Indian Premier League (IPL) is starting from 22nd March. The first match will be played between the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Bengaluru, playing under the captaincy of Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis, will have an important challenge to face Dhoni's team. Under the captaincy of Dhoni, Chennai has won the IPL title five times.
The biggest challenge before the Royal Challengers team will be to win the IPL title match for the first time. Bengaluru's best performances in the history of IPL were in 2009, 2011 and 2016. The Bengaluru team reached the finals all three times, but missed out on winning the finals. Before the start of IPL 2024, some shocking figures are coming out for CSK and RCB.
CSK and RCB will have to be cautious in the opening match
Let us tell you that 16 seasons of IPL have been played since 2008. Of these, only 5 times has one of the two teams playing the initial match (win or lose) emerged as champion. In this too, the same team that won the initial match has become champion three times.
Whereas the team that lost only twice in the initial matches of IPL became the champion in that season. In such a situation, these figures seem to be going very little in favor of Dhoni and Pandya. This is the reason why Dhoni and Pandya will have to be more cautious this time, because they have to play the first match of the current season.
IPL opening matches and winners statistics
- Only 6 times (2011, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2023) did the team playing the first match become champion.
- Only 3 times (2011, 2014, 2018) did the team that won the first match become champion.
- Only 3 times (2015, 2020, 2023) has the team that lost the first match become champion, both times this feat has been achieved by Mumbai and Chennai.
Mumbai and Chennai have won the title maximum 5 times each.
Mumbai Indians (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020) and Chennai Super Kings (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023) jointly hold the record for winning the most titles in IPL history. Mumbai has won all these titles under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma. But this time he is not the captain. 42 year old Dhoni will captain the Chennai team this time too.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) became champion twice (2012, 2014). While the Hyderabad franchise has also won the title twice (Deccan Chargers 2009, Sunrisers Hyderabad 2016). Apart from these three teams, Rajasthan Royals (2008) and Gujarat Titans (2022) have won the title 1 time each.
This team has never become champion in IPL
While Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Delhi Capitals (DC), Punjab Kings (PBKS) are the franchises that have been in existence since the beginning of IPL but have not managed to win the title even once. In between, teams like Pune Warriors, Gujarat Lions, Kochi Tuskers also came, but they too could not become champions. Lucknow Super Giants also joined as a new team in the 2022 IPL season, which is still there.