A tale of twists

RCB vs CSK – Match washed out:

The match was tipped to be the ‘revenge’ match for the home team, after the mad scramble at Chepauk, where Morkel managed to ‘middle’ Kohli quite a few times. The sell-out crowd that turned up for this game at the M.Chinnaswamy stadium had to return home after it rained relentlessly to share the spoils between the 2 teams. Some fans preferred to stay on the ground rather than return home and watch Extraaa Innings on TV. The unfortunate ones who trudged back home, had salt rubbed in their wounds, as the previous encounter between the two teams was broadcasted, not to say, Danny Morrison banging on their ear drums like Sivamani.

CSK and RCB were finally tied on the same points, with CSK inching ahead on superior net run-rate. A result in this game would have taken one team through to the playoffs, and not raised hopes for the other.

Off the Record: Another game was washed out, but it is out of consideration as one of the teams was Deccan Chargers. However, trusted sources say Gambhir was overheard talking to Kallis about missing a point and the ‘wish of a man above all’. Not sure if it was a case of mistaken identity for SRK.

RCB vs DD – RCB won by 21 runs:

It was a run-fest of a match; close to 400 runs were scored. If RCB had managed to restrict Delhi to another 5 runs lesser, they would have gone ahead of CSK on net run-rate. However, MS Dhoni kept his date with Lady Luck and Ross Taylor found form, bringing Delhi as close to the target as possible.

Off the Record: It was one of the four games that CSK watched incognito at the stadium. One particularly realistic fan-impersonator held a ‘Hit-me-on-my-nose’ placard to Gayle. One player was spotted disguised as a cameraman, and another as a security guard. Thank goodness it was not at the MCA.

RR vs DD – DD won by 1 run

Rajasthan Royals have perennially been everybody’s second favorite team, and were looking to cement their spot in the playoffs when they had 2 back-to-back games against the Delhi Daredevils, in the midst of an out-of-form Sehwag. Having managed to restrict the powerful Delhi line-up to a paltry 152, they set off on the chase briskly with the Wall and his pal putting on a 100-run opening stand. But they lost their way in the middle and ended up agonizingly a run short of upsetting the table toppers.

In hindsight, those 2 points proved crucial as they missed out the playoffs spot with a loss to Deccan. The team which played like the nice guy who is their captain, finished last, unlike him (The positions of Pune Warriors and Deccan Chargers in the table were not taken into account as their points were below human perception).

Off the Record: The Deccan Chargers team for the last 2 games was picked from the south of Tirupathi, under the supervision of Stephen Fleming. Many alert cricket fans reported seeing glimpses of Raina in Dhawan and Yo Mahesh in Ashish Reddy. Of course, Steyn could be used as he is, and Sangakkara opted to sit out of one of those.

KXIP vs MI – MI won by 4 wickets

In this game, David Hussey still being in his baby steps as captain, tossed the ball to Piyush Chawla to bowl the penultimate over (Australian officials suspect a possible owner intervention during the strategic time-out). 34 runs were needed off 12 deliveries. Azhar Mahmood took 5 balls to concede 5 runs in the final over. Piyush Chawla was scintillating, conceding everything else in the 6 he bowled before that.

A game that would eventually mean that Mumbai Indians, or the Chennai Super Kings, scrape through to the playoffs at the expense of Kings XI Punjab.

Off the Record: Kings XI are contemplating a move to make Piyush Chawla the team mentor next year, so that they wont have to lose from winning positions. That would also keep Priety on the alert, thereby allowing players to ‘walk’ if they think they are out.

The Playoffs:

The playoffs witnessed some baffling decisions, mostly from the Delhi think-tank, but the results were pretty much due to individual brilliance as MS Dhoni, Yusuf Pathan and Murali Vijay finally woke up and realized this was not EA Cricket 2007.

Off the Record: The Morkel family did not want the brothers facing off against each other in the encounter at Chennai. Who would take the field was decided by a coin toss. Morne sat out complaining of ‘altitude’ sickness. Anirudha was spotted mumbling in his sleep about a ‘trick-coin’.

The Grand Finale:

Now, to some defining moments in the finals:

The last over from Shakib-Al-Hasan:

When I saw the white towel hanging from the waist and a sweat band on the right arm, coming on to bowl the final over, with a dangerous southpaw at the crease, I thought Gautam Gambhir had been exposed to Danny Morrison point blank. But the ICC’s top ranked all-rounder showed his class, and did not concede more than 2 off any ball against the deadly pair of Raina and Dhoni. Kolkata had started decently, got down at the wrong station, taken an auto-rickshaw to the next, only to see the CSK juggernaut roll ahead, then copied some stunts from Ra.One and finally caught up with it. They had managed to pull down the ‘Lion’ to at least 10 runs short.

Mike tries a David:

Off the last ball of the 17^th over, 33 were needed off 19. Kallis dug out a slower one from Dwayne Bravo, straight towards Michael Hussey at the deep mid-wicket fence. Hussey, being the cool cucumber he is, held on to it neatly, but tumbled over the ropes. As he was in the act of over-balancing, he tried to the throw the ball up in the air, possibly in the idea of catching it again, ala-Hussey Jr. But as fate would have it, the ball hit his shoulder and fell to the ground, beyond the ropes. One wonders, if he had instead just thrown it on the ground inside the ropes, he might have saved 4 crucial runs. But then, his Aussie instinct would have urged him to go for the Protean’s wicket.

One celebration too early:

The man who waved to his shirt number to say he exists, this time forgot that a rule exists. A full toss above the waist is a no-ball, with a warning given to the bowler. A second offence will lead to the bowler being banned from bowling another delivery in the match. With 16 needed off 7, big Ben Hilfenhaus served a full toss above the waist to Shakib, who sent it straight to the International Space Station. Murali Vijay judged the catch to perfection and started running towards the crowd, who thought it was Shoaib Akhtar in his customary celebration mode (No no, Ashish Nehra always had his palms facing upwards). The batsmen managed to sneak a single while the ball flew, and one more when Vijay tried to. Shakib was back on strike and he duly dispatched the next ball over fine-leg.

Off the Record: Imagine what would have happened if it had been Kohli in Vijay’s place. He would have thrown the ball back to the International Space Station. Had it been Afridi, he might have eaten it, and the batsmen would have scampered a first-in-history 13 runs off one ball while the replacement was being brought, beating his 12 in a ball.

Eventually, a new Knight has dawned (not to be confused with ‘Don’-ed). People wont be complaining of games being fixed, which would have been the case had CSK won (Cant imagine how people think it is so easy to smash a six off the last ball. This is not a video game, Yeh IPL hai boss!). A gripping tournament about which we complained all along, but now find ourselves in its hangover. For people who watched it just for the cricket, West Indies are struggling it out against England in the purest form of cricket. For the others, take out your vehicle and try filling fuel in any of the petrol bunks in Chennai. Now that is a Citi moment of success, if ever there was one.