Yes, it was that time in the series when the trophy was claimed by one of the two finalists – either the Deccan Chargers (DC), or the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). We all know who it was in the end, but to know just how they did it, read on!
The RCB won the toss and decided to field first. Skipper Adam Gilchrist (Gilly) and Herschelle Gibbs opened batting, while – keeping in mind Gilly’s performance in the semis – skipper of the RCB, Anil Kumble, decided to lead by example and took it upon himself to dismiss Gilly. And what do you know – he did! Thus, skipper dismissed skipper; that too without Gilly’s having made even a single run! Tirumalasetti Suman came in at one down, but was sent back to the bench by R. Vinay Kumar (catch Manish Pandey) after making 10 runs off 11 balls.
Andrew Symonds came in after Suman. Rahul Dravid, who is a fantastic catcher of the ball, dropped Symonds when he was batting at five! Symonds eventually did get out, but it was after he had made 33 runs off 21 balls. The man responsible for the dismissal was Kumble once again, who bowled him out. Rohit Sharma came in next. At the end of 10 overs, the DC were at 62-3. Sharma played a good innings, but got out after making 24 runs off 23 balls – the bowler, once again, being Kumble (catch Pandey).
Venugopal Rao came in next, but he was dismissed on a duck by Kumble again – the fielder this time being Ross Taylor. Azhar Bilakhia came in next, but was LBWed by V. Kumar after making only six runs. This wicket fell in the 20th over, and Ryan Harris came in for the last few balls. Thus, the DC ended at a very ‘gettable’ score of 143-6, with Gibbs at 53/48 (his fourth IPL 50) not out, and Harris at 9/5 not out.
Jacques Kallis and Pandey opened batting for the RCB, while Harris bowled the first over, in which he conceded only one run to the opposition. The next two overs were uneventful, but in the fourth over, R. P. Singh bowled out Kallis after the latter had made 15 runs off 17 balls. Roelof van de Merwe came in at one down. The second wicket – that of Pandey – fell in the seventh over, after he had made four runs off eight balls. Pandey was caught behind the wicket on a ball by Pragyan Ojha. Rahul Dravid was the next batsman in.
The third wicket which fell was that of Merwe, who was stumped out by Gilly on a ball by Ojha. Merwe had made 32 runs off 21 balls by then. Ross Taylor came in after Merwe’s dismissal, which took place in the ninth over. Funnily enough, after nine overs, both the teams were at the same score – 59-3. After 10 overs, though, while the DC had been at 62-3, the RCB ended at 69-3. The fourth wicket, and probably one of the biggest blows dealt to the RCB, was that of Dravid, who was bowled out by Harmeet Singh after making nine runs off 13 balls. Virat Kohli came in next.
Taylor, on whom a lot of hopes were pinned, got out on a ball by Symonds (catch Rao) when he was batting at 27 runs. Mark Boucher came in next at the non-striker’s end. At the striker’s end was Kohli, who was also dismissed by Symonds (stumping Gilly). Thus, Robin Uthappa came in and faced Symonds’ hat trick ball! However, he didn’t get out. By now, the RCB were six down. The seventh wicket fell, claiming Boucher, who got out on a ball by Harmeet (catch Gibbs) after he’d made five runs off six balls.
V. kumar came in next. After making eight runs off eight balls, he was sent packing by Harris (beautiful catch by Harmeet!). Skipper Kumble came in next, looking desolate, because he knew what was going to happen. The second last over was bowled by Harris, and Uthappa hit him for a couple of big boundaries; for a moment it looked as if the RCB would make it. But the last over was bowled by none other than the holder of the purple cap, R. P., and he delivered a fantastic few dot balls, as a result of which, the RCB lost the match by a mere six runs!
It was a great match, truly worthy of being called a ‘final’, where either team could have won. After the game, and after an ecstatic Gilly and team departed to the dressing room, a fantastic show – which included performances by Katrina Kaif, Eddy Grant, Akon, a fabulous fire and drum show, and dance performances by Shiamak Davar’s troupe – was held to mark the official close of IPL season 2. After the fabulous show, during which the ‘Miss IPL’ was also declared (a certain Dune Kozzats), the prizes for the match (and the entire series) were given out. The DLF Maximum award for the match was given to Merwe, while the Man of the Match was given to Anil Kumble – in spite of being from the losing side – for his unbelievable four wickets in four overs.
Other prizes that were given were:
Under 23 Success of the League – Rohit Sharma
Leading Run Scorer (Orange cap) – Mathew Hayden
Leading Wicket Taker (Purple cap) – R. P. Singh
Fair Play award – King’s XI Punjab (KXIP), and
Golden Player of the League – Adam Gilchrist
After all the awards were given out, the victorious DC team posed for photographs with the prestigious IPL trophy, leaving us, the audience, waiting eagerly for the next season, which will , we hope, be held where it truly belongs – in India!
Well, it sure did look like the match between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the King’s XI Punjab (KXIP) would be a repeat of the time when the two teams faced each other earlier. How? Read on to find out!
The KXIP won the toss, and elected to bat first. Their openers were Sunny Sohal and Simon Katich, while the opening bowler was Lasith Malinga. As has become routine in this year’s IPL, the first wicket fell soon (in the second over). The player to be dismissed was Katich, who went out after he was caught by Harbhajan Singh (Bhajji) on a ball by Dhawal Kulkarni. Katich went out for a duck.
Irfan Pathan came in at one down, many places up the order than his usual spot. But this change did no wonders for the KXIP, and Pathan got out on a run out (ball and run out by Dwayne Bravo). He, too, had made no runs.
Kumar Sangakarra (Sanga) came in next. Sohal, who had earlier been dropped by Sanath Jayasurya when he was batting on 42, got out after he had made only one more run, i.e., he got out on 43 after he was run out by Sachin Tendulkar.
When skipper Yuvraj Singh (Yuvi) walked in, everyone thought that he and Sanga would build a good partnership. But alas, Sanga was bowled out in the 10th over by Bhajji. Wilkin Mota came in next. The score of the KXIP – 70-4.
Mota, who had come in near the time of the Strategic Time Out, didn’t stay much longer after it, as he got out on a ball by J. P. Duminy and was caught by Bhajji after making only eight runs.
While Luke Pomersbach walked in after Sanga, Yuvi went out after making only 12 runs. He was dismissed, once again, by Duminy. Karan Goel came in next, but was soon bowled out by Ajinkya Rahane. Brett Lee and Piyush Chawla, too, came and went very quickly. Thus, the KXIP were nine down, and last man in was S. Sreesanth. The score at this point was 112-9.
After the ninth wicket fell in the 18th over, it was expected that the 10th wicket would also be taken, thus leading to an ‘all out’ situation, (the first in the series), but the KXIP hung on till the end. And at the end of 20 overs, with Goel and Sreesanth stretching out the innings, the KXIP ended at 119-9.
The MI had to make 120 in 20 overs, at exactly six runs an over. Sounds familiar? Yes, this was the exact same situation in the first match between the two teams!
Just as the batting order of the KXIP had changed, so had that of the MI. Bravo and Jayasurya opened the innings. Brett Lee bowled the first over, the first ball of which was a wide.
The third over, which was also bowled by Lee, saw the fall of the first wicket, (catch Mota), that of Jayasurya, who got out after making four runs off seven balls.
Ajinkya Rahane came in at one down, but was dismissed by Chawla (LBW) after making only one run. Tendulkar came in next. The bowlers of the KXIP had been very restrictive, and the runs were coming very slowly for the MI. However, after Tendulkar’s entry, he and Bravo, who had been playing a fabulous innings, started hitting the ball with all their might. Mostly Bravo did the hitting, while the skipper stayed to give support. Thus, after 16.2 overs, the MI were a very happy team, as they had achieved the target, and that too with balls remaining! At the end of the innings, Bravo had made 70 / 59, not out! Tendulkar, too, had made a very good 41 / 29.
While the bowlers of the MI did a great job in taking wickets, they gave away 18 extras! But, they had won, and that was all that mattered. The DLF Maximum award was given jointly to Bravo and Goel, while the Man of the Match was given to Bhajji, for taking 2 important catches and one wicket at a fantastic economy rate! All in all, it was one great victory for the MI, one which propelled them to the fourth spot on the rank table, from down below on the seventh!
Yes, match number 41 between the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) sure was entertaining!
In the match played at Centurion stadium, the RCB won the toss and elected to field first. While KKR skipper Brendon McCullum and ex-skipper Saurav Ganguly were the openijg batsmen, the bowling attack was opened by R. Vinay Kumar of the RCB.
While the first and second overs were uneventful, Vinay Kumar bowled the third over, in which he claimed the important wicket of Ganguly who walked back to the bench after making four runs off six balls. After he was caught by Mark Boucher (wicketkeeper), the scoreboard read 13-1.
After Ganguly came Arindam Ghosh, but before he could settle in, he was replaced by David Hussey, who was playing his first match in this season of the IPL. At the end of 10 overs, the KKR team’s score was 69-2.
After the Strategic Time Out, Hussey, who had playing a fabulous innings thus far, was bowled out by Akhil after the former had made 43 runs off only 27 balls! Angelo Mathews, who was also playing his first match, came in after Hussey, but couldn’t make a big contribution, and was dismissed by Anil Kumble.
Next, it was Wriddhiman Saha who walked in at four down. The last over was bowled by Jacques Kaliis, and a lot of runs were made off it, as Kallis bowled two No Balls, the first one of which did not bring a Free Hit for the KKR, but the second one did. Thus, at the end of 20 overs, the KKR score was 173-4, with McCullum at a brilliant 84 runs off 64 balls, not out!
Now, it was the turn of the RCB. Kallis and Jesse Ryder opened the innings, while the same was done by Ishant Sharma for the KKR. The first wicket fell on the ball of Murali Karthik, and Kallis was caught by McCullum after he had made 32 runs off 34 balls.
The other opener, Ryder, got out after he had made 22 runs. At the crease now were Robin Uthappa and Ross Taylor. While the latter stayed till the end, the former got out on a ball by Karthik after having made only seven runs.
Rahul Dravid came in next, but he, too, failed to deliver and got out after 12 runs, which he made off 12 deliveries on a fantastic ball – both bowled and caught – by Ajantha Mendis!
Boucher came in after that, and what followed was one of the best pieces of batting and partnership. Between Boucher and Taylor, the bats came alive and each stroke connected with the ball fabulously, until more than 50 runs were made off the last four overs alone! As a result of their mind blowing batting, the RCB won an almost certainly lost match, once again leading to the defeat of the KKR, in spite of a brilliant performance by them.
The man of the Match award – no surprises there – went to Ross Taylor for hitting an unbeaten 81 off just 33 balls, possibly one of the lowest ever!
That’s right. The result of this match was anybody’s guess. Only thing to be seen was how the result would be achieved in the match between the Delhi Daredevils (DD) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
DD won the toss and chose to field first. As Sehwag is suffering from an injured finger, he was once again not playing, and, as a result, Gautam Gambhir was captain once again. Ashish Nehra opened the bowling attack for the DD, while Brendon McCullum and Saurav Ganguly (yes, he opened batting, thank god!) were the opening batsmen. Even as the first overs have been dramatic, to say the least in many matches in this year’s IPL, this match’s first over was by far the most ‘happening’. On the second ball of the over, McCullum hit a six, the next ball was a wide, and the one after that, saw the fall of a wicket, that of McCullum!
As McCullum departed after having made six runs off three balls on an LBW by Nehra, the drama was far from over. Next person to come in was Brad Hodge, who had proved a formidable opponent in the past for many teams. He went down after he was caught by wicketkeeper AB de Villiers and got out for a duck! Thus, Nehra bowled a wide, was hit for a six, AND took two wickets, all in the first over!
Morne Van Wyk, who came in after Hodge, didn’t last long and was soon replaced by Yashpal Singh. Singh, too, didn’t perform well and got out after making only 13 runs. Wriddhiman S. came in next and went out on a duck, too! Just as Nehra took two wickets in the first over, so did Amit Mishra in the eighth over. Both, Singh, as well as Wriddhiman S., were dismissed by Mishra in the eighth over. After Wriddhiman’s dismissal, Moises Henriques came in.
At the end of 10 overs, the KKR scoreboard stood at 52-5. The sixth wicket fell soon after the Strategic Break, when Henriques was stumped out by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik on a ball by Mishra. Henriques had made only two runs off eight balls by then. Ajit Agarkar came in next. The seventh wicket was that of the man who till then had seen his team mates come and go one by one – Ganguly. When he was caught by David Warner on a ball by Dirk Nannes after having made 44 runs off 45 balls, everyone knew the game was over for the KKR.
After Ganguly, in came Murali Karthik. He and Agarkar struggled to get a decent score on the board, and, on the last ball, when Agarkar got out, the KKR scorecard read 123 at the loss of eight wickets. Skipper Gambhir and Warner were the openers for the DD. As was evident, the target was an easy one, and thus, the duo set about getting it by hitting fours and sixes. However, the first wicket did fall, and it was that of Gambhir, who got out on a ball by Henriques (catch Hodge) after having made 18 runs off 24 balls. By then, the DD had crossed the 50 run mark.
De Villiers came in next. Less than 15 runs after the dismissal of Gambhir, the other opener, Warner, fell victim to Ishant Sharma’s fantastic bowling and was caught by Van Wyk after he had made 36 runs off 23 deliveries. T. N. Dilshan came in next, but didn’t stay on the crease too long and was soon replaced by Dinesh Karthik. At the end of 10 overs, the DD stood at 72-3. After the loss of three wickets in the first 10 overs, the DD did not lose any more wickets after the Strategic Break till the end of the innings of the match which they won by a whopping seven wickets! The DD achieved the target of 124 runs in only 17.1 overs, and with 17 balls remaining, a victorious DD team ended with D. Karthik at 17 not out, and Villiers at 40 not out (32 balls).
The DLF Maximum award was given to two players of the losing side, Ajit Agarkar, and Saurav Ganguly, while the Man of the Match award was given to Amit Mishra for taking three wickets at a fantastic economy rate.
In this case, it was back to team one. In match number 38 between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), the MI reverted to their original team, bringing back Sanath Jayasurya and disposing off Luke Ronchi.
MI won the toss and elected to bat first, and Jayasurya, after a gap of one match, opened the batting along with Sachin Tendulkar, while the bowling attack was opened by Jacques Kallis. As has become the norm in most matches, the first ball of the innings was a wide. The second over was bowled by newcomer R. Vinay Kumar, who struck gold when he dismissed Tendulkar before the latter had even made a single run, thus getting out on a duck as Mark Boucher (wicketkeeper) made no mistakes in catching the ball.
After Tendulkar, Ajinkya Rahane came in. In the third over, there was a spot of misfielding as Virat Kohli threw the ball at the stumps, but there was nobody to catch it, resulting in an overthrow, and, what was worse, the ball went for a four!! While everyone was expecting Jayasurya to stay in the field and play well, he disappointed the MI supporters yet again and got out on an LBW by Roelof vd Merwe after making 29 runs off 27 balls.
J. P. Duminy came in at two down. At the end of 10 overs, Duminy and Rahane were on the field and the MI score stood at 67-2. The duo made the highest third wicket partnership for the MI, and, after a few more runs together, also recorded the highest third wicket partnership at the St. George’s stadium. Rahane completed his half century in only 44 balls, and, owing to the partnership between him and Duminy, after 20 overs, the MI had made a decent total of 157-2. Rahane made a splendid 62 not out, while Duminy scored an equally impressive 59 and remained not out.
The batting order of the RCB had also changed, as Virat Kohli and Kallis opened the batting for them. However, this change couldn’t do much for the team as Kallis got out after making only 12 runs off 10 balls on a ball by Dwayne Bravo, caught by Dhawal Kulkarni.Robin Uthappa came in at one down, but didn’t last long either. He got out after making only four runs off five balls. This time, the bowler was Kulkarni, and the fielder, Tendulkar.
While Ross Taylor came in next, Kohli, of whom expectations were high, failed to deliver, and got out on a ball by newcomer Chetanya Nanda (catch Duminy) after making 20 runs off 22 balls.
Next man in was Rahul Dravid, but ‘the wall’ soon crumbled, and was run out by Malinga after making only 10 runs off 12 balls. Malinga also bolwed out Ross Taylor while the latter was batting at 16 runs.At the crease now were Boucher and Merwe. While the former stayed till the end of the innings, making 48 not out, the latter got out after making only three runs.After Merwe’s dismissal, R. Vinay Kumar came in, but didn’t last long and was sent back to the bench after making only seven runs. The next – and last – man in was Anil Kumble, the skipper himself. The last partnership was between him and Boucher.
Try as they might, it was too late for the duo to salvage the game, and although Boucher tried till the last over to get the total, he failed, and the RCB ended at 141-7. Thus, the MI won by 16 runs. The Man of the Match award was given to Ajinkya Rahane for his excellent contribution towards a win for the MI.
