The Indian Premier League (IPL) Player of the Match award is usually presented to a player whose outstanding play propels their team to victory. But in rare instances, players from the losing team have produced such outstanding performances that they were nevertheless given the coveted trophy. Such few occurrences have occurred over time.

Even though cricket is a team sport, a player’s skill can sometimes determine the outcome of a match. Even though the team loses, these performances—whether it’s a valiant knock with the bat or an impactful period with the ball—remain memorable. Remarkably, in the 2008 inaugural edition, Shreevats Goswami became the first player in the IPL to win Player of the Match in a losing cause.

When playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Goswami hit the Delhi Daredevils (now the Delhi Capitals) for a score of 52 off 42 balls. Despite the fact that the Delhi team won by five wickets, the award went to the southpaw who scored the most runs. Albie Morkel, an all-around player for the Chennai Super Kings, became the second player to be added to the list that year.

Remarkably, when RCB faced the now-defunct Deccan Chargers in the 2009 IPL final,

Captain Anil Kumble had an outstanding performance, taking 4/16 and holding the Chargers to 143. But his efforts were in futile because the opposition won the title by six runs after defending the total. Even though he lost, Kumble is still the only player in IPL history to earn Player of the Match in a final.

Remarkably, Yuvraj Singh is the first player in IPL history to win Player of the Match twice despite losing. He scored an important fifty and claimed a hat-trick when playing for Kings XI Punjab (now known as the Punjab Kings) against the Bengaluru-based squad in 2009, but his team lost. When he was captaining the now-defunct Pune Warriors in 2011, he got four wickets and scored an undefeated 66 against the Delhi-based squad, but the side lost.

When playing for Punjab against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018, Ankit Rajpoot had one of the best bowling performances in IPL history. Rajpoot destroyed their top order with three wickets during the powerplay, putting SRH in early difficulties as they defended just 132 runs. Later on, he came back to finish with figures of 5/14 after taking five wickets. Rajpoot was the first uncapped Indian player to win Player of the Match in a losing cause, although SRH was able to defend their low total despite his brilliant play.

List of players to win Player of the Match award in losing cause from 2008-24: