We will measure and look for some key stats to find out the best IPL team till 2021. Mumbai Indians has won the tournament the most 5 times, does that reflect their overall performance to become the best IPL team till now.
Let’s jump right in to find the best IPL team. Before we start, we have laid down some criteria that every round will have points based on the top 5. The highest team will get 5 points and as we go down the points decreases. Sounds fun to me! Best IPL team, here we come!
** In the case of a tie, we will divide the remaining points into the number of teams in the tie.
1. Number of trophies.
| Mumbai Indians | 5 |
| Chennai Super Kings | 4 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 2 |
| Rajasthan Royals | 1 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 1 |
Solely looking at the trophy wins, Mumbai Indians will be the best IPL team. However, it is not the only matrix to consider. Also, we will be bringing CPL trophies and performance too into consideration.
- Mumbai Indians – 5 points
- Chennai Super Kings – 4 points
- Kolkata Knight Riders – 3 points
- Rajasthan Royals -1.5 point
- Sunrisers Hyderabad – 1.5 points
Some historic moment of the finals.
2008 – Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural IPL edition in 2008 defeating the Chennai Super Kings. Shane Warne was the captain of that side. Have a look at the full scorecard right here.
2009 – Having a very bad first season for the Hyderabad-based franchise, they showed up in the second to lift the trophy. They defeated Anil Kumble’s Royal Challengers Bangalore. Adam Gilchrist was the winning captain and it was played in South Africa. Full Scorecard.
2010 – MS Dhoni led Chennai to their first IPL trophy in the 2010 edition beating their Arch rival Mumbai Indian led by Sachin Tendulkar. Full scorecard.
2011 – They became the first team to defend the title and won the 2011 season as well. It was Royal Challengers Bangalore, whose challenge failed in the final, chasing 206 runs. Full Scorecard.
2012 – Chennai’s hat-trick dream was broken by Gautam Gambhir who was captaining Kolkata Knight Riders. A high-scoring encounter eventually got to the last over but was conquered by the KKR. Full Scorecard.
2013 – Mumbai Indians won their first IPL finals in Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Chennai chasing only a small target could not navigate their way through MI’s bowling attack. Full Scorecard.
2014 – Kolkata returned on the winner’s list, this time beating first-time finalist Kings 11 Punjab. Piyush Chawla’s heroic last over did it for KKR. Full Scorecard.
2015 – Mumbai Indians brought the trophy back from Kolkata. They beat their Rivals CSK setting a target of 203 which proved a hefty chase. Full Scorecard.
2016 – Hyderabad-based franchise again got the chance to lift the IPL trophy. It was a tight battle till the end. A scoring high scoring game where Royal Challengers Bangalore narrowly missed out. Full Scorecard.
2017 – This was the season where CSK and RR were banned for two seasons. Dhoni was in Pune’s team but their state rival Mumbai Indians got the better of them in a 1 run victory. Full scorecard.
2018 – Sunrisers again came close to winning the trophy for the second time but CSK came roaring to hunt them down. It was a one-sided event as CSK won by 8 wickets. Shane Watson blows SRH with a whistling century which included 8 sixes. Full Scorecard.
2019 – The most entertaining finals till now was in this particular edition where MI merely survived CSK. It was a one-run victory. Have you seen it or not? Check it out if you haven’t. // Full Scorecard.
2020 – Mumbai Indians lifts the Cup for the fifth time, this time though against a different opponent DC. It was Delhi Capitals’ first IPL final appearance which turned into a bitter experience for them. Full Scorecard.
For the highlights of every IPL match, just hop onto iplt20.com.
Points table positions.
This matrix will determine the consistency of each team in each season.
| Teams | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| RR | 1 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 4 | – | – | 4 | 7 | 8 | 7 |
| CSK | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | – | – | 2 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| KKR | 6 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| MI | 5 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| DC | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| PBK | 2 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| RCB | 7 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 3 |
| SRH | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
** Deccan Chargers, Pune Warriors India, Kochi Tuskers Kerela, Rising Pune Supergiants, and Gujarat Kings are omitted from the matrix.
we need to find the average, so we will sum the numbers and divide them by the number of seasons. For example, RR = 1+6+7+6+7+3+5+4+4+7+8+7 = 65 / 12 = 5.41. I will show you directly the answers.
- CSK = 2.66 // 5 points
- MI = 3.21 // 4 points
- SRH = 3.75 // 3 points
- KKR = 4.64 // 2 points
- RCB = 4.71 // 1 point
- DC = 5.07
- RR = 5.41
- PBKS = 5.64
Number of final appereances.
Pretty straightforward, but some number of seasons makes it a little overwhelming.
- CSK – 10 // 5 points
- MI – 6 // 4 points
- KKR – 4 // 3 points
- RCB – 3 // 2 points
- SRH – 2 // 1 point
The number of seasons is not counted. It is what it is. We didn’t find a way to incorporate them. CSK and RR were banned for 2 years while SRH didn’t exist before 2013.
Winning percentage.
So we will be looking at the winning percentage because some teams have played lesser seasons than others which eventually will be lesser matches.
- CSK – 61.34 – 5 points
- MI – 58.52 – 4 points
- KKR – 51.92 – 3 points
- RR – 49.70 – 2 point
- RCB – 48.02 – 1 point
- DC – 45.81
- PBK – 45.27
- SRH – 42.44
Thala Dhoni makes every match count. They are just unstoppable. While KKR are nicely placed in the middle.
Average runs scored on every match.
Here we will look at how is the batting performance of every team in each match. Total runs scored throughout IPL history divided by matches played.
- MI – 158.543 // 5 points
- CSK – 158.152 // 4 points
- RCB – 154.610 // 3 points
- RR – 153.365 // 2 points
- SRH – 153.374 // 1 point
- DC – 152.826
- PBKS – 151.446
- KKR – 150.317
No one should have guessed 2021 runners-up to be last in this table. Another shocking one is RCB, they are the run machine they should be on top, don’t they? But yes Mumbai deserves their place.
Average wickets taken per match.
After some surprise in the Run/Match, we will have to be ready for more surprise as Wickets/Match will be taken into consideration.
Total wickets taken divided by Total matches played.
- CSK – 6.18 // 5 points
- MI – 6.05 // 4 points
- SRH – 5.95 // 3 points
- DC – 5.87 // 2 points
- RCB – 5.74 // 1 point
- KKR – 5.69
- RR – 5.60
- PBKS – 5.24
Again, KKR at the middle, What are your thought? CSK and MI are the most consistent side with both the bat and ball. However, we can see that CSK relies more on their master behind the stumps to make bowlers more effective, while MI relies more on their top orders and hard hitters to take the games in their favor.
Total points to find the best IPL team of all time.
CSK – 28 points
MI – 26 points
KKR – 11 points
SRH – 9.5 points
RCB – 8 points
RR – 5.5 points
DC – 2 points
PBKS – 0 points
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS ARE THE BEST IPL TEAM OF ALL TIME.
No doubt CSK are the best IPL team of all time. As they are consistent and also big-time performers. From picking the players from the auction to playing them in the XI is different from the rest of the teams.
They like to play it safe and don’t make unnecessary changes in their team. Team management is also very experienced and strategies every match and every opponent effectively.
Thala Dhoni as a captain makes things easy for the players as the clarity of thoughts in the CSK team is their backbone.
