In a two part series on the IPL, I will be looking back at
my highlights from this season, as well as providing my Team of the Year. In
this post, I cover my personal highlights, and a brief review of the grand
finale today in Kolkata.
The
Indian Premier League: a competition where it is considered fashionable to wear
two baseball caps. Whilst this is only one of my many memories from the 6th
incarnation of the Sub-Saharan Twenty 20 Cricket tournament, it is one that
sticks in my memory. The Indian Premier League is perfect for the cricket fan
who watches the Test highlights on Channel 5, and doesn’t want to sit through
dot ball after dot ball. It is arguably also the same place where you would see
Sachin Tendulkar, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga and Mitchell Johnson all in
the same team. Another intriguing few months of top quality cricket came to an
end today at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, but before I go into the final itself, I
will firstly go through a few more of my personal highlights.
Firstly,
this list could not be complete without a big West Indian having his say.
Fortunately, in this list we have two. The first to make this list is Royal
Challengers Bangalore opening batsman Chris Gayle. His innings against the Pune
Warriors was nothing short of spectacular, leaving pundits and commentators to
declare that ‘you will never see a better Twenty 20 innings’. Batting through
the entire 20 overs, a feat in itself, the big West Indian smacked the ball to
all corners, including the longest 6 of the tournament (119 metres), bringing
up the fastest 100 in Twenty 20 (and I suspect all forms of) cricket history.
Just 33 balls were taken to reach this milestone, putting his strike rate at
333.333, or 3.33 runs a ball to the layman. A simply phenomenal effort. And he
didn’t stop there. In his next 33 deliveries, he continued knocking the ball
about, reaching an incredible 175 off the 66 balls he faced. 175! Whole teams
struggle to make that score from 120 balls, never mind half that! This innings
was typical of the big man’s performance, and one that will go down in the
annuls of history.
The
second West Indian to make my list happens to be another big man. Mumbai
Indians’ Kieron Pollard’s performance in the crucial game against the Sunrisers
Hydrabad deserves to be in here, as with every ball he faced I found myself
getting more and more excited. In a spot of trouble mid-innings, and having
lost a few wickets in their chase, Mumbai called on Pollard to get them out of
their hole. And how the big man responded! A quick-fire 66 from 27 balls almost
single-handedly turned the game on its head, taking the required run rate from 15
to 9.5 a over. Smashing Thisana Pereira for 29 in one over set the tone for the
all-rounder, hitting 6 maximums in a sequence of 7 balls. Certainly you will
see no better example of a single-handed turnaround in this IPL season. Pollard
also has the benefit of being a tremendous fielder. Memorable catches against
Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings also propelled Pollard into our
attention this spring. A valuable player to have in your side, especially as
you get into the later overs.
My
third memory is a rather more nostalgic one. Adam Gilchrist, on his final performance
for the Kings XI Punjab, was given the final over to bowl. With his team
already having won the match against the Mumbai Indians, Gilly, normally a
wicket-keeper, was able to bowl his very first over in Twenty 20 cricket. Using
what can only be described as ‘weird spin’, I fully expected Harbhajan Singh to
smash the Aussie out of the ground multiple times. The last thing I expected
was for the off-spinner to mishit the ball out to long-on and lose his wicket!
As the Mumbai Indians were something for 9 at the time, the game was obviously
ended, and Gilchrist ended with figures of 0.1 overs bowled, 1 for 0 runs, and
a 100% strike rate! His celebrations after the wicket was taken were superb,
and illustrated the passion and flair that the sport will miss with his
retirement.
Despite
the loss of Gilchrist, celebrations are not something this competition will be
without next year. Four contenders for celebration of the season, with very
different dancing styles. Firstly, Dwayne Bravo’s hip-swinging when taking
either a wicket or catch caught the eye. Secondly, Darren Sammy’s wicket
celebration, putting a dummy in his mouth and ‘rocking the cradle’, signifying
the birth of his baby daughter. Unfortunately for Sammy, this came back to bite
him, when Brad Hodge hit the winning runs off Sammy’s bowling in the
Eliminator, he did the same cradle rocking moves we had become accustomed to
from the West Indian. Next, seeing a big man do the Gangnam Style is always
funny, and Chris Gayle is no exception. Even funnier, though, is seeing
Harbhajan Singh’s take on it. Rebranded the ‘Pangnam Style’, Bhaji’s moves were
certainly interesting, and I look forward to seeing more creations from the
players next year.
As for the final, in a match between the top
two teams in the regular season table, labelled as ‘Batting vs Bowling’, as
Chennai’s batting and Mumbai’s bowling attacks are considered to be the best,
round 1 went to the Super Kings. In the Qualifier, they comprehensively
outplayed the Mumbai side, winning by a massive 48 runs. This seemed to imply
that Batting is more important than bowling in Twenty 20 cricket. However,
after overcoming the Rajasthan Royals in the 2nd Qualifier, Mumbai
had the chance to get their own back on the grandest stage of them all.
Chennai, on the other hand, would want to avoid defeat in the final for the
second year running, having been beaten by Kolkata in last year’s showpiece.
With
Mumbai in to bat first, Chennai had the early chance to test the theory of
Mumbai as ‘chokers’. And choke they certainly seemed to, with an early batting
collapse, leaving them at 16-3. With Karthik and Rayudu at the crease, the
inning stabilised for a while. When Karthik went in the 10th over,
Mumbai looked in serious trouble. Kieron Pollard was the next man in, and he
kept his head, and kept Mumbai on the path to posting a competitive score.
Whilst wickets tumbled around him in the closing overs, he smashed two huge
sixes off the last 2 balls to ensure that Mumbai had a reasonable 148 total,
leaving Chennai chasing a eminently gettable 149. However, Chennai’s innings
got off to the worst possible start, with both the Orange cap-holding, usually
dependable, Mike Hussey and Suresh Raina out in the first Malinga over. 2-2.
Badrinath fell in the next to Johnson. 3-3. At this point it looked more like
Chennai were the chokers. And the wickets kept falling. After a short reposte,
Bravo went to Dhawan. 35-4. Jadeja then fell off the bowling of Pollard,
playing a ridiculous sweep stroke. 36-5. In came Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the
talisman and the glue of this Chennai side, and it was he that started the
recovery.
But all
too soon, he began to run out of partners. Vijay went next over to Johnson, at
39-6. Albie Morkel, after a brief cameo, was clean bowled by Ojha. All the
Mumbai bowlers were getting in on the act. Morris was next to go, caught off
Harbhajan. With Chennai languishing at 58-8, surely that was game over. But
still there was Dhoni, smashing maximums as though his life depended on it. And
try as they might, the Mumbai bowlers simply could not get him out. However,
after all of Dhoni’s fighting, Ravi Ashwin was caught playing a foolish shot
off Pollard at 99-9. After this, there was no going back. Dhoni again tried
valiantly to score runs, but time and balls ran out, leaving Chennai needing 42
off the last over. They ended up losing the match by 23 runs, which given their
predicament speaks volumes for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but it handed Mumbai their
first IPL victory in 6 attempts.
A
brilliant season, culminating in a final that twisted and turned, producing pure
drama, and a shock as the favourites were beaten. As we have seen in other
sports, rarely does the favourites tag mean anything at all. Mumbai have shown
this once again, and will return to defend their title next year, when
hopefully, Sachin Tendulkar will be fit once more. Though viewing figures in
the UK may have declined, I will most certainly be tuning in next campaign.
