T20 cricket is always looked at as a format that involves high scoring and a lot of fours and sixes. Similar is the case with the Indian Premier League (IPL) where fans enjoy seeing the ball sail over the boundary ropes. With a lot of innovation, batters have developed new techniques which have made the life of bowlers more miserable. It has also led to teams finding it difficult to even defend high totals. However, there have been some IPL games in which the teams have successfully defended even very small totals.
120 by MI vs PWI, 2012
This is one of the closest encounters held in IPL history as far as low scores are concerned. The Mumbai Indians team could only manage to score 120/9 while batting first in their innings. For them, Sachin Tendulkar was the top scorer with 34 runs off 35 balls. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ashish Nehra picked up 2 wickets each.
Chasing this target, the Pune team never got going and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. On the second ball of the 19th over, they lost their sixth wicket at a score of 105 runs, and now they needed to score 15 runs off the last 10 balls. Mithun Manhas tried his best to win the game for the team with his 42-run knock-off 34 balls but failed in the last. Mumbai won this thriller by just 1 run to earn crucial points.
119 by SRH vs PWI, 2013
This was the game when Pune Warriors completely disappointed with their batting in a chase of 120 runs. SRH had scored 119/8 with vital knocks from Biplab Samantray and Ashish Reddy while Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up 3 wickets. However, Pune Warriors got dismissed for just 108 runs losing the match by 11 runs. Amit Mishra showed his magic with the balls picking up 4 wickets for 19 runs.
119 by KXIP vs MI, 2009
The Punjab team won a thriller against Mumbai Indians in IPL 2009 defending a very small total. They scored 119/8 in 20 overs with Kumar Sangakkara hitting 45 runs off 44 balls. In response to this score, Mumbai Indians could manage to score only 116/7 and lost the clash by 3 runs. JP Duminy hit 59 runs for them but took 63 balls in the process.
118 by SRH vs MI, 2018
This game had one of the most shocking results in IPL history as Mumbai Indians got bundled out for just 87 runs in chase of 119 runs. For SRH, Yusuf Pathan had scored the most runs (29) in the first innings. Their bowling attack consisting of Siddarth Kaul, Rashid Khan, and Basil Thampy displayed brilliant skills with the ball to help the team win the game. MI at one stage had scored 61/3 but soon collapsed in the latter half of their innings.
116 by CSK vs KXIP, 2009
Chennai Super Kings holds the record for defending the lowest score in the IPL history. They posted a total of 116/9 in 20 overs with Parthiv Patel scoring 32 runs off 23 balls. In response to this modest total, the Punjab team looked under pressure from the very start. They could score only 92/8 in 20 overs losing the match by 24 runs. For CSK, four of their bowlers took 2 wickets each to help win the game.
Lowest scores defended in IPL
Courtesy: Crictracker
| First Innings | Second Innings | Win margin | Year |
| CSK – 116/9 | PBKS – 92/8 | 24 runs | 2009 |
| SRH – 118 | MI – 87 | 21 runs | 2018 |
| PBKS – 119/8 | MI – 116/7 | 3 runs | 2009 |
| SRH – 119/8 | PWI – 108 | 11 runs | 2013 |
| MI – 120/9 | PWI – 119/6 | 1 run | 2012 |