Frenzied excitement. Incredible suspense. In the truest sense, a game seesawing with every delivery. The threat of rain. And some daring batting from India’s audacious, cocky new superstar.
There are times when the IPL gives you a kind of match that will make you forget every sin it’s ever committed. This was that kind of a match. Twenty20 matches have so much happening that it’s difficult to find a sense of context at times. When the number of overs gets reduced even further, it all becomes a lottery – just a series of flashes and bangs.
Not this one though. Everywhere you looked, something was happening. The rain almost coinciding with Royal Challengers Bangalore’s visit. It’s become eerie how rain has followed RCB everywhere. Don’t put it past rain to interrupt one of RCB’s playoffs matches now. And going by the experience RCB have gained by playing so many rain-affected matches, they’d probably welcome it now!
Moises goes berserk with a little help from RCB
Back to the match. With only 11 overs in hand,, the Sunrisers Hyderabad knew they didn’t have time to potter around. Warner was looking his usual dangerous self at the other end, but Hyderabad couldn’t be content with just him tonight. They needed someone equally destructive. So they sent Moises Henriques up.
Henriques wields a long handle. Like most players from Australia, he is immensely strong and can muscle deliveries away into the stands, using sheer brute force. That was exactly what he did, using his reach and strength to blaze away to 50 off just 20 balls.
Moises almost overshadowed Warner, but one piece of outrageousness from Warner just about stole the show. In one fluid motion, in the first ball of the 9th over off Chahal, Warner changed his stance. It happened in the flash of an eye. For poor Chahal, it happened too fast. One moment, Chahal delivered a googly to Warner the left-hander. But by the time the ball reached Warner, it was a right hander who cleanly went down on one knee and slog swept Chahal for a massive six. There’s a footballing term for a shot like that – a screamer!
Hyderabad bludgeoned away to 136, but Bangalore offered them the runs on a platter. There was some horrendous fielding, involving two dropped catches off Henriques. At the end of Hyderabad’s innings, drama unfolded. Kohli was distinctly displeased at the umpires for not calling off play when it started raining heavily in Hyderabad’s last over. Not particularly known for his calmness, he got right into the umpire’s face to let them know about his displeasure before walking off. Ugly scenes of Dinesh Karthik also remonstrating with the umpires were telecast. RCB tempers were frayed.
Kohli’s Best T20 Innings?
44 off 19 doesn’t look a lot. And if you haven’t watched the match, I can imagine you screwing up your eyebrows at this headline.
But one look at the context of this match and the circumstances of his knock and you’ll realize why this has to be counted among Kohli’s best IPL innings, maybe even his best.
When the rain finally subsided, RCB needed 81 from their 6 overs. Despite having Gayle and ABD in the top three, that was going to be a massively huge ask for RCB. That’s a run rate of more than 13, right from the first ball. Add to it the fact that this was a must-win match for qualification in the playoffs and it looked even tougher.
In the first two overs of RCB’s chase though, it looked ridiculously easy. Dale Steyn had probably been brought back into the team to intimidate Gayle. What transpired was the world’s best bowler feeding length delivery after delivery to the burly West Indian who disdainfully swatted them out of the ground. Gayle was making a mockery of the chase. After two overs, RCB were 41/0 with Gayle on 35 off just 9 balls. The required run rate had dipped to 10 runs per over. In T20 terms, RCB were cruising.
But in a 6 over game, it’s so easy to turn it around. Hyderabad struck back immediately in the next over with the wickets of both Gayle and De Villiers. From a position of strength, RCB were imploding. They got only 3 runs in the 3rd over, a travesty. The game had started slipping away.
Cometh the hour, cometh Kohli.
How difficult must it have been for him? Seeing your top two batsmen get out ball by ball. The required run rate increasing delivery after delivery. Knowing that it’s only you who can pull off such a gargantuan task.
Kohli stuck in there. If you see his innings again, you’ll notice he wasn’t timing everything properly. Karn Sharma dropped a skier off him. But he hung in grimly. He backed himself to keep the equation within touching distance till the last over. He spoiled Karn Sharma’s over by hitting him for a six over long-on off his last ball.
Praveen Kumar was bowling a good penultimate over. He had picked up Mandeep Singh. Kohli realized Praveen was good. But he also realized that he needed to keep RCB within sniffing distance. And he got his chance on the fourth ball – Praveen pitched it marginally short and Kohli just flicked those supremely gifted wrists. Boom. Six. 13 off 6.
Lagaan all over again
It was just yesterday when Yusuf Pathan was on strike. KKR needed 12 off the last over against Mumbai Indians. It was a similar situation – a win would have got KKR through to the playoffs. Unfortunately, Pathan holed out first ball and KKR went on to lose.
Was it playing on Kohli’s mind? Maybe. On the second ball, he struck it as hard as he could, summoning all the strength in his body, only to find that it had careened into Karthik’s leg. To make it worse, the ball had ricocheted off very close to the bowler Bhuvaneshwar, who wasted no time in running Karthik out.
12 off 4.
Then Kohli unleashed a classic. Bhuvi didn’t bowl a bad ball. He bowled exactly the ball you’d want in the circumstances. Pitched up right outside off stump. A lesser batsman than Kohli would have flayed at it and probably missed it like Piyush Chawla did yesterday. But Kohli...Kohli found a way. He hung in his crease so deep that he converted the yorker into a half volley and played a blazing cover drive off it.
8 off 3.
This time, Kohli showed off the de Villiers side to his batting. He went down on one knee to sweep. Bhuvi saw him and put it wide outside off stump. Kohli didn’t bat an eyelid, he opened the face of his bat and guided it to the third man boundary.
4 off 2.
Kohli went aerial. His worst shot of the night. Another fuller one on the off stump. Kohli hadn’t got it properly. Warner was hovering under it. The night air was damp. Warner was going to catch it. It would be curtains for Bangalore.
Warner did catch it. Completely cleanly. But he hadn’t looked behind. The boundary rope was just behind him. It was too late. He tried valiantly to throw it out but to no avail. He had stepped on the rope. And Kohli had spotted it from his crease. He erupted and went on a ecstatic run of joy. The RCB players swept out into their field to get a taste of their captain.
As Warner walked back ruefully, he might take solace in the fact that he probably took part in IPL 2015’s best game.
There are times when the IPL gives you a kind of match that will make you forget every sin it’s ever committed. This was that kind of a match. Twenty20 matches have so much happening that it’s difficult to find a sense of context at times. When the number of overs gets reduced even further, it all becomes a lottery – just a series of flashes and bangs.
Not this one though. Everywhere you looked, something was happening. The rain almost coinciding with Royal Challengers Bangalore’s visit. It’s become eerie how rain has followed RCB everywhere. Don’t put it past rain to interrupt one of RCB’s playoffs matches now. And going by the experience RCB have gained by playing so many rain-affected matches, they’d probably welcome it now!
Moises goes berserk with a little help from RCB
Back to the match. With only 11 overs in hand,, the Sunrisers Hyderabad knew they didn’t have time to potter around. Warner was looking his usual dangerous self at the other end, but Hyderabad couldn’t be content with just him tonight. They needed someone equally destructive. So they sent Moises Henriques up.
Henriques wields a long handle. Like most players from Australia, he is immensely strong and can muscle deliveries away into the stands, using sheer brute force. That was exactly what he did, using his reach and strength to blaze away to 50 off just 20 balls.
Moises almost overshadowed Warner, but one piece of outrageousness from Warner just about stole the show. In one fluid motion, in the first ball of the 9th over off Chahal, Warner changed his stance. It happened in the flash of an eye. For poor Chahal, it happened too fast. One moment, Chahal delivered a googly to Warner the left-hander. But by the time the ball reached Warner, it was a right hander who cleanly went down on one knee and slog swept Chahal for a massive six. There’s a footballing term for a shot like that – a screamer!
Hyderabad bludgeoned away to 136, but Bangalore offered them the runs on a platter. There was some horrendous fielding, involving two dropped catches off Henriques. At the end of Hyderabad’s innings, drama unfolded. Kohli was distinctly displeased at the umpires for not calling off play when it started raining heavily in Hyderabad’s last over. Not particularly known for his calmness, he got right into the umpire’s face to let them know about his displeasure before walking off. Ugly scenes of Dinesh Karthik also remonstrating with the umpires were telecast. RCB tempers were frayed.
Kohli’s Best T20 Innings?
44 off 19 doesn’t look a lot. And if you haven’t watched the match, I can imagine you screwing up your eyebrows at this headline.
But one look at the context of this match and the circumstances of his knock and you’ll realize why this has to be counted among Kohli’s best IPL innings, maybe even his best.
When the rain finally subsided, RCB needed 81 from their 6 overs. Despite having Gayle and ABD in the top three, that was going to be a massively huge ask for RCB. That’s a run rate of more than 13, right from the first ball. Add to it the fact that this was a must-win match for qualification in the playoffs and it looked even tougher.
In the first two overs of RCB’s chase though, it looked ridiculously easy. Dale Steyn had probably been brought back into the team to intimidate Gayle. What transpired was the world’s best bowler feeding length delivery after delivery to the burly West Indian who disdainfully swatted them out of the ground. Gayle was making a mockery of the chase. After two overs, RCB were 41/0 with Gayle on 35 off just 9 balls. The required run rate had dipped to 10 runs per over. In T20 terms, RCB were cruising.
But in a 6 over game, it’s so easy to turn it around. Hyderabad struck back immediately in the next over with the wickets of both Gayle and De Villiers. From a position of strength, RCB were imploding. They got only 3 runs in the 3rd over, a travesty. The game had started slipping away.
Cometh the hour, cometh Kohli.
How difficult must it have been for him? Seeing your top two batsmen get out ball by ball. The required run rate increasing delivery after delivery. Knowing that it’s only you who can pull off such a gargantuan task.
Kohli stuck in there. If you see his innings again, you’ll notice he wasn’t timing everything properly. Karn Sharma dropped a skier off him. But he hung in grimly. He backed himself to keep the equation within touching distance till the last over. He spoiled Karn Sharma’s over by hitting him for a six over long-on off his last ball.
Praveen Kumar was bowling a good penultimate over. He had picked up Mandeep Singh. Kohli realized Praveen was good. But he also realized that he needed to keep RCB within sniffing distance. And he got his chance on the fourth ball – Praveen pitched it marginally short and Kohli just flicked those supremely gifted wrists. Boom. Six. 13 off 6.
Lagaan all over again
It was just yesterday when Yusuf Pathan was on strike. KKR needed 12 off the last over against Mumbai Indians. It was a similar situation – a win would have got KKR through to the playoffs. Unfortunately, Pathan holed out first ball and KKR went on to lose.
Was it playing on Kohli’s mind? Maybe. On the second ball, he struck it as hard as he could, summoning all the strength in his body, only to find that it had careened into Karthik’s leg. To make it worse, the ball had ricocheted off very close to the bowler Bhuvaneshwar, who wasted no time in running Karthik out.
12 off 4.
Then Kohli unleashed a classic. Bhuvi didn’t bowl a bad ball. He bowled exactly the ball you’d want in the circumstances. Pitched up right outside off stump. A lesser batsman than Kohli would have flayed at it and probably missed it like Piyush Chawla did yesterday. But Kohli...Kohli found a way. He hung in his crease so deep that he converted the yorker into a half volley and played a blazing cover drive off it.
8 off 3.
This time, Kohli showed off the de Villiers side to his batting. He went down on one knee to sweep. Bhuvi saw him and put it wide outside off stump. Kohli didn’t bat an eyelid, he opened the face of his bat and guided it to the third man boundary.
4 off 2.
Kohli went aerial. His worst shot of the night. Another fuller one on the off stump. Kohli hadn’t got it properly. Warner was hovering under it. The night air was damp. Warner was going to catch it. It would be curtains for Bangalore.
Warner did catch it. Completely cleanly. But he hadn’t looked behind. The boundary rope was just behind him. It was too late. He tried valiantly to throw it out but to no avail. He had stepped on the rope. And Kohli had spotted it from his crease. He erupted and went on a ecstatic run of joy. The RCB players swept out into their field to get a taste of their captain.
As Warner walked back ruefully, he might take solace in the fact that he probably took part in IPL 2015’s best game.
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