A cricket match is not completely over until it is a final over. In the Indian Premier League (IPL), teams often come very close to winning the match, but they escape victory by a narrow margin of 2 or 1 run. Historically, such matches have had more thrill on the cards.
As of May 2025, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru share three victories each when these franchises turned around the game in the last-over thriller to win the match by just 1 run. While only the inaugural IPL edition winner Rajasthan Royals, have secured a 2-run victory on the highest three occasions.
Teams With Most 1 Runs Win in IPL History
Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders repeated history when they clinched a 1-run victory against Rajasthan Royals in a recent IPL 2025 match. Batting first, KKR posted 206/4, powered by a quickfire 57-run inning by Andre Russell, who faced just 25 deliveries. At one time, it seemed Rajasthan Royals would be out of the game, until Riyan Parag played a stormy 95-run inning, hitting six maximums without a dot ball in between, which led RR close to the chase.
After Parag’s dismissal, the match was in a crunch situation again, leading to the last over where RR needed 13 runs off 3 balls to win the match when Shubham Dubey hit Vaibhav Arora for a six. Everyone held their nerves as the next two deliveries saw one four, and another six coming as Dubey had gained full control over the pace, and the fast bowler felt a spike in pressure. However, the climax was still pending as while searching for three runs in the last ball, Dubey’s partner on the non-strike end, Jofra Archer, lost his wicket as he got run out, and only one run was completed, resulting in KKR winning the thrilling match by just one run.
The fans witnessed the first match with a 1-run victory in IPL when Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) secured a victory against Mumbai Indians in IPL 2008 on 21st May, 2008. Sachin Tendulkar’s Mumbai Indians were following the 190-run target, but the win probability kept varying during the entire match. During the last few overs, MI were very close to winning the match, but after Tendulkar lost his wicket, the entire team collapsed.
| Teams | Most 1-Run Wins |
|---|---|
| Mumbai Indians | 3 |
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 3 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 2 |
| Punjab Kings | 2 |
| Gujarat Lions | 1 |
| Lucknow Super Giants | 1 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 1 |
| Chennai Super Kings | 1 |
| Delhi Capitals | 1 |
Teams with the Most 2-Run Wins in IPL History
While Rajasthan Royals won the match by 2 runs on three occasions, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Lucknow Super Giants have had such a thrilling clash two times each.
In a recent match in IPL 2025, RCB met CSK at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where RCB posted 213/5 after batting first, with the highest contribution coming from Virat Kohli, who got out after scoring 62 runs off 33 balls. In reply, CSK were in a favourable situation until the dismissal of Ayush Mhatre at a fabulous score of 94 runs off 48 balls. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (77* off 45 balls) couldn’t finish the match as fall of wickets continued at the other end, including skipper MS Dhoni, who added 12 runs off 8 balls before walking back to the pavilion after 19.3 overs.
In IPL history, a first 2-run victory came for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2009 on 14th May, 2009 in Durban. In that match, RR faced MI, leading to RR’s score of 145/7 in the first inning with the help of a half-century by Rob Quiney. While chasing, MI didn’t get the ideal start, but picked up pace due to a strong partnership between Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar, who pushed the total quite close to the target. However, MI were restricted to 143 in 19.5 overs as former RR skipper Shane Warne came up with a three-wicket haul, including a dream dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar.
| Teams | Most 2-Run Wins |
|---|---|
| Rajasthan Royals | 3 |
| Chennai Super Kings | 2 |
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 2 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 2 |
| Lucknow Super Giants | 2 |
| Punjab Kings | 1 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 1 |
The fans enjoy the most when a match is getting close, when no one knows who will win the match. Looking at IPL history, there were multiple occasions when an IPL team won by a close margin of just 1 or 2-runs. In the future, such situations will replicate, as it is the nature of cricket that the match result mostly remains uncertain till the last ball.
