IPL 2020 really a hit !
~ I too have reserved opinion on
whether it should be conducted at this pandemic stage b u t – the first match
was a thriller with Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni (without hitting a single run)
yet for the team selection, astute leadership and promoting Sam Curran- CSK won the match quite comfortably, though it was
the proverbial last over .. match no. 2 spilled beyond that – but the end was
damp.
Ravichandran Ashwin's enthusiasm is the driving force but perhaps
his fitness was not all that supportive.
Sad to see him writhing in pain and leaving the ground with a
left-shoulder injury, after diving to try and stop a Glenn Maxwell punch down
the ground- it came in an over where Ash had taken two wickets. The Capitals'
captain Shreyas Iyer, speaking after the game, indicated the injury was not as
serious as it first appeared, but the team was still waiting on the physio's
word.
The scorecard would never
convey the real feeling and would read :
Delhi Capitals 157/8 tied with Kings XI Punjab (20 ov, target 158) and DC won
by Super over. It was a great match,
nerve-wracking.
Was so refreshing to see a
young 20 year old run in long and fast and bown leg spin – on his debut, he
kept quiet the chirpy Rishab Pant though Harsha Bogle, would often say, ‘bowling
leg spinner to a left hander is a recipe for disaster’. Initially he started by
bowling irritatingly wide and slanting away but bowled well.
The match was seesaw of
fortunes - batting collapses, batting heroes and then a Super Over. In the first innings it was Marcus Stoinis who made all difference and perhaps
spoiled the career of Chris Jordan by hitting 30 runs off his final over. A score of 157 had looked most improbable
when Shimon Hetmeyer followed Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw – 13/3; 4-86; 5-87 (in
between Shreyas Iyera and Pant stitched a good partnership); 96/6 @ 16.1 – perhaps
it deserved only 120. Marcus Stoinis. Big, muscly, sitting deep in his crease
to pummel your marginally misdirected yorker to distant parts
King XI had a beter start
but collapsed 30/1; 35/4; 55/5; 101/6 and 157/8. The man who made the impossible simple was
Mayank Agarwal who left at 19.5 In the
final over they required 13 and Mayank hoisted Stoinis for a 6 followed by a
2,4, with 1 required off 3 came dot,
Mayani dismissal and Jordan’s and thus a tie. Earlier, Ashwin came on for the sixth over,
and took a wicket with his first ever ball for the Capitals, against the team
he captained last season; Karun Nair was the victim, falling to a top-edged
sweep. Four balls later, Ashwin burst through Pooran's defences with an arm
ball from around the wicket. Kings XI were 34 for 3, and were looking at negotiating
19 more balls from Ashwin, but in an attempt to dive and save a single down the
ground, he damaged his left shoulder and left the field in what appeared to be
intense pain.
Mayank Agarwal’s 89 off 60 balls rescued DC from an abject 55 for 5 in their chase of 158.
Kings XI Punjab needed 21 runs from the final 10 deliveries. Having lofted a
one-bounce four on the second ball of the 19th over, Mayank Agarwal pushed the
next delivery - a yorker from Kagiso Rabada - to the empty mid-on area and ran
two. Chris Jordan, Agarwal's partner, was running to the danger end, and did
well to complete the second run. Yet, Nitin Menon, the
squre-leg umpire, declared a short run, signalling that Jordan did not tap his
bat past the crease at the wicketkeeper's end before turning back for the
second run. TV replays subsequently indicated clearly that Jordan had in
fact crossed the line and it was a legal run. Eventually the match was tied in
regulation time after Rabada pouched Jordan at square leg to deny Kings XI
victory after they needed just one to win off the last delivery. The incident
saw a lot of people posting the replay on Twitter, with former India batsman
Virender Sehwag, who incidentally was also once Kings XI's team director,
highlighting the controversial umpiring decision by saying "it wasn't a
short run".
But the Super over was
poorly managed. Kings XI opened with KL
Rahul and Nicolas Pooran – why Mayank was not there is not understood. First ball
was a delicate flick for 2; next Rabada chased Rahul who was moving away,
swiped and Axar took a good catch and off the next Pooran was bowled neck and
crop. A score of 2 is not going to challenge any team. DC opened with Shreyas and Pant – Mohammad Shami
who had bowled so well, delivered a dot,
a rank wide and then a full on leg stump. Curtains .. ..
Great match
Regards – S. Sampathkumar
21.9.2020
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