IPL Records: Top 4 teams with most play-off games in IPL history

IPL 2019 is set to begin at Chennai on 23rd March evening between defending champions Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Only the schedule for the first two weeks has been announced, considering the upcoming elections.

Each team will play four games in the first two-week window. Chennai and Mumbai have won the IPL thrice, and whoever wins the 2019 IPL would become the most successful team in IPL history. Chennai Super Kings have a better IPL record when it comes to qualifying for the play-offs. The Men in Yellow have qualified for the IPL play-offs in all the seasons that they have played so far.

Qualifying for the play-offs is an incredible achievement in the IPL, and Chennai doing that consistently sums up the quality of the team. Each team will have to win a minimum of seven to eight games to give themselves a chance to play in the play-offs. The teams that reach the top in points would get two opportunities to qualify for the IPL final. It's one of the reasons why the IPL is the best tournament in the world.

Let's have look at the top 4 teams who have played the most play-off games:

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#4 Kolkata Knight Riders (10 times)

Kolkata Knight Riders

KKR have been one of the most consistent teams in recent years in the IPL. The Bengal-based team failed to qualify for the knock-out stages in the first three seasons. In the last three seasons, they qualified for the knock-out stages.

For the first time in 2011, KKR played the knock-out games and lost to Mumbai Indians in the eliminator. They won their maiden IPL title in 2012 under Gambhir's leadership by beating CSK in the final. In 2014, they become the second team to win two trophies in IPL history. Since then, they have been qualifying for the knock-out stages but have failed to reach the IPL final. In the last two seasons, they won the eliminator but lost in the qualifier. Hence, they missed two golden opportunities to play in the final.

#3 Royal Challengers Bangalore (11 Times)

Royal Challengers Bangalore

RCB are one of the unluckiest teams in IPL. They are third in the list of teams who have played the most number of play-offs. But they never went on to win the IPL trophy. The Virat Kohli-led RCB came close to winning thrice in 2009 , 2011 and 2016, but lost in the final against Deccan Chargers, Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively.

In 2016, Virat Kohli recorded over 900 runs, including four centuries. Winning the IPL trophy in that season would have been a perfect finish, but David Warner from SRH ensured that the IPL trophy stayed with Hyderabad. But in the next season, Bangalore produced their worst performance and finished last in the points table. Inconsistency has been the issue for Bangalore throughout the IPL. Barring this, RCB reached the play-offs and got knocked out in 2010 and 2015. Let's hope they can turn around their fortunes this season.

#2 Mumbai Indians (14 Times)

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians have been one of the most consistent teams to be a part of knock-out games in IPL. The Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians have qualified for the IPL final four times, winning three of them. In 2010, they qualified for the IPL final the first time, but lost to CSK.

Again in 2013, these two met in the final but this time Mumbai came out on top and won their first IPL trophy. The 2015 season yet again saw these two in the final, which Mumbai won by 41 runs to become the third team to win the IPL twice. There was no CSK in the 2017 season. But Dhoni's team was yet again in the IPL final, this time under Steve Smith's leadership. Mumbai won the low-scoring thriller by one run and became the first ever team to record three IPL trophies against their name.

Apart from this, they qualified for the play-offs in the 2011, 2012 and 2014 seasons. Rohit Sharma won three IPL trophies and would love to lift it for the fourth time in the 2019 season.

#1 Chennai Super Kings (19 Times)

Chennai Super Kings

There is no surprise that CSK have topped the list with a five-game margin even though they missed two IPL seasons. It sums up the consistency of Chennai Super Kings. Not only for plays-off, they also hold the record for playing most number of IPL finals, winning three of them.

CSK qualified for the final in the inaugural edition, but lost to Rajasthan Royals. In the next edition, they lost in the semi-finals. The Chennai-based team came back strong in the 2010 season. Dhoni's brilliance to remove Pollard, who was running away with the game, ensured that Chennai Super Kings won their maiden title.

In 2011, they beat RCB to become the first ever team to win back-to-back IPL trophies. For the third consecutive time, they qualified for the final in 2012, but KKR stopped their winning streak by winning their first IPL final. CSK lost a second consecutive final against Mumbai in 2013.

Mumbai Indians beat them once again in the 2015 final, becoming the first team to beat them twice in IPL finals. After serving a two-year suspension period, CSK came back with a bang. They won last season by beating SRH in the final, and thus became only the second team after Mumbai to win the IPL thrice.