IPL 2022: 3 match-winning innings played in the league at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) starts on March 26, 2022. All the 70 group matches in IPL 2022 will be played in Maharashtra and 15 of them will take place at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
Brabourne Stadium has hosted 10 IPL matches in the last 14 years and the last one was played in 2015. It's been almost seven years since that match.
Mumbai Indians played six IPL games in 2010 at the famous IPL venue. Thereafter, it hosted an Eliminator between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in 2014, and was the home ground for the Rajasthan Royals for three matches in 2015.
A few brilliant knocks were played at this Stadium in the IPL games played there. Here is a look at three such innings.
#1 Shane Watson - 104* vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 2015
The Aussie all-rounder was the Man of the Match when an IPL game was last played at the Brabourne Stadium. On May 16, 2015, Rajasthan Royals won the toss on a good batting wicket and elected to bat first in a group match against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Shane Watson was a man on a mission from the word go. He added 80 runs for the first wicket with Ajinkya Rahane and thereafter, did not look back. He smashed the bowlers all around the park and was unbeaten on 104 from 59 at the end of the innings.
He had an astounding strike rate of 176.27 and hit 9 boundaries and 5 sixes during his time at the crease. Watson took an experienced bowling line-up comprising of Azhar Mahmood, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Russell, and Piyush Chawla to the cleaners.
Riding on Watson's innings, Rajasthan Royals posted 199 in their 20 overs. The Knight Riders fell short in the run chase by nine runs. Watson picked up the wickets of Yusuf Pathan and Piyush Chawla.
The former Aussie captain had the perfect game at the Brabourne Stadium and his century is the only one in a winning cause at this venue in IPL cricket.
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#2 Eoin Morgan - 63 vs Rajasthan Royals, 2015
Morgan played a spectacular innings for the Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 7, 2015. In a group encounter against hosts Rajasthan Royals, SRH were at 89/2 when Morgan walked out to bat.
The next few overs saw a special knock from the English ODI and T20I skipper. He scored 63 runs from just 28 balls at an astonishing strike rate of 225. His innings included 4 boundaries and 5 huge sixes. The current English limited-overs captain played attacking cricket from the onset and was dismissed when the score was 180.
Surisers Hyderabad scored 201 in 20 overs and emerged victorious in the game by a margin of 7 runs.
#3 Ambati Rayudu - 55* vs Deccan Chargers, 2010
The night of April 3, 2010, witnessed a match-winning innings from the bat of Ambati Rayudu for Mumbai Indians.
Rayudu arrived at the crease in the ninth over of Mumbai Indians' group-stage match against Deccan Chargers. Mumbai Indians had lost three wickets for just 62 runs in nine overs and thereafter, Rayudu turned the tide towards the home IPL team.
He smashed a brilliant half-century (55*) from just 29 deliveries and had a stunning strike-rate of 189.65. His innings included 6 boundaries and 2 sixes.
Mumbai Indians scored 178/5 from their 20 overs on a difficult batting wicket. Apart from Rayudu, none of the other players could score a half-century in the game. Deccan Chargers were bundled out for just 115 and Mumbai Indians won the game by 63 runs. Rayudu was named Man of the Match for his brilliant batting.