The Plunder Games - Week 7 Recap

Have you been too busy studying for your exams to take note of what has been going on in the IPL? Or have you been too engrossed in searching for a job to know who has hit the most ‘DLF Maximums’ over the past week? Maybe all your time is being taken up by stalking your ex-boyfriend; or you could just be some closeted IPL fan who likes to keep up appearances by publicly denouncing the ‘pajama cricket’ but want to know how your favorite IPL team is doing?

Never fear. For the attention-deficit IPL fan in you, I present to you ‘The Plunder Games’ – a weekly recap of all the IPL action. Here, you can catch up with all the past week’s action in just 10 minutes.

Game 65: KKR vs MI

Kolkata Knight Riders 140/7 (Tiwary 41) beat Mumbai Indians 108 (Narine 4-15, Balaji 2-11) by 32 runs.

Match in 140 characters: Tiwary leads the way as KKR stumble to 140; in response, Mumbai Indians can’t figure out Narine and cant score off Balaji, to lose by 32 runs.

#TrottsFault: Herschelle Gibbs. His tedious knock of 13 from 24 balls meant that the Mumbai Indians never got the momentum going at the start of the chase.

Winning Moment: The game was delicately poised halfway through MI’s innings as they had 9 wickets in hand with 80 runs to get. In a moment, Narine broke through Tendulkar’s defenses with a vicious off break to ensure that the incoming batsmen would always be looking out for an unplayable delivery, thus keeping them on the defensive for the rest of the innings.

Performer of the day: Another day in the life of Sunil Narine. 4 wickets for 15 runs in 3.1 overs at an economy rate of 4.73. The wait for a batsman who can truly tame him, continues.

Best tweet of the day: Sunil Narine’s deliveries are like a Maruti 800 driven by a Delhi aunty talking on her cellphone, don’t know which side it’s gonna turn. (by @GabbarSingh)

Game 66: KXIP vs CSK

Kings XI Punjab 123 /4 (Gilchrist 64*, Bravo 2-18) beat Chennai Super Kings 120/7 (Bravo 48, Awana 2-12, Praveen 2-18) by 6 wickets.

Match in 140 characters: Kings XI’s pace quartet restrict CSK to 120; a Gilly special makes light weight of the target as CSK’s playoff fate hangs in the balance.

Winning Moment: CSK had struggled to 46/3 at the end of 10 overs, but were looking up to captain Dhoni to do the needful and rescue them out of their hole. Instead, the impressive Awana pressurized him into playing an expansive stroke, only to be caught at third man. CSK never got going after that.

Performer of the day: Despite the impressive bowling performance by the Kings XI pacers, the game was not completely out of CSK’s hands yet, as they had the in-form Hilfenhaus opening the bowling. The man who had to face him was Gilchrist, a veteran of many a battle but returning after a long break due to injury. Gilly never let the pressure settle by taking the attack on, and in the process brought home an easy win for KXIP.

Best tweet of the game: The IPL should replace that bowling machine they use for the biggest six scoring comp with Piyush Chawla. (by @birchola)

Game 67: RCB vs DD

Royal Challengers Bangalore 215/1 (Gayle 128*, Kohli 73*) beat Delhi Daredevils 194/9 (Taylor 55, Zaheer 3-38) by 21 runs.

Match in 140 characters: Gayle and Kohli demolish a Morne-less attack; despite valiant efforts by Taylor and Russell, DD fall short by 21 runs.

Winning Moment: Ross Taylor had timed his return to form perfectly, as the Daredevils gave a serious fright to RCB while chasing. So when he got out swinging with the equation reading 57 runs to win from 22 balls, the bowlers finally began to breathe easy.

Performer of the day: He scored 1 run off the first 8 balls he faced. When he walked off at the end of the innings, Gayle had scored 128 from 62 balls with 13 sixes. At this point, there are no adjectives left to describe the phenom that is Chris Gayle.

Best tweet of the day: Good game to miss @mornemorkel65 :):) (by @albiemorkel)

Game 68: DC vs RR

Deccan Chargers 128/5 (Akshat Reddy 42, Trivedi 2-20) beat Rajasthan Royals 126/8 (Dravid 39, Mishra 2-20) by 5 wickets.

Match in 140 characters: Mishra and Steyn confound to keep Royals to 126; Reddy leads a comfortable chase for Chargers as RR lose their shot at the playoffs.

Winning moment: Since the fielders were of no help, Mishra decided to do the work himself by bowling a special delivery to get rid of Shane Watson. With the exit of their most dangerous player, the Royals struggled to get any momentum going against a determined bowling attack.

Performer of the day: While Steyn was his usual miserly self, it was Amit Mishra who stole the spotlight with a fine exhibition of leg spin bowling. 2/20 off 4 overs including the important wicket of Watson, which meant that he was the star player for once, instead of Steyn for the Chargers.

Game 69: KXIP vs DD

Delhi Daredevils 145/4 (Warner 79) beat Kings XI Punjab 141/8 (Chitnis 38, Mahmood 36, Morkel 4-20, Yadav 3-19) by 6 wickets.

Match in 140 characters: Morkel and Yadav dismantle KXIP’s top order before Warner’s blazing innings knocks Gilly’s men out of the tournament.

Performer of the day: Umesh Yadav is one of the few Indian fast bowlers to excel in this edition of the IPL. This time, he was at the top of his game, even as he prized out the wickets of Gilchrist, Mandeep and Hussey to ensure that the KXIP would not get to a challenging total.

Game 70: PWI vs KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders 136/4 (Shakib 42, McCullum 41, Parnell 2-18) beat Pune Warriors 102/8 (Yusuf 2-12, Shakib 2-18) by 34 runs.

Match in 140 characters: PWI’s depressing run ends as KKR come out on top in a pitch only Shakib and McCullum manage to negotiate.

Performer of the day: Its a wonder that Shakib al Hasan doesn’t get more games for his team, as he manages to come up with game changing contribution whenever he gets a chance. On a tricky pitch for batsmen, Shakib powered KKR to a good total and with the ball, he ensured that PWI didn’t get any leeway.

Game 71: DC vs RCB

Deccan Chargers 132/7 (Duminy 74, Vinay 3-22) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 123/9 (Kohli 42, Steyn 3-8, Ashish Reddy 3-25) by 9 runs.

Match in 140 characters: A Duminy special ensures a late surge for the Chargers as they post 132; Steyn leads a super-charged performance as RCB choke for last time.

#TrottsFault: Its not often that one can blame Gayle for his team’s loss, but in the most crucial game of the season, he chose to take Steyn on instead of playing him out and shepherding the chase. The result was a wild swing which got himself castled and put pressure on a middle order which apart from himself and de Villiers has been very unconvincing this year.

Winning Moment: Despite the early hiccups, it looked like RCB were on course for the win when Kohli and Tiwary were batting. It all changed in the last ball of the 16th over, when Kohli hit the ball straight to the fielder at long on and exited the ground in a fit of rage against himself. From there, it was only one team which was going to win the game.

Performer of the day: Dale Steyn has been one of the few shining lights for the Chargers this season. A terrific spell of bowling accounted for Gayle and Dilshan, which robbed RCB of their best batsmen at the top. He finished with figures of 3/8 from his 4 overs and ensured that the Deccan Chargers wouldn’t be going home with the wooden spoon this year.

Best tweet of the game: Somewhere in Chennai, Dhoni is sitting in front of the telly whilst stroking a cat in his lap and saying “It’s all going as planned” (by @KunalVanBhatia)

Game 72: RR vs MI

Mumbai Indians 163 /0 (Smith 87*, Tendulkar 58*) beat Rajasthan Royals (Watson 45, Kulkarni 3-18) by 10 wickets.

Match in 140 characters: Watson and Binny power RR to what seems like a challenging total; riding on luck, Tendulkar and Smith ease MI to a 10-wicket win.

Performer of the day: Dhawal Kulkarni got his first game of the season and he didn’t disappoint, with figures of 3/18 in 4 overs. It will be a tricky decision for MI, as they debate whether to retain him for the playoff game or plump for the experience and loud mouth of Munaf Patel.

Best tweet of the week:

By banning #SRK from Wankhede, MCA has sent a clear message that they’ll not tolerate ugly behaviour. Except by players like Munaf, of course (by @rameshsrivats)