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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
#4 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers (16 May 2009)
Two days before they ended their 9 match losing streak by defeating Chennai Super Kings, the Kolkata Knight Riders were involved in another thriller of a match against Deccan Chargers which they lost from a winning position on 16 May 2009.
Put into bat by Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist, Kolkata Knight Riders scored 160/5 in their 20 overs, on the back of 48 runs in 41 balls by Brad Hodge and a quickfire 43 runs of just 17 balls by David Hussey.
Chasing 161 for a win, the Deccan Chargers openers Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs put on a partnership of 68 runs in 56 balls for the 1st wicket, before Gilchrist was dismissed by Brad Hodge for 43 runs. Soon after Gilchrist's wicket, left-arm spinner Murali Kartik dismissed Gibbs who was struggling to time the ball in his entire innings was for 28 runs of 34 balls in the 13th over.
After the fall of Gibbs, the Deccan Chargers lost the wickets of T. Suman and Andrew Symonds in the form of run outs to be reduced to 128/4 in 17 overs with still 33 runs to get off 18 balls.
The Knight Riders pacers Mashrafe Mortaza and Ajit Agarkar then conceded just 6 runs each from the 18th and 19th over to leave Knight Riders as the firm favorites to win the match as Deccan Chargers now required difficult 21 runs of the final over to win the match with Rohit Sharma and Venugopal Rao at the crease. With 21 required in the last over, Mashrafe Mortaza was expected to defend it.
But current Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma had other ideas. He hit a four of Mortaza's first ball, which was also a no-ball as Knight Riders had just 3 fielders inside the circle and a couple of balls later, Rohit smashed a huge 115m six over mid-wicket. On the 5th ball, Rohit hit a four to tie the game and then hit the last ball for another huge six to completely stun the Kolkata Knight Riders and thereby confining Knight Riders to 9th consecutive loss.
Brief Scores:
KKR – 160/5 (20) – Brad Hodge 48(41), David Hussey 43(17), Ryan Harris 2/20(4)
DC – 166/4 (20) – Adam Gilchrist 43(31), Rohit Sharma 32*(13), Murali Kartik 1/12(4)
Man of the Match – Rohit Sharma
#3 Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers (17 May 2009)
After escaping with an unlikely victory from the jaws of a defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders, the Deccan Chargers were involved in another humdinger of a match against Kings XI Punjab on 17 May 2009 at New Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg.
Put into bat by Adam Gilchrist, Kings XI Punjab scored a modest total of 134/7 in their 20 overs, on the back of Kumar Sangakkara's half-century and a quickfire 17 runs off just 11 balls by Irfan Pathan down the order. For Deccan Chargers, RP Singh was the most successful bowler as he picked up 3 wickets for just 26 runs in his 4 overs.
Chasing 135, Deccan Chargers lost wickets at regular intervals courtesy of a hat-trick by Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh and were reduced to 110/5 in 18 over with Rohit Sharma waging a lone battle and required 25 runs from the last 2 overs to win the match.
The penultimate over bowled by Brett Lee, saw Deccan Chargers slipping further as Ravi Teja was run out of the 2nd ball. But, Rohit Sharma did not give up and counter-attacked by smashing Brett Lee for a six and a four of the 5th and 6th ball, thereby taking 14 runs from the penultimate over to reduce the equation to an achievable 11 runs of the final six balls.
With Rohit Sharma still at the crease and Deccan Chargers firm favorites to score 11 runs of the final over, Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh brought on his most trusted bowler Irfan Pathan to bowl the final over.
Rohit Sharma scored six runs off the starting two balls of the final over and with the 3rd ball going for a wide, increasing the pressure on Irfan Pathan as 7 runs were conceded of his starting 2 balls, with Deccan Chargers now requiring just run a ball 4 runs of 4 balls to win the match.
But, Irfan Pathan kept his cool and dismissed Rohit Sharma with a slower delivery of the very next ball for 42 runs thereby giving a huge blow to Deccan Chargers. The dismissal of Rohit Sharma meant that Deccan Chargers tailenders now needed to score 4 runs off 3 balls to win the match, which they failed to do as Irfan Pathan dismissed RP Singh of the penultimate ball, and conceded just 2 runs of the final ball to help Punjab escape with a thrilling one-run win.
Brief Scores:
KXIP – 134/7 (20) – Kumar Sangakkara 56(43), Yuvraj Singh 20(18), RP Singh 3/26(4)
DC – 133/8 (20) – Rohit Sharma 42(26), Herschelle Gibbs 26(37), Yuvraj Singh 3/13(4)
Man of the Match – Yuvraj Singh
#2 Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians (14 May 2009)
Just like in IPL 2008, Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians were once again involved in yet another low scoring thriller on 14 May 2009 at Kingsmead in Durban.
Batting first, after winning the toss Rajasthan Royals posted a 145/7 in their 20 overs, on the back of half-century by Rob Quiney and Ravindra Jadeja's 42 runs of 34 balls. For Mumbai Indians, Sanath Jayasuriya was the most successful bowler as he picked up 2 wickets in his only over.
Chasing a modest total of 146, the Mumbai Indians team management suffered a brain fade as they opened the innings with Dwayne Bravo and wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale instead of regular openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar. The change in the batting order did not work for Mumbai Indians, as both the make-shift openers were dismissed cheaply and Mumbai Indians were reduced to 23/3 in 5.3 overs when Tendulkar came into bat at No. 5.
The master blaster held the Mumbai innings at one end, but wickets continued to tumble at the other end. Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne then tilted the match completely in favor of Rajasthan Royals by picking up the big wicket Tendulkar for 40 runs to leave Mumbai Indians tottering at 103/6 in 15.3 overs, with Mumbai still needing 43 runs of 27 balls to win the match on a difficult pitch.
But, Abhishek Nayar did not give up and launched a stunning counter-attack on Rajasthan's bowlers by scoring a quickfire 35 runs of just 18 balls and brought Mumbai Indians back in the match. Abhishek Nayar despite getting run out in the penultimate over had done his job as Mumbai Indians now needed mere 4 runs from the final over to win the match with 3 wickets in hand and an experienced campaigner Harbhajan Singh still at the crease.
Rajasthan skipper Shane Warne gave fast bowler Munaf Patel, the responsibility to defend 4 runs of the final over, with Mumbai Indians firm favorites to win the match.
The final over bowled by Munaf brought another twist in the match, as Mumbai Indians suffered yet another brain fade and lost their final 3 wickets of the starting 5 balls in the form of run outs, thereby allowing Rajasthan Royals to escape with a 2 run win.
Brief Scores:
RR – 145/7 (20) – Rob Quiney 51(40), Ravindra Jadeja 42(34), Sanath Jayasuriya 2/3(1)
MI – 143 (19.5) – Sachin Tendulkar 40(30), Abhishek Nayar 35(18), Shane Warne 3/24(4)
Man of the Match – Shane Warne
#1 Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders (23 April 2009)
The match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders on 23 April 2009 at Newlands in Cape Town, was the first IPL match to end in a tie IPL with Rajasthan Royals emerging as the winners in Super Over.
After being put into bat by Brendon McCullum, Rajasthan Royals posted a total of 150/6 in their 20 overs, on the back of Yusuf Pathan's quickfire 42 runs of just 21 balls and a quickfire 21 runs of 13 balls by wicketkeeper Abhishek Raut down the order.
Chasing 151, Knight Riders lost Brendon McCullum very early for just 3 runs. But Chris Gayle launched a counter-attack on Rajasthan's bowlers and scored 41 runs off 33 balls which included 2 fours and 4 huge sixes.
Chris Gayle's dismissal in the 9th overturned the match in favor of Rajasthan Royals, as Knight Riders lost 3 more wickets very quickly after Gayle's dismissal to be reduced to 94/5 in 14 overs with Knight Riders still needing 67 runs to get of final 6 overs.
But Knight Rider's skipper of the previous edition, Saurav Ganguly did not give and just like Gayle launched a stunning counter-attack on Rajasthan's bowlers by smashing Munaf Patel for 22 runs in the 16th over by hitting two huge sixes and added 59 runs of just 29 balls for the 6th wicket with Yashpal Sharma.
With Knight Riders needing just 8 runs of 8 balls to win the match, Yashpal Sharma threw away his wicket for 20 runs much to the frustration of Ganguly, leaving Knight Riders to get 7 runs of the last over to be bowled by a forgotten kid of IPL Kamran Khan against a well set Ganguly.
Young Kamran Khan bowled a superb final over under pressure and conceded just 5 runs of his starting 4 balls and dismissed the dangerous Ganguly to completely stun Kolkata Knight Riders. With 2 runs needed of the final ball, Ishant Sharma hit the last ball to short mid-off and set off for a single and was run out by Kamran Khan while going for the 2nd run, thereby taking the match to the super over.
In the Super Over once again bowled by Kamran Khan, Knight Riders batting first scored 15 runs courtesy of 3 fours hit by Chris Gayle.
Chasing 16 runs for the win, Yusuf Pathan smashed two huge sixes of the starting 3 balls of the super over bowled by Ajanta Mendis and hit a four of the 4th ball, to lead Rajasthan Royals to victory in the 1st ever super over of IPL history.
Brief Scores:
RR – 150/6 (20) – Yusuf Pathan 42(21), Dmirti Mascharenas 27(28), Ajanta Mendis 2/19(4)
KKR – 150/8 (20) – Saurav Ganguly 46(30), Chris Gayle 41(33), Kamran Khan 3/18(4)
Super Over:
KKR – 15/1 (1) – Chris Gayle 14(5), Kamran Khan 1/18(1)
RR – 18/0 (0.4) – Yusuf Pathan 18*(4), Ajanta Mendis 0/18(0.4)
