The IPL 6 is about to end soon but it has
given viewers a lot of exciting moments. There have been many close matches
that would have kept you on the edge of your seats in the dying stages.
Certainly, this is not the first time that IPL matches have been decided on the
last ball or last over as it is a trend that has continued from the earlier
seasons. Many one-sided matches are also seen in the IPL now and again but I
guess that balances things out. So, let us take a look at three of the most
exciting matches that we have been privileged to watch during the season six of
the IPL.
Let us start with the top 2 teams in the
IPL 6. Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings have always been involved in some
close matches over the years. Who can forget the 14 runs hit by Dwayne Smith in
the last three balls against Ben Hilfenhaus in last year’s tournament? That was
at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai but this year Chennai saw an exciting match
between these two giant teams. Not many would have expected Mumbai to pull it
off especially in the absence of their premiere bowler, Lasith Malinga.
CSK and Mi faced off in their first match
quite early in the tournament and it was indeed a cracking contest. A lot was
expected from the dynamic duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting but Chennai
bowlers struck early and both were in the pavilion quite soon. Mumbai Indians
huffed and puffed their way to a score of 148 thanks to Pollard and Dinesh
Kartik who was in sublime form at the start of the tournament. This score would
have been considered much below par but Chennai batsmen did not seem in any
mood to chase it down. MI bowlers bowled well and everything seemed going well
for an MI victory until MS Dhoni stepped up to the plate. MS Dhoni blasted the
bowlers for a number of 4’s and 6’s and looked on the verge of taking the team
through unless something extraordinary took place. A Munaf Patel delivery in
the last over looked like heading over the boundary quite comfortably till
Pollard leapt like Superman to take one of the most brilliant catches in IPL
history. That was game set match for Chennai as MI completed a victory by 9
runs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore has been
involved in some close contests over the years and this year has been no
different for them. The match against Hyderabad Sunrisers certainly makes it to
the list as it went into the super over, which is not very common. Only Chennai
beat Hyderabad at their home but RCB came quite close to doing it. Captain
Kohli and foreign import Henriques played well to take the team to a modest 130
score. This was actually not a bad score as we saw Hyderabad winning many low
score matches at their home ground. Riding on the knock of youngster Vihari,
Hyderabad came close to win in 20 overs itself with 7 needed off the last over.
But, Vinay Kumar was at the peak of his bowling form and made it extremely
difficult for the home team. It was extremely lucky for Hyderabad that the
match went into the super over as some sloppy fielding allowed them to equal
the scores in the end. Vinay Kumar’s splendid efforts went to waste as Cameron
White smashed a couple of sixes off him in the super over. Even the mighty
Gayle could not get the team across mostly because the best bowler in the
world, Dale Steyn bowled the super over for Hyderabad.
The final match that cannot be left out
again involves RCB in a losing cause against multiple times IPL champions
Chennai Super Kings. RCB batted first and made their way to 165. This looked
like a good total since the RCB bowlers were doing well at the start of the
tournament. Quite a few batsmen got going for Chennai as Raina, Badrinath and
Dhoni made thirties. The gist of this match comes down to just one variable. 2
runs needed of the final ball. One common factor between the match against
Hyderabad and Chennai is that Gayle failed in both the matches. In hindsight
this could have been a contributing factor since RCB have known to be heavily
dependent on him. Back to the final ball, Jadeja on strike, and RP Singh, a
former bowler got Jadeja out caught at third man to spark off wild celebrations
from Virat Kohli. But suddenly, Kohli realized that the umpire had signaled a
no ball and it was the turn of the Chennai camp to bask in their new found
glory thanks to Jadeja’s 38 crucial runs which also helped him bag the player
of the match award.
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