With a hectic time at office, it’s been hard to find time to catch up with all the matches last week. The IPL with its jam packed schedule is not only testing the endurance of players but the fans too! I wonder how exhausted all of us will be, come the T-20 world cup!
It’s been a week of fluctuating fortunes with literally every team except Delhi and KKR standing unsure of their future course in the tournament till Saturday. The Delhi juggernaut continued to roll on with the odd hiccup against Kings’ XI and KKR have improved from losing badly to coming close but still not able to close out a match. CSK has stamped their authority back in the tournament with 5 consecutive victories but put themselves in a vulnerable position going into the match against Mumbai Indians by losing to B’lore in the earlier match.
In the meanwhile Mumbai have continued their “one step forward, one and half steps back" campaign in this IPL. But at the end of Saturday’s games, 2 semi-final spots seem to have been finalized and with Mumbai losing the do or die battle against CSK, 2 teams are surely eliminated. And amazingly B’lore is still in with a chance. Its gonna be fun to see Deccan, Rajasthan, B’lore and Kings’ XI fight it out for the remaining 2 semi-final spots.
It’s been a bizarre week. Deccan lost a match which it had in its bag against Mumbai. Mumbai did the same against Rajasthan Royals! And just what should KKR do to win a game? They did everything right against B’lore till Ross Taylor came out and played an absolute blinder to get B’lore out of jail and he did a repeat act (a less thrilling one though) against Mumbai too to keep B’lore’s hopes afloat.
But nothing was quite as bizarre as the match between Deccan and KKR. With 21 runs required off the last over, all the camera focus was on the KKR dug out – finally they were about to pull of a win. And then McCullum commits a blunder which would be remembered for long – has only 3 fielders inside the circle for the first ball off the last over and Rohit doesn’t make his life any better by belting it for a boundary. Amazingly Mccullum seemed to be suggesting to the umpire that it should have been called a dead ball!
With 16 runs required off 6 balls, Deccan would have fancied their chances especially with the classy Rohit Sharma on strike. Just as luck would have it, Mortaza bowled a full toss which Rohit deposited on top of a stand some 115 meters away. This was the decisive blow which sucked any little life left out of KKR. Then Rohit played a lovely cover drive for four and an audacious pull for a six when all that was required was a single to finish off the match. I have said it many times before and wouldn’t mind saying that again – he is simply the best young batsman in the country right now. Can’t wait for him to get a test berth!
Whoever makes it to the semi-finals, I would love to see a Delhi-Chennai final!
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