Champions League T20 (CLT20) Finals: Stats highlights
CLT20 2014 Finals: Stats highlights
It will be a rematch of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2012 final as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) look for their maiden Champions League T20 (CLT20) title against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the CLT20 2014 final on Saturday. Abhijit Banare presents a few records from the past five finals.
In an all-IPL final, KKR, unbeaten in their last 14 matches, take on the most successful T20 side in the world — CSK. While CSK have cushion of playing on familiar pitches as they did in the league stage, KKR have a big worry with Sunil Narine barred from bowling. Read the preview of the match here.
Here are some past records of the CLT20 2014 finals:
Win Toss and… In the five finals of CLT20, the team winning the toss has elected to field on three occasions. It has been a habit for captains in T20s to focus on chasing. But team batting first have won three of the five finals. It does indicate that maybe the ‘win toss, chase’ may not be ideal option in a high pressure match.
Below are the toss results of the five finals.
| Toss | Year |
| Trinidad & Tobago, field | 2009 |
| Warriors, bat | 2010 |
| Mumbai Indians, bat | 2011 |
| Sydney Sixers, field | 2012 |
| Rajasthan Royals, field | 2013 |
Below are the results of the five CLT20 finals played so far:
| No | Date | Match | Result | Man of the Match | Man of the Series |
| 1 | Oct 23, 2009 | New South Wales vs Trinidad & Tobago | New South Wales won by 41 runs | Brett Lee | Brett Lee |
| 2 | Sep 26, 2010 | Warriors vs Chennai Super Kings | Chennai won by 8 wickets | Murali Vijay | Ravichandran Ashwin |
| 3 | Oct 9, 2011 | MumbI Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore | Mumbai won by 31 runs | Harbhajan Singh | Lasith Malinga |
| 4 | Oct 28, 2012 | Lions vs Sydney Sixers | Sydney won by 10 wickets | Michael Lumb | Mitchell Starc |
| 5 | Oct 6, 2013 | Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals | Mumbai won by 33 runs | Harbhajan Singh | Dwayne Smith |
Totals: The highest total in a CLT20 final was by Mumbai Indians in 2013 against Rajasthan Royals where the entire batting line-up clicked to pile on 202. The next best is 159 by New South Wales (NSW) in the first edition of the tournament. Both lowest scores are from the teams chasing. Royal Challengers Bangalore managed only 108 in response to Mumbai’s 202 whereas Trinidad posted 118 in response to 159 by NSW.
The average first innings total in a CLT20 final is 149.80. But if we remove Mumbai’s mammoth 202 then the average first innings score drops to 136.75. Both these average totals are considered fairly less in a T20 match on Indian pitches. However, Chinnaswamy Stadium is going to be a flat deck with a high-scoring match on offer.
| Highest | Lowest | ||
| Mumbai Indians (2013) | 202/6 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 108 |
| New South Wales | 159/9 | Trinidad & Tobago | 118 |
1. If KKR win, this would be the third time that an IPL franchise has won the IPL and CLT20 in the same year. Mumbai Indians in 2013 and Chennai Super Kings in 2010 have achieved it before.
2. This is the second instance of teams playing the opening match of the CLT20 league stage also playing the final match. This happened in the previous season with Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals.
3. If CSK win, they will be the second team after Mumbai Indians to lift the trophy twice.
Catch the key battles to look forward to in the CSK vs KKR CLT20 2014 final here
Best batting: Michael Lumb and Brad Haddin were unbeaten as they cruised to victory against the Lions in 2012. Sanju Samson and Ajinkya Rahane put up an excellent show in a chase of 203 against Mumbai Indians in 2013. Below are the best batting shows in a CLT20 final.
| Batsman | Team | Runs |
| Michael Lumb | Sydney Sixers | 82* |
| Ajinkya Rahane | Rajasthan Royals | 65 |
| Sanju Samson | Rajasthan Royals | 60 |
| Murali Vijay | Chennai Super Kings | 58 |
Best bowling: Going by the records, it seems having Harbhajan Singh in the team is the safest bet for a CLT20 final. Harbhajan has won the Man of the Match awards in both the finals Mumbai Indians played. Below are the best bowling figures in a CLT20 final.
| Bowler | Team | Figures |
| Harbhajan Singh (2013) | Mumbai Indians | 4/32 |
| Muttiah Muralitharan | Chennai Super Kings | 3/16 |
| Harbhajan Singh (2011) | Mumbai Indians | 3/20 |
| Raju Bhatkal | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 3/21 |
| Stuart Clark | New South Wales | 3/21 |
Best partnerships:
| Partnership | Batsman 1 | Batsman 2 | Team | Runs | Year |
| 1st | Michael Lumb | Brad Haddin | Sydney Sixers | 124* | 2012 |
| 2nd | Ajinkya Rahane | Sanju Samson | Rajasthan Royals | 109 | 2013 |
| 1st | Michael Hussey | Murali Vijay | Chennai Super Kings | 103 | 2010 |
| 7th | Steven Smith | Brett Lee | New South Wales | 49 | 2009 |
The Man of the Match and Man of the Series in all five previous CLT20 finals have been from the winning side of the final.
Complete coverage of Champions League T20 (CLT20) 2014 here
(Abhijit Banare is a reporter at CricketCountry. He is an avid quizzer and loves to analyse and dig out interesting facts which allows him to learn something new every day. Apart from cricket he also likes to keep a sharp eye on Indian politics, and can be followed on Twitter at @AbhijitVirgo)