IPL 6: 6 Reasons to love the match between RCB vs MI
1) Chris Gayle
If this man is playing the 20-20 format, he’s worth watching. It was another classic Gayle performance, with the Jamaican scoring only 4 runs from the first thirteen balls he faced. But once he got his eye in, he sent the the ball flying to all corners of the park. It was in the 10th over that a collision occurred between Gayle and Harbhajan Singh, leaving the tall man down on the ground, clutching his left leg. But if you think that the slight injury could hinder Gayle, then you are surely mistaken. Gayle went on a rampage, smashing the ball all over. Sixes and fours were raining heavily, as Gayle finished on an unbeaten 92 from 58 balls, helping the Challengers to finish on a respectable 156.
IPL is here, Chris Gayle is here.
2) Harbhajan Singh and Chris Gayle
On the last ball of the 10th over, Harbhajan Singh unintentionally hit Chris Gayle, leaving the big man clutching his left leg. The first thing that Harbhajan did after this incident was to rub Gayle’s leg and help him recover and get back on his feet. It was a great moment to see the sportsmanship of the Mumbai Indians spinner, even for his opposition team.
More than anything, it is Cricket that wins.
3) Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah, 19, must have felt the most lonely person on the ground after being hit for three cracking boundaries by Virat Kohli from the first four balls he bowled. Mumbai Indians’ greatest two veterans, Tendulkar and Ponting, still backed him completely and how did the youngster respond? Trapping Kohli leg before wicket, on the 5th ball, the youngster celebrated with extreme passion and relief. He continued his good work, dismissing Mayank Agarwal and Nair to finish with an extremely impressive spell of 3-32.
The biggest asset of the IPL is the gems that they find each season. Bumrah is the one to look out for this season.
4) Tendulkar and Ponting
Watching these two legends open the innings for any team is a treat for fans all over the world. It was treat to watch them, as the duo shared a half century stand, only to be ended by a run out.
5) One over is all that takes
After the end of the 16th over, it looked as if it was curtains for MI as they needed 51 runs from 24 balls, with the required run rate having crept up to 12.75. The next two balls were again dot balls, and the pressure just seemed to rise with every second. But that’s the beauty of IPL. You just can’t write or predict what is going to happen next. Dinesh Karthik smashed 24 runs of the next four balls (one being a no-ball) to bring the match back to even terms. Just one over ago, the Mumbai Indians seemed out of it, and now they needed 27 runs of 18 balls.
One over, that’s it. One good over.
6) Crisp last over finish
The matches between these two teams are always one between equals. 10 runs were required from the last 6 balls and anything and everything was possible. Vinay Kumar was the man taking charge for the RCB. First ball, Rayadu takes a single and sensibly hands over the strike to Karthik. Vinay Kumar then gets two wickets successively as he dismisses the dangerous Karthik and Rayudu.It brings Pollard down to the crease who has to be at the non striker’s end. Harbhajan hands over the strike to Pollard, with MI now needing 8 from the last two balls. Pollard stikes Vinay Kumar’s attempted yorker over his head for a boundary to make it a grand stand finish. Kumar comes charging in, bowls a yorker and all that Pollard can do is hit it down to long on for a single and make it a memorable win for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
IPL: Pure entertainment, even down to the last ball.