IPL History: Top 3 teams with the most number of final appearances

After 59 games and eight teams, we are finally down to one game and two teams in the 12th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL). For the fourth time in this season, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings will face each other tonight. However, the stakes will be higher this time, since the winner of this clash will be crowned IPL 2019 Champions.

Among the original eight franchises, Delhi Capitals are the only team who are yet to reach an IPL final. Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals (2008), Kings XI Punjab (2014), Deccan Chargers (2009), and Rising Pune Supergiant (2017) have played an IPL final only once.

Kolkata Knight Riders (2012, 2014) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (2016, 2018) have reached the finals twice. KKR had won both of their finals under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir while SRH had won one (2016) and lost one (2018) IPL final.

Ahead of the tonight's final between MI and CSK, let us look at top three teams who have reached the IPL finals the most number of times.

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#3 Royal Challengers Bangalore (3)

RCB have lost all of their three IPL finals

After finishing seventh in the IPL Points Table in the inaugural season, Royal Challengers Bangalore made a comeback in the second season by reaching the finals. However, they lost to now-defunct Deccan Chargers in that final by a small margin of six runs.

RCB reached their second IPL final in the 2011 season as they once again failed to clear the final hurdle. Then for four consecutive seasons (2012-2015), they were unable to reach the IPL final. In those four seasons, they qualified for the playoffs only once.

After a long wait, they finally made it to the finals of IPL during the 2016 season. However, the result was the same as they once again lost an IPL final. After the 2016 season, they are yet to finish in the top four in the points table. In particular, they had finished at the bottom of the points table twice (2017, 2019) in this period.

#2 Mumbai Indians (5)

Mumbai Indians will eye for a fourth IPL title tonight

Mumbai Indians were highly consistent in the first two editions of IPL as they failed to finish in the top four for two consecutive seasons. However, in the third season, they reached their first-ever final in that season. Though they failed in the last hurdle against CSK, they became a force to reckon with from that season.

They reached their second final in the 2013 season under the leadership of Rohit Sharma. Unlike the 2010 season, MI won their first IPL title by defeating their arch-rivals CSK. From the 2013 season, MI has created a specific trend in their IPL journey.

With the 2013 season, they have successfully reached the finals in every alternate year (2015, 2017, and 2019). Besides, they emerged as winners in both the 2015 and 2017 seasons. With MI reaching the final again in this year, it will be interesting to see tonight whether their alternate year trend continues or not.

#1 Chennai Super Kings (8)

CSK will look to retain their IPL trophy tonight

10 seasons, 10 playoffs, 8 finals, 3 titles, 1 team – Chennai Super Kings. It is a no-brainer that CSK is the most consistent team in the history of IPL. As the popular social media joke goes, IPL is a tournament where seven teams compete against each other to face CSK in the final. And it couldn't be truer.

CSK reached the finals of the inaugural IPL season only to lose against Rajasthan Royals in a close contest. Though they failed to reach the final of IPL 2009, they successfully reached IPL 2010 final and emerged winners by defeating their nemesis MI. In the 2011 season, they created history by becoming the only team to retain their IPL trophy.

Barring the 2014 season, they reached the finals of every other IPL season from the 2012 edition. After serving a two-year suspension, CSK made a successful comeback to the IPL by winning their third IPL title in the last season.

Besides, in all these years, the leadership of CSK has never changed hands as MS Dhoni has been leading the team from the inaugural season. Since CSK has now qualified for their eighth IPL final, they are on the verge of creating history tonight by becoming the only team to defend their IPL trophy twice.