SK Flashback: The inaugural blast from Brendon McCullum
From the first match against KKR in season 1 and the last one in season 10, RCB have taken something from each of those losses - the players. Chris Woakes, Colin de Grandhomme, Umesh Yadav and the injured Nathan Coulter Nile were the pacers who bowled RCB out at 49 runs and Brendon McCullum scored the humongous individual total of 158 in the first match, and now they are all representing RCB this season. Truly, a mindful tactic!
The backdrop of the match
It was the start of a new era in the Indian cricket. No outstanding records to fall back on and compare, no poor numbers to improve on. A fresh start. A fresh start that was already smirched with some allegations but a carnival was in store for the Indian audience that'd devotedly followed cricket and Bollywood for as long as they had known.
'Cricketainment' was the new word finding its way to the dictionary. It was almost the best ingredients one could've mixed to get the Indians together after an India-Pakistan match. All credits to the mastermind, the then Vice-President of BCCI, Lalit Modi. (It is the 'Modi's that are assigned the jobs of changing the face of something with their grand moves.)
The opening ceremony, meant to kick-start the league, was handed over to the rightful voice of Ravi Shastri who punched the excitements into the fans. They couldn't escape his resonating enthusiasm, as we cannot even today.
The Baz extravaganza
This was Modi's dream start, he couldn't have been more thankful to the Kiwi batsman. Slamming its predecessor Indian Cricket League, the IPL had to put its best foot forward to make a mark in the history of Indian Cricket. With the 11th edition of the league underway, despite all the hiccups on the road, it sure shows the impact it has made on the multitude of cricket audience worldwide.
The first over the IPL began with no runs coming off the bat - two leg-byes and a wide had added 3 runs to the board. After the silence through the first over, Brendon McCullum announced his arrival against Zaheer Khan in the second over, scoring 18 runs off it. The party had begun. Ganguly and McCullum raised a 50-run stand within the 4th over of the match.
Dada was out when Jacques Kallis picked a sharp catch at slips, a slight break until Baz continued his party. He got to his half-century at the 7-over mark and the Bangalore crowd was thoroughly enjoying the firing, too early to even think of 'loyal fan base'. Cricket was out in colorful, vibrant jerseys than the sophisticated whites, and that's all mattered for the fans.
Ponting silently partnered the explosions before a mistimed shot off his bat landed directly in Praveen Kumar's hands at mid-wicket. Unaffected, Baz continued. He was ruthless - hopped down the pitch, made room, hammered the ball into the crowd and repeated. Good-length, short ball, bouncer were all different kinds of options the bowlers had but Baz had only one - boundary.
Soon, around the 15th over, he had reached 99. Ideally, a six out of the stadium would've creamed his monstrous century but the opener ran a couple and registered the first ever 100 in the IPL. The crowd turned hysteric! The man wouldn't stop.
Hussey was out shortly after McCullum accomplished this feat. Looked like only the ones partnering Baz were destined to get out that day. However, he was in no mood to stop. For the finishing effects, he mounted 43 runs off the last two overs and ended up at an unbeaten 158.
Jack fell down and broke his crown, Jill came tumbling after
While the bowlers had failed miserably to keep the KKR batsman, more accurately McCullum, at bay, the RCB batsmen toppled almost instantly in the chase. After looking out of sorts while picking the squad in the auction, the batting unit of RCB were likely to be fretted of the mammoth total in front of them.
The RCB were off to a doleful start as they lost their captain, Rahul Dravid, and Virat Kohli, very early in the chase. The team was 12/2 at the beginning of the third over when Kallis and Wasim Jaffer began their partnership. The duo met their ending sooner than they thought as both of them were out after adding 15 runs to the board. It wasn't the same situation as it is now - Kohli wasn't standing strong on the other side of the pitch to watch his partners walk in to exit the next ball. A much more pitiful situation as wickets fell like dominos and the chase was over without a hint of competition from the hosts.
We've come so far ahead of this match - kids who had begun understanding the game when IPL started are stalwarts of their teams today, after additions, deletions, suspensions, and restorations, we are back to a shuffled 8 teams, the inventor(s) of the game are no longer the monarchs of the game. It's all changed. The game has evolved through the 11-year-long journey, subtly influencing each of its stakeholders - owners, players, coaches, rookies, spectators, fans like you and me.