MI vs RR: 16–14, the Closest Major IPL Rivalry
July 14, 2026 · CricketStudio · How to cite
1The Finding
MI lead RR 16–14 across 30 IPL meetings — a 2-win margin over 16 seasons, the closest H2H of any major rivalry with 30+ meetings in the corpus.
2What the Numbers Show
| Metric | Value | Sample / Context |
|---|---|---|
| Total meetings | 30 | 0 no-results, 16 seasons |
| MI wins | 16 | 53.3% win rate |
| RR wins | 14 | 46.7% win rate |
| Win gap | 2 matches | Smallest gap in any 30+-match IPL rivalry |
| CSK vs MI (39 games) | 3-match gap | MI 21–18 CSK — 2nd closest |
| KKR vs MI (35 games) | 13-match gap | MI 24–11 KKR — most lopsided |
3Why It's Surprising
RR are the franchise with the smallest owner profile in the major-franchise group, yet they've come closest to H2H parity with MI — IPL's most-titled franchise (5 titles). Across 30 meetings, just 2 wins separate them. In contrast, KKR — who share the all-time title record — lose to MI at a 68.6% rate over 35 meetings. RR's historical nearness to MI is the quiet anomaly in the H2H data: underresourced franchise, closest record.
4Scope and Limits
- Covers IPL 2008–2025 (Cricsheet corpus). Includes only seasons where RR were active.
- Playoff and final matches included at equal weight to league stage.
- "Major rivalry" defined as ≥30 meetings between franchises active throughout the corpus period.
5Provenance
CricketStudio aggregation of Cricsheet IPL corpus (CC BY 3.0). All docs/match/ipl-cs-* with home/away teams MI and RR, 2008–2025. Computed 2026-07-14. Script: scripts/build-ipl-historical-trend-data.mjs.