The death overs or the last overs are the most important and crucial time for the batsmen which gives a finishing touch to the batting team’s innings. The batting team tries to take maximum advantage of these overs in order to keep the scoreboard ticking and post a good total in order to defend or while chasing and IPL teams who have good finishers usually exploit at this stage of the game. A specialized finishing batsman will always take advantage of the field as there are 5 fielders outside the 30 yard-circle who try to stop the boundaries and the field is open so the batsman need to clear the boundary rope in order to score maximum runs.
The real entertainment in IPL starts in the death overs where the best finishers of the world like AB De Villiers, MS Dhoni, Andre Rusell, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya who play for their respective franchise entertain the audience with their explosive batting while making the most of these overs for the team. In the history of IPL, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are considered to be the best and most lethal batting sides in the death due to the presence of stalwart batsmen at the lower middle order.
Let's have a look at the 5 IPL teams who have scored the most runs in the last 5 overs in the history of Indian Premier League (IPL)
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Gujarat Lions, 44th Math in IPL 2016 (112 Runs)
In the second encounter that happened between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Lions, AB De Villiers and Virat Kohli took advantage of the weak bowling lineup of Gujarat Lions and even the best bowler, Ravindra Jadeja had an economy of 8.50 giving 34 runs in his 4 overs quota. Both the batsmen hit centuries with Ab De Villiers and Virat Kohli scoring respectively and this achieved a record partnership of 229 for the second wicket which became a record in the history of Indian Premier League. While achieving this feat, they together scored 112 runs in the last 5 overs they took the total to 248 for 3 wickets.
While batting second, Gujarat got all out at a meager score of 104 in 18.3 overs thanks to the bowling efforts of Chris Jordan and Yuzvendra Chahal, thus handing a victory of 144 runs to the Royal Challengers Bangalore with AB De Villiers being awarded the man of the match.
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 35th match in IPL 2019 (91 runs)
In the second encounter that happened between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders, Virat Kohli took the lead with Marcus Stoinis at the other end and took great advantage of the weak bowling lineup of Kolkata which was their main problem in that season but Andre Russell was an exceptional bowler for Kolkata in this match and he gave only 17 runs in 3 overs. They together scored 91 runs in the last 5 overs thus taking the total to 213 for 4 wickets with Virat Kohli scoring a century in the process.
While batting second, Kolkata fought well but could only manage a score of 203 runs for 5 wickets in their allotted 20 overs thanks to the all-round performance of Marcus Stoinis and bowling efforts of Navdeep Saini, thus handing a victory of 10 runs to the Royal Challengers Bangalore with Virat Kohli being awarded the man of the match.
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians, 10th Match in IPL 2020 (89 runs)
In the first match that happened between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians, AB De Villiers took charge with Shivam Dube at the other end, of the strong bowling lineup of Mumbai Indians against the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult who together form the most lethal pair They together scored 89 runs in the last 5 overs thus taking the total to 201 runs for 3 wickets with AB De Villiers and Devdutt Padikkal scoring crucial half-centuries in the process.
Mumbai Indians in reply gave a thumping response despite losing wickets in the powerplay with Ishan Kishan taking the charge but he missed his well deserved century by just 1 run and was caught on the rope. Nevertheless, Kieron Pollard did a cameo with quick 60 runs but Mumbai could not cross the finishing line and the match tied and then went into a super over which was eventually won by RCB.
Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings, 13th match in IPL 2020 (89 runs)
In the first encounter that happened between Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings, Rohit Sharma, the captain of Mumbai was the hero of the match as he played a knock of 70 runs and it was a delight to watch him like this. Nevertheless, Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya targeted the Punjab bowlers and scored 89 runs in the last 5 overs with Mumbai posting a total of 190 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. In reply, the Punjab Innings derailed and they could only manage to score 143 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. Kieron Pollard was adjudged the man of the match for his thunderous performance in the death overs and in the match.
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals, 11th match in IPL 2018 (88 runs)
In the match that happened between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals, Chris Woakes went after the Rajasthan bowlers with Washington Sundar at the other end playing a cameo and went on to collect 88 runs in the last 5 overs thereby posting a total of 198 runs for the loss of 6 wickets but still Bangalore couldn’t win the match even after these heroics and Rajasthan won that match by 19 runs.