Champions League Twenty20: Five thrilling finishes

There is no denying the fact that the Champions League Twenty20, in its fifth season, has provided a lot of thrills to the crowds, who have taken to the shortest format of the game like a duck to water.

In its short history, the CLT20 has, arguably, seen more tight finishes than the World Twenty20 Championships. Here is a list of five of the best of those last-gasp humdingers:

Kieron Pollard

5. Trinidad & Tobago v/s New South Wales Blues (Hyderabad, October 16, 2009)

This was the game that heralded the arrival of two new superstars – NSW’s David Warner and T&T’s Kieron Pollard – as the two sides battled it out for supremacy on a balmy pre-Diwali night at Hyderabad.

Warner, along with opening partner Phil Hughes, assaulted the Caribbean bowlers viciously, using his powerful forearms and low centre of gravity to dispatch the ball into the stands with gay abandon. Hughes also joined the party, though he preferred scoring along the ground. Their century partnership eventually took the Blues to a commanding score.

T&T were in all sorts of trouble during the chase, losing wickets at regular intervals. Pressure mounted as the asking rate showed no signs of reduction, forcing batsmen to play loose strokes. They were six down by the 16^th over, still needing a lot more for a win.

In strode the giant Pollard, willow in hand, marking his guard in the typical West Indian fashion of using a bail. NSW skipper Simon Katich tossed the ball to all-rounder Moises Henriques – a move that backfired big-time.

Pollard let loose a series of crunching shots, dispatching the European-born seamer’s second ball over long-off, then turned his attention towards point and mid-wicket where he collected more runs for his team. He finally finished off the game in the 19^th over with two more huge hits, sparking celebrations in the T&T dug-out and firecrackers all over the park.

At the end of the game, NSW’s management approached the 22-year old explosive hitter and attempted to sign him to their roster; such was the impact of his murderous hitting. T&T entered the final, where they lost to the same opposition – but Pollard had won hearts.

Rory-Hamilton Brown of Surrey(R)

4. Eagles v/s Sussex (New Delhi, October 13, 2009)

The Super Over came into play for the first time in this tournament – and it turned out to be as much of a thriller as the game itself, as it was a battle of survival for both protagonists.

Led by pacers CJ de Villiers and Dillon du Preez, the Eagles restricted Sussex to a very modest total – considered below-average even by Twenty20 standards. Joe Gatting, nephew of former England skipper Mike, was the only one to offer any sort of resistance as the British squad struggled to force the pace against disciplined bowling from the Proteas; it looked like the Africans would canter home quite comfortably.

But Sussex’s bowlers had other ideas. Spinners Piyush Chawla and Rory Hamilton-Brown stifled the free-flowing Eagles batsmen – even the well-set Rilee Rossouw was kept at bay. It soon became a question of nerves, as the South African team began losing wickets in their quest to end the game quickly. However, Ryan McLaren smashed Yasir Arafat to the fence off the final delivery to tie the scores and send the match into an eliminator.

Going into the Super Over, the Eagles managed just nine, but de Villiers knocked over Dwayne Smith and Hamilton-Brown to hand his side the win on a low and slow Kotla pitch. Sussex were knocked out of the competition while the Eagles made it to the next round.

David Hussey(R)

3. Chennai Super Kings v/s Victoria (Port Elizabeth, September 18, 2010)

It was a battle between brothers for the second time in a single year as Mike and David Hussey squared off in the 2010 edition of the Champions League. And with the presence of close friend Doug Bollinger in the rival camp, the latter, leading the Victorian Bushrangers, was going to relish the encounter.

He needn’t have worried. The Bushrangers not only managed to restrict the IPL champions to a gettable total, but also went on to level the scores and sent the game into a Super Over, which they won in grand style, stunning the Yellow Brigade despite Suresh Raina coming good with the ball.

Aaron Finch, who had earlier got the Victorians off to a flying start, was chosen to take first strike in the eliminator, but he only managed a single to bring the skipper on strike. David would now face the wiles of Ashwin, and he achieved the redemption he was looking for by belting three monstrous sixes; he had earlier failed to guide his side to the target, and he didn’t miss his chance this time.

Earlier, Murali Vijay’s rollicking innings formed the bulk of Chennai’s final score, as accurate bowling from Dirk Nannes, Clint McKay and John Hastings prevented the likes of Raina and Dhoni from unfurling the big shots. The Tamil Nadu opener used his feet well and dealt with the short stuff almost imperiously as he carried his IPL form into this game. Sadly for him, his side ended up second-best in a thriller that went right down to the wire.

Jean-Paul Duminy(L)

2. RCB v/s Cape Cobras (Bangalore, October 8, 2009)

For sheer thrill and excitement, this game was a showpiece, and it got the inaugural season of the Champions League T20 off to a flyer. The crowd would have loved the Royal Challengers to end up on the winners’ podium, but the Cape Cobras remained calm as they pulled off a sensational win with just two deliveries to spare.

Hometown hero Robin Uthappa provided the early fireworks with a brutal innings at the top of the order, but it was Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor whose leg-side savagery took the IPL runners-up to the magic figure of 180. The right-hander was fed a diet of long hops and full tosses, all towards the leg stump, allowing him to get his right leg out of the way as he swiped ferociously at everything, finishing on a well-deserved unbeaten half-century.

After the Bangalore bowlers knocked over three quick wickets, the partisan crowd roared their delight, igniting hopes of a magnificent victory after a gala time in the IPL a few months before. But they had forgotten about the Cobras’ chief weapon: Jean-Paul Duminy.

The left-hander played deft strokes on both sides of the wicket as he treated rival skipper Anil Kumble with respect initially. He benefited from a dropped catch by Taylor early in his innings, and, once finding his range, went berserk. Kohli’s part-time medium pace was taken to the cleaners, and a wayward Vinay Kumar paid the price for bowling too full and wide.

Duminy broke the shackles after reaching his half-century, eventually finishing on 99 after Rory Kleinveldt hit the winning runs in the 20^th over, shocking the stadium into sepulchral silence. The Cobras had achieved a famous win, and it set the tone for the 2009 edition.

Harbhajan Singh

1. Mumbai Indians v/s T&T (Bangalore, September 26, 2011)

To put it in easy terms – neither side deserved to win this game. It was a horrendous display of batting from both Mumbai and T&T; neither reached the 100-run mark, yet the RIL-owned team somehow won the match off the last ball, with just one wicket left in the tank.

Captain Harbhajan Singh led from the front after T&T chose to bat first. His side were outstanding in the field, and bolstered by their skipper’s three-wicket haul, completely demolished the rival batsmen, and only Jason Mohammed & Lendl Simmons came away with some runs to their names. With the kind of firepower Mumbai possessed, the spectators would have been forgiven for assuming that the match would end early.

Ravi Rampaul didn’t think so. He unleashed a devastating spell of pace and bounce, making life difficult for the Blue squad. Like Harbhajan, Rampaul also had three victims, but his colleagues at the other end continued to give away runs – not that many were scored.

One by one, MI’s batsmen committed hara-kiri. Only Ambati Rayudu managed a respectable knock, but he, too, was run out on the penultimate delivery of the match, with his side needing two more to win. Lasith Malinga proved to be the surprise package, relieving some of the pressure with two good hits before also succumbing to the same fate as Rayudu; T&T were almost home.

And then T&T captain Darren Ganga made a huge blunder. He moved the field back, trying to end the game in a tie. Yuzvendra Chahal, the last man, received a full toss on the pads, and pushed it away to mid-wicket. The throw from the deep wasn’t the quickest, but Denesh Ramdin had plenty of time to complete the run-out, as Chahal charged back for the second.

In what can only be described as a ‘brain-freeze’, Ramdin chose to send in an under-arm throw from a few yards, and missed. MI thus won a game they should have lost, while T&T lost a game they should have won. The crowd, though, got their money’s worth.