Lucknow made the second highest score of IPL: 240+ runs scored 6 times in history, RCB-CSK on top
In the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Friday, Lucknow Super Giants made the second-highest score in tournament history. The team scored 257 for 5 against Punjab Kings in Mohali. Only Royal Challengers Bangalore could score more than him in IPL. The team did this feat against Pune Warriors India 10 years ago.
In this franchise league tournament of instant cricket format, even after more than 950 matches, scores of more than 240 have been made only 6 times so far. But in the 38th match of this season itself, more than 200 runs have been scored 20 times. In the next story, we will know the top-6 scores of IPL history. Will also look at the top players of those matches, the score of the opposition team, the performance of the stadium, and the player of the match.
1. Chennai Super Kings – 240/5
The very first match of the first season of IPL was a bang. Kolkata Knight Riders’ batsman Brendon McCullum took the team’s score to 222 by playing a not-out inning of 158 off 73 balls. In the same season, Chennai Super Kings, captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, scored 240 for the first time in IPL.
On 19 April 2008, Chennai won the toss and elected to bat against Kings XI Punjab at the IS Bindra Cricket Stadium in Mohali, scoring 240 for 5 in 20 overs. Michael Hussey, who landed at number-3, played a not-out inning of 116 runs off 54 balls. In this inning, he hit 8 fours and 9 sixes.
Apart from Hussey, Matthew Hayden played quick innings of 25 off 17 balls, Suresh Raina 32 off 13 balls and Subramaniam Badrinath 31 off 14 balls. Punjab used 7 bowlers, 6 of whom gave away runs at an economy of more than 10 runs per over. James Hopes gave away 53 runs in 4 overs. Brett Lee was the only bowler who took one wicket for 35 runs in 4 overs at an economy rate of less than 10.
In response, Punjab also scored 207 runs for 4 wickets in 20 overs, but they were 33 runs short of the target. From the team, Hopes scored 71 off 33 balls and Kumar Sangakkara scored 54 off 33 balls. Yuvraj Singh, Karan Goel, and Simon Katich also played innings of 20-plus runs, but could not win their team. In this innings, 3 bowlers of CSK gave more than 40 runs in 4 overs.
2. Kolkata Knight Riders – 245/6
Kolkata Knight Riders, who finished third in the 2018 IPL, had off-spinner and pinch hitter Sunil Narine open the entire season. On 12 May 2018, he got his team off to a strong start by playing an explosive inning of 75 off 36 balls at the Holkar Stadium in Indore against the Punjab Kings. In this innings, he hit 9 fours and 4 sixes.
After Narine’s innings, the rest of the KKR batsmen also scored fast on the Indore batting pitch and took the team’s score to 245 for 6 in 20 overs, which was also the biggest score of that season. Captain Dinesh Karthik scored 50 off 23 balls and Andre Russell scored 31 off 14 balls from the team.
Punjab used 6 bowlers, but all gave runs at an economy rate of more than 10. Left-arm pacer Barinder Sran had 48 runs in 3 overs and spinner Akshar Patel had 52 runs in 4 overs. Pacer Andrew Tye took 4 wickets in the innings.
In response to 246 runs, Punjab also scored 214 runs for 8 wickets but fell 31 runs short of the target. KL Rahul got the team off to a good start by scoring 66 off just 29 balls, but the rest of the batsmen could not do much. Captain Ravichandran Ashwin scored 45 off 22 balls and Aaron Finch scored 34 off 20 balls, but could not win the team. Russell took 3 wickets and the famous Krishna took 2 wickets from KKR.
3. Chennai Super Kings – 246/5
Chennai Super Kings have scored more than 200 runs 26 times in IPL history. The team almost touched 250 runs in the 2010 season itself, but they fell 4 runs short of this score. Electing to bat first after winning the toss against Rajasthan Royals at Chepauk Stadium in Chennai on April 3, CSK scored 246 for 5 in 20 overs with the help of opener Murali Vijay’s century.
Vijay had hit 8 fours and 11 sixes in his innings of 127 off 56 balls. The rest of the team’s batsmen hit a total of 6 sixes, in which Albie Morkel’s innings of 62 runs off 34 balls was also important. He had hit 5 sixes. Opener Matthew Hayden also played an innings of 34 runs off 21 balls.
Rajasthan tried 7 bowlers, out of which 6 gave runs with an economy of more than 10. 7th bowler Abhishek
Jhunjhunwala also gave 18 runs in 2 overs. Sumit Narwal got 41 runs in 2 overs. Apart from him, 3 bowlers of the team had given more than 40 runs in their spell.
Chasing the target of 247 runs, Rajasthan scored 223 runs for 5 wickets in 20 overs. Opener Naman Ojha played a not-out inning of 94 off 55 balls, but could not win his team. Shane Watson scored 60 runs in 25 balls with the help of 5 fours and 5 sixes in the middle overs, but could not achieve the target in front of CSK bowling.
CSK bowlers were also beaten up in this match, the team tried 6 bowlers, out of which 2 gave more than 50 runs and one gave more than 40 runs. Left-arm pacer Doug Ballinger was the hero of the team in bowling, he gave only 15 runs in 4 overs and also took 2 wickets.