IPL: 5 best last over finishes from IPL 2009
The second edition of the IPL was held in South Africa, as it coincided with multi-phase 2009 General Elections in India. The second edition of the IPL was particularly praised for globalizing cricket and had set the record television viewership.
The second edition of the IPL was won by now defunct Deccan Chargers, who incidentally finished at the bottom in the inaugural edition of the IPL. The much more interesting thing about IPL 2009, was that the final of the IPL 2009 took place between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Deccan Chargers who finished as the bottom two franchises in IPL 2008.
IPL 2009 saw more low scoring encounters than high scoring encounters, as only once was a franchise able to score more than 200 runs in IPL 2009, which was done by Rajasthan Royals against Kings XI Punjab.
Similar to the previous edition, IPL 2009 also witnessed many great matches between the IPL franchises, that went down to the last over. So, in this article we look at five of those best last over finishes in IPL 2009:
#5 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings (18 May 2009)
Kolkata Knight Riders had a disappointing IPL 2009 as they finished at the bottom place in the points table, as a result of losing many close games and also saw their skipper in the previous edition Sourav Ganguly being removed from captaincy and replaced with Brendon McCullum, due to a spat between Ganguly and then Knight Riders coach John Buchanan just before the beginning of IPL 2009.
Having lost 9 consecutive matches, Kolkata Knight Riders took on Chennai Super Kings the only franchise that had not yet beaten them in IPL 2009 at Super Sport Park on 18 May 2009.
Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat. Batting first Chennai Super Kings scored 188/3 in their 20 overs, on the back of Suresh Raina's half-century and a quickfire unbeaten 40 runs of just 28 balls by skipper MS Dhoni.
Chasing 189 for a rare win, Knight Riders did not begin well and lost the wicket of Sourav Ganguly very early in their chase. Brendon McCullum along with Brad Hodge who came to bat at No. 3, led Knight Riders recovery by scoring half-centuries and were involved in a 90 runs partnership of just 56 balls for the 2nd wicket.
McCullum's dismissal for 81 runs in the 14th over by left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati, along with the run out of David Hussey in the 15th over, tilted the match in favor of Chennai Super Kings as Knight Riders now required 56 runs in 28 balls to win the match. But, Wridhiman Saha had other ideas and took 14 runs of the 16th over bowled by Lakshmipathy Balaji by hitting a four and a six, thereby reducing the equation to 38 runs of 18 balls.
Brad Hodge, then hit a couple of boundaries and took 13 runs in the next over bowled by Albie Morkel to reduce the equation to 25 runs of 12 balls. Brad Hodge continued his assault on Chennai bowlers and hit two huge sixes off the penultimate over bowled by Balaji which went for 19 runs, thereby reducing the equation to just 6 runs of 6 balls for Knight Riders to win the match.
But, the final over bowled by Suresh Raina brought some twist in the match, as Raina conceded just 2 runs in the first 3 balls, with Brad Hodge almost getting run out of the 4th ball. With 3 runs required off 2 balls, Saha kept his cool and picked up two runs of the penultimate ball to tie the match, and scored a single off the final ball to win the match for Kolkata Knight Riders, and thereby ending Kolkata Knight Rider's 9-match losing streak.
Brief Scores:
CSK – 188/3 (20) – Suresh Raina 52(36), MS Dhoni 40*(28), Ashok Dinda 1/29(4)
KKR – 189/3 (20) – Brendon McCullum 81(48), Brad Hodge 71*(44), Muralitharan 1/16(4)
Man of the Match – Brad Hodge