Gurkeerat Singh Mann's 3 best moments in the IPL
Gurkeerat Singh Mann, a mainstay of the Punjab middle order for a decade in domestic cricket and represented India in three ODIs, called time on his career on Friday.
This season, he played just one game for champions Punjab in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
An IPL winner with the Gujarat Titans in 2022, Mann provided a lot of solidity to the middle orders of all the sides that he was a part of.
India called him up for the limited-overs leg of the 2015-16 tour of Australia, although his returns were dismal. He only played in 3 ODIs before being discarded.
Mann played in fifty-nine first-class matches as well as 95 List-A games, not to mention the 119 times he featured in Twenty20 cricket.
Despite being seen primarily as a white-ball cricketer, Mann had an impressive average of 42 in red-ball cricket. He was part of a golden generation of cricketers from Punjab which included Mandeep Singh, Manan Vohra, Siddharth Kaul, Uday Kaul and Jiwanjot Singh, among others.
Some of Mann's best moments on the field came in the IPL, where he represented five franchises: Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Titans.
In this listicle, we bring to you Gurkeerat Singh Mann's three best moments in the IPL:
#1. 65 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2019
The 65 that Gurkeerat Singh Mann scored against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2019 IPL will go down as the best knock that he has played in the competition. Turning out for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mann came in at number five while trying to chase a steep total of 176 down.
Skipper Virat Kohli, who was opening the innings, had got out for a paltry score, as had Parthiv Patel and AB De Villiers. The onus lay on Mann and Shimron Hetmyer to turn the tables at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Mann brought out all the shots in the book and ended up with 65 off just 48 balls. The knock was critical for the Royal Challengers to get home in the end.
#2. 51 vs Rising Pune Supergiants, 2016
The second top moment that Gurkeerat Singh Mann had playing in the IPL was the 51 he scored against Rising Pune Supergiants in the 2016 edition of the IPL.
Playing at the Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Stadium in Visakhapatnam, Kings XI Punjab (for whom he was playing then) had batted first and set up an imposing 172-7 at the end of their quota of twenty overs.
Mann came in at number four and struck a fantastic 51 off just 30 deliveries. He hit three boundaries and three sixes in that innings.
Unfortunately, his knock was not enough for the Kings XI to win this game, as an MS Dhoni blitzkrieg in the same city where he announced himself on the international stage in 2005 took the Supergiants home quite comfortably in the end.
#3. 31 vs Chennai Super Kings, 2013
Gurkeerat Singh Mann clearly had a penchant for scoring against an MS Dhoni-led side. This time, against the Chennai Super Kings at the PCA Stadium in Mohali, Mann came in at the end of the seventh over with his side precariously placed at 50-3.
He steadied the ship along with David Hussey and although he got only 31, that too at a strike rate of 119, he played a crucial role in setting up a platform for his side.
Unfortunately, both Hussey and he got out in the space of an over and the Kings XI Punjab had to be content with a mere 138 runs on the board.
Openers Murali Vijay and Michael Hussey, David's brother, chased it down with no help needed from the other batters in the CSK lineup.