IPL 2018: Overs that changed the course of the game
The 11th season of the IPL is coming to a close and there have been some excellent performances throughout the season. A lot of players have been extremely consistent and have performed exceptionally well. Also, a lot of youngsters have stepped up and shown what they are capable of.
There have also been quite some instances where the game has turned around due to just one over. T20 is such a format that sometimes an individual brilliance is enough for a team to win the game.
Also, the game changes rapidly. In fact, a match can turn on its head in the space of a few deliveries. Hence, here we look back at some of the most crucial overs which changed the game on its head and shifted the balance.
#5 Umesh Yadav’s two-wicket burst against KXIP (May 14)
Umesh Yadav was the standout bowler for the Royal Challengers Bangalore this season. He was absolutely brilliant in the powerplay where he ran in and bowled fast, rushing the batsmen. He was RCB’s go-to bowler in the powerplay as inevitably, he gave them wickets upfront.
In a must-win game against KXIP, Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to field first. KL Rahul and Chris Gayle started slowly as they got just 7 runs in the first two overs. However, they slowly started shifting the pressure as they found the boundaries with ease in the next couple of overs. However, Umesh Yadav halted their charge as he picked up both openers in the space of 4 deliveries.
He bounced out both Rahul and Gayle in the 5th over as he had both of them caught at deep square-leg. With KXIP a touch over-reliant on the openers, they crumbled to 88 all out after those two breakthroughs.
This gave RCB back-to-back wins, something they hadn’t managed to do since 2016.