The Winners and Runners of IPL – Every Year So Far

IPL is considered the toughest T20 cricket league in the league thanks to the competitiveness that this tournament brings along with it. Stocks of many players have gone only higher, and they become global superstars after performing in the IPL.

As cricket is a team sport, these collective individual performances from the players would result in their side winning. If that happens on a consistent basis, then their team will go on to win the tournament.

Winning any tournament is challenging as a team needs to maintain consistency throughout the tourney and it is even more so in a league like IPL. It is because this event happens over the course of 2 months and a team playing at their absolute best can only trump others.

The IPL has seen 16 successful seasons since 2008 and it means 16 times a team would have lifted the coveted trophy. In all 7 teams out of the 15 that has featured in IPL have won the title at least once in their respective history with Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings (5 each) being the most successful among them.

In this article, we will see the winners and runners-up in each of the 16 editions of IPL.

IPL 2008, Winners – Rajasthan Royals (RR), Runners – Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

With a stunning performance in the league stages winning 11 of their 14 games, Rajasthan led by Shane Warne defeated the Delhi Daredevils in the semifinal to reach the finale and book a clash with MS Dhoni-led CSK who defeated Kings XI Punjab in the other SF.

All-round show by Yusuf Pathan (56 & 3/22) ensured the Royals won the hard-fought final in last-ball thriller and become the inaugural champions of IPL.

IPL 2009: Winners – Deccan Chargers (DC), Runners – Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

Finishing at the bottom of the peril in 2008, Deccan Chargers led by Adam Gilchrist produced a much-improved performance by reaching the knockouts and there they defeated table-toppers Delhi Daredevils before winning the summit clash against RCB at Johannesburg.

In a low-scoring game, Herschelle Gibbs stood out with a score of 53 before Pragyan Ojha’s beautiful spell of 3/28 help Chargers defend a lowly set target of 143 by 6 runs. This was Deccan Chargers first and only title in the IPL.

IPL 2010: Winners – Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Runners – Mumbai Indians (MI)

After finishing as runner up in the inaugural edition, Chennai Super Kings reached the grand finale once again and crossed the hurdle by defeating the Mumbai Indians in summit clash.

The hero of the final for CSK was Suresh Raina. He scored an unbeaten 57 that propelled their score to 168/5 before the Super Kings’ bowlers restricted them to just about 146/9.

IPL 2011: Winners – Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Runners – Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

While CSK became the first side not only successfully defend their IPL crown but also became first team to win the IPL more than once. Again, led by MS Dhoni, CSK reached the final by beating RCB in the Qualifier 1 before going past the same opponent in the summit clash by 58 runs.

Murali Vijay was the star this time for CSK in final as his fantastic 95 made sure RCB didn’t even close to the target. With this, RCB lost their 2^nd IPL final.

IPL 2012: Winners – Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Runners – Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

KKR led by their shrewd skipper Gautam Gambhir denied CSK an opportunity to make it a hat-trick of titles as they defeated the then defending champions in the final at their own den by 5 wickets. This was largely possible thanks to the superlative effort of the uncapped keeper-batter Manvinder Bisla who scored a sensational 89 in KKR’s pursuit of 191, a daunting total in a final.

IPL 2013: Winners – Mumbai Indians (MI), Runners – Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Mumbai Indians led by a young Rohit Sharma produced a dominating performance throughout the tournament to become the 5^th side to win the IPL competition. Their opponent on the big final were CSK who made it to this stage for the 4^th consecutive time.

Kieron Pollard’s blistering 60 off 32 in MI’s total of 148 was the difference between the sides as CSK managed to score only 125 in their response.

IPL 2014: Winners – Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Runners – Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)

KKR became the second side win IPL on 2 different occasions after they defeated a rampaging Kings XI Punjab side in the final by 3 wickets. Saha’s glittering century (115*) made sure KXIP reach 199 batting first, but it wasn’t enough as it was overshadowed by KKR’s Manish Pandey who scored a brilliant 94 in this IPL final fixture.

IPL 2015: Winners – Mumbai Indians (MI), Runners – Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

History repeated itself again as the 2015 IPL saw a rehash of what happened in 2013. Mumbai Indians defeated CSK comprehensively by 41 at the Eden Gardens and the best performers for the newly crowned champs were Lendl Simmons (68), Rohit Sharma (50) and with the ball, it was Mitchell McClenaghan who ended with 3/25. 

This was the 6^th final appearance for CSK in final and their 4^th loss in this stage of the tournament.

IPL 2016: Winners – Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Runners – Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

2016 was the first time in a few years, that we moved away from the IPL winners being CSK, MI or KKR. It was the year of Sunrisers who won their maiden title after defeating Virat Kohli led RCB. 

Ben Cutting proved to be the difference as his all-round efforts (39* off 15 and 2/35) and the RCB fell short in their pursuit of 209 by a mere 8 runs. This gave David Warner led SRH their first and only IPL victory thus far.

IPL 2017: Winners – Mumbai Indians (MI), Runners – Rising Pune Supergiant (RPSG)

In a low-scoring thriller, Mumbai Indians prevailed over RPSG by just 1 run to become the first side to win IPL 3 times. Krunal Pandya’s 47 ensured MI score 129/8 in the game held at Hyderabad and this proved to enough as Pune fell short by a whisker. It is interesting to note that Rising Pune Supergiant didn’t play another season in IPL and they went defunct.

IPL 2018: Winners – Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Runners – Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

In what proved to be a fairytale comeback, CSK overcame SRH in high-scoring final held at Pune by 5 wickets. Led by a sensational a 57-ball 117* by all-rounder Shane Watson, Chennai chased down 179 posted by SRH while batting first.

This gave CSK their 3^rd IPL title and thus they levelled with their arch-rivals Mumbai Indians.

IPL 2019: Winners – Mumbai Indians (MI), Runners – Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Dubbed as IPL’s El-classico, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings met each other for the 4^th time in an IPL final and once again it was MI who emerged victorious. In yet another classic game between the sides, MI on the back of Kieron Pollard’s 41 and Jasprit Bumrah’s 2/14 narrowly beat CSK by 1 run. As a result, MI became the most successful IPL team (4 titles) and CSK lost their 5^th IPL final.

IPL 2020: Winners – Mumbai Indians (MI), Runners – Delhi Capitals (DC)

Mumbai Indians continued to assert their dominance in the IPL by winning their fifth title, this time defeating Delhi in the final. In a tournament that was played devoid of any spectators thanks to covid-19, MI brushed aside the first-time finalists Delhi led by Shreyas Iyer by 5 wickets become the 2^nd side after CSK to successfully defend their title.

MI’s Trent Boult was the pick of the lot as his 3/30 with the ball proved to be a difference at the end.

IPL 2021: Winners – Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Runners – Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

In what was a repeat of 2012 final clash, KKR took on CSK in the summit clash at Dubai. The only difference this time was the role was reversed and CSK trumped KKR by 27 wins to win their 4^th title.

Faf du Plessis’ 59-ball 88 was played a key role in CSK amassing 192 batting first and it proved to be no match for KKR as Shardul Thakur’s 3/38 ensured the men in yellow stormed home comfortably.

IPL 2022: Winners – Gujarat Titans (GT), Runners – Rajasthan Royals (RR)

This was an interesting battle for the title as it was Gujarat Titans maiden IPL season and Rajasthan led by Sanju Samson reached their first IPL final since 2008 edition. These 2 sides dominated the proceedings throughout the league stages but come the big game, it was Hardik Pandya’s GT that held the nerve.

Thanks to a captain’s effort by Pandya (3/17), GT won the game by 7 wickets after restricting the Royals to 130/9.

IPL 2023: Winners – Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Runners – Gujarat Titans (GT)

CSK played a spoilsport by not allowing the Titans to make it two in a row as they stopped the defending champions juggernaut in the final. In a last ball thriller and what was a rain-affected game, it was CSK who held the nerves in successfully chasing a mammoth total of 171 runs in 15 overs. 

Chennai Super Kings became the 5-time IPL champs and in process levelled with MI for the most IPL title wins.