The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League has already started with its first match played between Royals Challengers Bangalore and defending IPL champions Mumbai Indians on the 9th of April where Mumbai retained its custom of losing their first match of IPL. With this, people have become excited about the tournament, and we have dug down to bring some of the most unheard interesting IPL facts which will leave even the most die-hard fans wide-eyed.
The Indian Premier League has been a fan-favorite since its inception in 2008 and what a historic match it was when the talented Brendon McCullum smashed 158 runs off just 73 deliveries hitting 13 sixes and 10 boundaries taking Kolkata Knight Riders’ score to 222/3.
IPL has been loved all around the globe not just by Indias but by people of diverse nationalities. So without further ado let us take a look at some of the least known interesting facts about IPL.
Interesting IPL Facts For Every Die Hard Fan
In a country with a population which crosses 138 crores and love Cricket as a religion, people are always looking for stats and facts which make them a clear die-hard fan of the game, and the tournament IPL is no different, people, withing their circle of friends, family, colleagues, want to come on top with knowing some facts who are not known by others. And we will help with just that. So without further ado let us start with the list comprising of some of the most unknown facts of IPL.
1. Most Valuable Player Award in 12 Seasons of IPL
The Indian Premier League has been held 12 times and the 13th edition will be held soon in the UAE but little do people actually know that in the entire history of this competition, which is an Indian competition at heart, only 2 Indian players have every received the MVP awards making it one of the most amazing IPL facts.
The first one came in in the 3rd edition of IPL (IPL 2010) when Sachin Tendulkar scored 618 runs for Mumbai Indians, interestingly he also won the Orange Cap in the tournament.
Virat Kohli was the 2nd India who won the MVP award and it came in the 8th season of the IPL when he scored a staggering 973 runs.
Please not, though Robin Uthappa won the orange Cap back in 2014, he was not awarded the MVP of the season. It went to Glenn Maxwell.
2. IPL Could Have Been A One Day Tournament
The mastermind behind IPL, Lalit Modi, initially pitched a 50 over (One Day format) format tournament back in 1995 to the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), but was rejected them. It was only when ICL was launched by Zee in 2007, BCCI decided to start its own Twenty20 league. Isn’t this an interesting IPL fact.
Imagine being a fan of 50 over cricket tournament, and how things would have been different, less matches and probably less franchises.
3. The Only Team To Never Have Played IPL Finale
The IPL finale has been played 12 times and there is one team who has never played in the finale of the Indian Premier League, yet. Can you guess this team? Well, if you guessed Delhi Daredevils (DD) you are absolutely correct. This is one of the most unknown fact of the IPL. With this said, do you know the team which has played the most IPL Finals? Check out our next fact.
4. The Team Which Has Played Most IPL Finals
We now know which team has never played an IPL finale, but there is one team which has played IPL finals 6 times out of the 12 seasons which has taken place. Chennai Super Kings (CSK), despite being banned for 2 years from IPL has played 8 IPL finals. Technically that means reaching the finale 80% of the times they played the tournament. Tell us about more interesting fact about IPL, we will wait. Hahaha
5. Teams With Most IPL Title Wins
Fact number 4 told you that CSK played the most IPL finals across all the IPL franchises in the history of this tournament, however, they are not the team who have won the IPL title the most number of time. Mumbai Indians have won the IPL title a total of 4 times. CSK comes close to 3, we hope they could tie it this time.
6. Team With Most IPL Final Losses
This fact is a no brainer given the earlier facts on the list, but for someone who does not know those, this will be a rather interesting fact of IPL as the team with most IPL final losses is the same team who has made it to the IPL finals the maximum number of time. It is Chennai Super Kings.
7. Cost Of 1 Ball For IPL 2018 Broadcasters
In 2018, Star Sports won the broadcasting rights for IPL for a tenure of 5 years for an eye watering sum of Rs. 16,347.5 crore. That is Rs. 3269.5 crore per year. This means that every delivery in the IPL will cost the network over Rs. 24 lakh given every season 56 matches are played and every match is played with each side playing all their 20 overs. Majority of the people do not know this making it one of the most unknown facts of IPL.
8. Longest Run By a Bowler Without Bowling A No-Ball
A bowler tries to do everything right, but sometimes the calculations don’t work out and the players bowl a no-ball. However, this was not the case with leg-spinner Piyush Chawla. He is one of the most underrated spinners in the Indian Cricket and during his time with Delhi Daredevils he did not bowl a single no-ball for 386 overs. That’s for 8 long years he did not give the other side a free-hit.
9. Most Dot Balls In IPL
Harbhajan Singh has played a total of 160 matches and has bowled 1,249 dot balls. This is the most number of dot balls delivered by any player in the history of this tournament. Lasith Malinga comes second with 1,155 dot balls.
10. First Bowler Of IPL
Praveen Kumar was the bowler who bowled the first delivery in the IPL. The first ball was played by Sourav Ganguly. Praveen Kumar also gave away the first run in the IPL but Sourav Ganguly was not the one who scored it.
11. First Run In IPL
The first run in IPL came from a delivery bowled by Praveen Kumar, however, it came from the bat of Brendon McCullum. Adding to this interesting fact about IPL the first extra run in the next 2 seasons of IPL came from Sri Lankan players, Thilan Thishara and Chaminda Vaas respectively.
12. First Four In IPL
In the year 2008 when the first match was played between KKR and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Brendon McCullum hit the first boundary against Zaheer Khan.
13. First Six Of IPL
Interestingly, the first six of the IPL was scored by Brendon McCullum but it is a rather unknown fact of IPL that the first six was also conceived by Zaheer Khan.
14. Most Maiden Overs In IPL
Another Indian shines as Praveen Kumar is the IPL bowler with most number of maiden over at 14. Interesntingly, the 2nd and 3rd spots are also taken by Indian players with 10 and 8 maiden overs. Irfan Pathan has bowled 10 maiden overs while Dhawal Kulkarni has bowled 8 maiden overs.
15. The Only Team To Never Change Its Captain
The IPL is dynamic, and changes happen left and right when things are not working because, let us face it, it is more of a business. However, there is one team who has never changed its captain which is Chennai Super Kings. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been the captain of this franchise.
16. Most Number of Scores Under 100 In IPL
Talking about amazing IPL facts, there are some which nobody wants their name on, however, there is one team which have been restricted under 100 runs for the maximum number of times. This team is Royals Challenger Bangalore. In total, on 5 occasions the team was sent back to the dressing room before scoring 100 while once the team scored 96/9 after playing all 20 overs.
17. Highest And Lowest Total Put Up In IPL
One thing nobody can deny about RCB is that their team is full of explosive players. This makes them one of the most dangerous team to face as they can change the face of the game at any moment. RCB has scored the highest run in IPL in a game which was against Pune Warriors India in 2013.
Having said that they also hold the title of scoring the lowest runs in a match with measly 49 runs when the entire team was sent back to the dressing room after just 9.4 overs by KKR in 2017.
However, another amazing fact of IPL is that RCB also holds the record of 2nd highest tally. They scored 248 runs in 2016 against Gujarat Lions.
18. Most Ducks In IPL History
Cricket is a very interesting game, even the best of players can have bad days. In the history of IPL, there are two players who share the title for being sent to the dressing room without scoring a single run. Harbhajan Singh and Parthiv Patel, both, have been sent back 13 times without scoring a single run. However, Bhajji attained this feat in just 88 innings in IPL.
However, a lesser known fact of IPL is that Rohit Sharma has been sent back to the dressing room on a duck 12 times. We hope this number does not increase.
19. Most Sixes In IPL
The IPL has been a fast pace game where players come, try to hit hard and long and do their job as soon as possible. It is no surprise that Chris Gayle, who has given so many explosive performances, has the most sixes. He has hit 326 sixes in just 125 matches he played.
However, an unknown fact of IPL is that in the 12 seasons of this tournament, 5 out of the top 10 players with the most number of sixes are Indians. Let that sink in.
20. Most Hat-Tricks In IPL
In the 12 seasons of the Indian Premier League, the most number of times a bowler has taken a hat-trick is as low as 3. The 2nd player on the list has taken 2 hat-tricks. Can you guess these 2 people?
The person with 3 hat-tricks is Amit Mishra and the player who has taken 2 hat-tricks in his IPL career is Yuvraj Singh. Talk about an IPL fun fact.
21. Most Dot Balls In A Single Season Of IPL
The most dot balls ever bowled in a single season of IPL came from the South African fast pacer, Dale Steyn. In IPL 2013 Steyn bowled a total of 75.5 overs out of which he bowled 211 dot balls which is 35.1 overs. Talk about an amazing IPL fact.
Deepak Chahar comes second as he delivered 190 dot balls (or 31. 4 overs) in IPL 2019 after bowling just 64.3 overs.
22. Most Runs Scored In IPL
The Indian Skipper, Virat Kholi has played a total of 177 matches in the 12 seasons of IPL and in those 12 seasons he has garnered a total of 5,412 runs with a strike rate of 131.61 making him the highest run scorer of the tournament.
Interestingly, the 2nd and 3rd spots are also taken by Indian players with Suresh Raina scoring 5,368 runs and Rohit Sharma scoring 4,898 runs respectively.
23. Most Run In A Single Season Of IPL
It would be safe to say that the year 2016 was one of the most explosive seasons of the Indian Premier League. With the top 2 spots for the highest runs scored in a single season of IPL coming from it.
Virat Kholi smashed 973 runs in IPL 2016 while David Warner scored 848 runs in the same year.
24. Player Part Of Most Double Century Partnerships In IPL
Virat Kohli does not have a stupendous performance in International games, but in IPL as well. There have been 5 double century partnerships in the history of IPL however, it is just Virat Kohli who has been a part of 3 of them. This is one of the most unknown facts of IPL and obviously about Virat Kohli as well.
25. Overseas Players Who Played More Than 100 Matches For The Same Franchise
In the 12 seasons of IPL, there have been just 2 international players who have played more than 100 IPL matches for the same team. Before you read any further, make some guesses who these 2 loyal players could be.
These two players are Kieron Pollard and AB de Villiers.
Pollard made his debut for Mumbai Indians back in 2010 and has played 123 matches for the team, AB de Villiers, on the other hand, made his debut for Royal Challengers Bangalore back in 2011 and played 101 matches for the team.
26. Team Which Promotes “Go Green” Initiative By Switching Jersey For A Match
There is one IPL team which promotes “go green” initiative by switching its jersey to green for a match in the tournament. This ritual has been performed by the team in each and every season of IPL and we hope they keep this tradition for eternity.
This team is none other than Royal Challengers Bangalore. Isn’t this an interesting IPL fact. Let us know if you knew this already.
27. Fastest Half Century In IPL
An amazing IPL fact revolves around the quickest half century every scored in the history of IPL, do you know who that player is and in how many balls he managed to score his 50?
If you guessed K L Rahul, you are absolutely correct, in IPL 2018, K L Rahul smashed a half century in just 14 balls, a record which still holds strong. The second fastest came from Yusuf Pathan’s bat when he managed to touch 50 runs in 15 balls in IPL 2014.
28. Most Dismissals In One Inning
A rather amazing fact of IPL is that most number of dismissals done by a wicketkeeper in a single innings in IPL. If you are guessing it is MS Dhoni, we are afraid you are wrong. Though he has achieved a high dismissal of 4 wickets in a single inning, he and many others are overshadowed by Sri Lankan player Kumar Sangakkara.
He dismissed 5 players of RCB in the match played on 14th April 2011 in IPL 2011.
29. Most Runs Conceded By A Bowler In An Innings
Bowlers never want to get thrashed, it is nothing short of a nightmare for any bowler to have a high economy. If you think that you know the answer and it is Ishant Sharma who conceded the most runs in an innings in the history of an IPL you would are in for a treat.
An amazing IPL fact is that Ishant Sharma held this record for 5 years until Basil Thampi was thrashed by the batting line-up of RCB in IPL 2018 when he conceded 70 runs in 4 overs with an economy of 17.5.
30. Most Catches In One Season Of IPL By A Non-Wicketkeeper
In a cricket match, it is expected that a wicket keeper will take the most catches, so keeping it aside and bringing you an interesting IPL fact we have the fielder who has taken the most number of catches in a single season of IPL.
AB de Villiers has not only taken some of the most stunning catches in the history of IPL but his record of taking 19 catches in IPL 2016 still holds strong. What’s even amazing is that he attained this feat in just 16 matches, and dethroned David Miller who held the record earlier with 14 catches in an IPL season.
