Now that the UAE leg of the summer
special in cricket, IPL, has come to an end, let’s check out some highlights
from that phase.
1. KXIP became the first team and
George Bailey became the first captain to win the first 5 opening matches of
the IPL. This was primarily due to the impressive batting display by Maxwell
and Miller, the luck that followed Maxwell and the amazing bowling display in
the last two matches. Just like Harsha Bhogle had tweeted after the game
against SRH, “if you sent Maxwell to fight an army with a feather, he would
vanquish them with this luck!!”
2. KXIP created an IPL record of
chasing down the highest score when they made CSK’s 205 look diminutive in
their very first outing. They eclipsed the previous best of 193 by CSK against
KXIP. Sweet revenge?
3. KXIP became the first team to win 8
matches in a row in the IPL considering all the season so far. It is the best
ever sequence in IPL history. They eclipsed the previous best of 7 matches in a
row by RCB (2011) & CSK (2013).
4. CSK reached the milestone of winning
the most number of matches in T20 by any team with 74 wins when they defeated
SRH in their last match in the UAE leg. They are followed by MI and Somerset
with 66 and 65 wins respectively.
5. RCB scored the first ever below 100
score of the season when they were bundled out for 70 in their match against
RR. The match saw the 42 – year old veteran Pravin Tambe take 4/20 in his
allotted 4 overs which is the record for the best spell by the oldest ever
cricketer in the IPL, way ahead of Brad Hogg’s 2/31.
6. The closest finish in this edition
of the IPL so far was the penultimate match at UAE when RR and KKR battled it
out in the super over. James Faulkner produced an amazing 19th over
and took the best figures by a birthday boy with 3/11, which ensured that the
match went down to the wire. The super over too was tied but due some quick
thinking by Steve Smith, RR won by the more number of boundaries formula. RR
had 18 while KKR had only 14 to their innings. The other close finishes were:
KKR won the match against RCB due to the super man catch of Chris Lynn by 2
runs, which was the closest finish in terms of runs. RR won against SRH and DD
won against KKR by 4 wickets. Both games witnessed the closest in terms of
wickets left. RR defeated SRH and CSK defeated SRH with 3 balls remaining which
was the closest in terms of balls remaining.
7. MI became the first team to lose
more than 2 games at the start of the season in their pursuit to defend their
title. They lost all the 5 matches they played. They are the only team not to
win a single game at the UAE.
8. Gautham Gambhir, the skipper of KKR,
achieved the dubious record of scoring the most number of ducks in the IPL with
10 to his name right now.
9. Lakshmipathy Balaji of KXIP became the
first Indian bowler to claim all the 4 foreign players in the same match.
Will the shift to the homeland change fortunes for MI? Will this affect KXIP’s run? Will
this see a change in for all other teams too? Let’s relish in waiting and
watching the entertainment unravel in its own true colours
- -
Vadhiyadevan.
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