowling performance by a team while defending in 2009. Chennai batted first and put up a very modest total of 116 runs. Parthiv Patel scored the highest runs of the innings with a 32 of 23 deliveries, while 7 of the players were unable to reach double figures.

While coming out to defend the modest 116 runs the Chennai team put the Punjab batsmen under pressure from the very beginning. Luke Pomersbach was the only man scoring over 20 in the innings while the likes of Sangakkara, Yuvraj Singh, Simon Katich and Irfan Pathan failed to make a fight for the target. The Chennai spin attack in Muralitharan, Ashwin and Suresh Raina bowled brilliantly and kept Punjab down to 92 runs for 8 wickets in 20 overs.

2.118 Defended by Hyderabad against Mumbai,2018: The Mumbai team in their home ground are mostly invincible. But in 2018, Hyderabad did something spectacular while defending a very modest total. Batting first Hyderabad put up 118 runs. Kane Williamson and Yusuf Pathan scoring the highest runs with 29.

Mumbai coming out to chase 119 runs made a mess of the chase. Some fight was put forward by Suryakumar Yadav (34) and Krunal Pandya (24), while no other batsman lasted long at the crease. Siddharth Kaul (3 wickets) and Rashid Khan (2 wickets) with outstanding bowling performances dismissed the mighty Mumbai line for 87 runs winning the match by 31 runs.

3.119 Defended by Punjab against Mumbai,2009: This match will always be remembered for the thrilling climax it provided. Punjab batting first in a slow Durban pitch made 119 runs. Kumar Sangakkara put forward his class in a difficult pitch scoring 45 runs of 44 deliveries.

Mumbai requiring 120 runs at run ball with Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya at the top were expected to chase this down very easily. But the big guns misfired and Mumbai were left despairing in mid-sea. Jean-Paul Duminy then made a very situation demanding 59 of 63 deliveries. With a last over drama Punjab ultimately emerged victorious by 3 runs.

4.119 Defended by Hyderabad against Pune,2013: Pune batted first in the match and never got going. They were able to put on modest score of just 118 runs courtesy of a 37 made by Biplab Samantray and a 30 by Amit Mishra.

Pune inspite of having Aaron Finch, Robin Uthappa, Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh among the ranks faltered by 10 runs. The Pune innings was cut short following a brilliant bowling display by Amit Mishra. Mishra picked up 4 wickets giving away just 19 runs in his 4 overs.

5.120 Defended by Mumbai against Pune, 2012: The star-studded Mumbai batting line-up struggled to score from the very beginning in this match. Mumbai put up an ordinary total of 120 runs from 20 overs. Sachin Tendulkar scored the highest runs with 34 of 35 deliveries.

Pune came out to bat and the cricket fans witnessed a last over thriller. Mithun Manhas highest scored with 42 runs and kept Pune in contetntion. Bhuvaneswar Kumar faced the last ball of the match, with Pune requiring 3 runs. Munaf Patel bowled a full-toss which was put awayfor a couple of runs and Mumbai one by a solitary run.

 

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