Flashback: Lowest defended total in IPL history

In the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pulled off a miracle as they defended what remains the lowest total ever defended in the history of the competition. Locking horns with Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) at the Kingsmead in Durban in 2009, CSK won the toss and elected to bat first.

The opening duo of George Bailey and Parthiv Patel handed a decent start of 40 runs for the first wicket. However, their innings came to a screeching halt as Bailey (15 off 12 balls) was runout by Yuvraj Singh to strike the first blow, followed by Ramesh Powar getting the scalp of Parthiv for 32 off 23. Moreover, Parthiv top-scored for the side as the rest of the batting unit fell like a pack of cards.

CSK lost nearly half their side which kept them reeling in the innings. Meanwhile, Irfan Pathan struck twice to get two wickets as did Sreesanth, who concluded with a stunning economy of 5.75, having given just 23 runs in his four overs as CSK eventually finished with a meagre 116/9.

Punjab had a pretty clear equation in hand, favouring them to clinch the two points. However, in response, CSK left no stone unturned and put up a solid fight. Right from the second over of the chase, CSK drew first blood and maintained striking regular blows. The bowling unit operated in tandem to get the breakthroughs as Thilan Thushara, Muthiah Muralitharan, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Suresh Raina got two wickets a piece.

Impressively, Lankan legend Muralitharan recorded the best spell as he gave mere eight runs in his four overs for two scalps. He also won the Player of the Match award. Meanwhile, Luke Pomersbach top-scored for the side with 26 off 32 balls. That seemed about it as CSK defended the lowest total restricting the rival team to a paltry 92.