IPL 2021: The strange Uthappa-Pandey union, Mumbai Indians' opening blues, and more

Since the advent of the Indian Premier League in 2008, statisticians have been a busy breed.

While the record books have been re-written over and over again, for every essay of achievement a story with a near-miss emerge.

And while one franchise rejoices, the eternal wait continues for another.

As a sequel to the quirky yet true IPL facts published here, the following is another fact-pile to stroke your IPL appetite.

#10 Awards that have eluded teams

The IPL comes with glory and awards aplenty.

That said, certain honours have somehow dodged these teams:

• The IPL Trophy: Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings are yet to win the IPL

• The Orange Cap: The leading run-scorer walks away with the coveted Orange Cap each year. Rajasthan and Delhi, however, don't have this accolade in their closet

• The Purple Cap: Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore haven't had a player top the bowling leader board just yet

• The Most Valuable Player (MVP) award: this one has stayed away from the reach of Chennai Super Kings, Delhi and Sunrisers Hyderabad

• The Emerging Player Award: Despite all their IPL success, no player from Chennai Super Kings has bagged the Emerging Player bragging rights

• The Fairplay Award: Delhi, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders just don't seem to amass enough fair-play points each year. This one is still out of their reach

On the contrary, the only team to have won all of the accolades is the legendary Mumbai Indians.

#9 Left-handers and their IPL "firsts"

Adam Gilchrist, the Aussie wicket-keeper batting legend, was the first to the fifty IPL 6s milestone.

Thereafter, Chris Gayle took over.

The 'Universe Boss' was the first to pummel hundred sixes, 150 Sixes, 200 sixes, 250 sixes and then the first to attain the mythical 300 sixes mark.

#8 Mumbai Indians' opening blues

Mumbai has not won their opening IPL game since way back in 2013.

Incidentally, Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Mumbai Indians in the opening game of IPL 2013 when Bumrah made his IPL debut in Mumbai colours.

#7 The strange Uthappa-Pandey union

Karnataka's Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey played together in the same team for the first 10 IPL seasons.

• 2008: Mumbai Indians

• 2009 & 2010: Royal Challengers Bangalore

• 2011 to 2013: Pune Warriors India

• 2014 to 2017: Kolkata Knight Riders

#6 The two Indian MVPs

Only two Indians have ever won the MVP award in an IPL final.

Sachin Tendulkar won it in 2010 and in 2016, Virat Kohli earned bragging rights.

#5 The lone T20I player that missed the IPL boat

Fans that remember the Indian 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup campaign will do well to recall a certain Dinesh Mongia.

He left-arm orthodox spinner and middle-order batsman was an integral feature of that Indian line up.

Dinesh Mongia donned India colours in a solitary T20I game and played 57 ODIs for India.

Mongia's domestic and India career ended in 2007, just before brand IPL exploded on the scene.

In 2008, Dinesh Mongia signed up with the rival ICL. After a season with a Chandigarh franchise in the ICL, the all-rounder hung up his boots.

Thus, Dinesh Mongia holds the rather dubious distinction of being the only India T20I player to have not played the IPL.

#4 Most matches played in the IPL without representing India

Kolkata Knight Riders fans will remember a certain Rajat Bhatia.

The slow medium-pacer was an integral part of their campaigns in the Gautam Gambhir era. In addition to his slow cutters, Bhatia was also a handy middle-order batsman.

In all, the all-rounder played 95 IPL games and had a domestic career that lasted well over a decade.

Unfortunately, an India cap was to elude him.

Thus Rajat Bhatia holds the record for having played the most IPL matches without having donned India colours in any format.

#3 Virat Kohli's RCB love affair

Virat Kohli is the only player in the history of IPL to have played for the same team in all of the seasons, going all the way back to 2008.

#2 Virat Kohli, Bumrah's milestone bunny

Jasprit Bumrah appears to have the flair of picking up Virat Kohli's wickets at select milestones.

Bumrah's 1st IPL wicket was that of the Indian skipper. Years later, when Bumbrah picked up his 100th IPL wicket, Virat Kohli was the one walking back to the hut yet again.

#1 RCB's April 23 dichotomy

On April 23, 2013, RCB registered the hightest team score in IPL history – 263.

Five years later, on April 23, 2017, RCB were bowled out for 49. In doing so, they had now registered the lowest team score in the history of IPL cricket.

With inputs from @bhaleraosarang (Twitter)