Top 5 close finishes in this IPL

Mid-way through the tournament and still like Ravi Shastri might say, ‘Any team could make it to the Top-4’, even though the doors are almost closed on Kings XI Punjab. That offers evidence towards how the tournament has managed to grab eyeballs despite coming on back of a successful World Cup. The quality of the tournament could always be determined by which side of the table is loaded – the number of nerve-wracking thrillers or the number of one-sided contests.In that regard, IPL 8 has been exciting with more than half a dozen close finishes including a Super-Over finish. Interestingly, Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders have played the closest most exciting games with Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad getting a mixed bag, losing couple of really close games. 

#5 Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai

CSK – 134/6 in 20 overs

KKR – 132/9 in 20 overs

It is the best low-scoring thriller of the tournament. Batting first on a good track, CSK got off to a bright start moving to 42 in the fifth over, with both Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum getting off to starts. However, Piyush Chawla got McCullum LBW and things turned from then on. CSK went for an all-out attack without ever slowing down to consolidate and the result was a quick collapse because of which they were reduced to 88 for five after 13 overs. Ravindra Jadeja and Faf du Plessis ensured some rear-guard action adding 36 runs before Ravichandran Ashwin cracked two very critical fours in the last over.

Chasing a small target, Gautam Gambhir got out for a golden duck but a fifty run partnership between Robin Uthappa (39 off 17 balls) and Manish Pandey steadied the ship. But KKR drifted slowly from confidence to conservative to stifled, within a span of 12 overs as they descended to 91 for five in the 16th over. Ryan ten Doeschate (38 not out off 28 balls) struggled early on and by the time he found his mojo, it was too late. KKR heartbreakingly fell short by two runs but boy, did they have their revenge soon!