IPL 2011 Roundup Part 3: The Matches

As the fourth edition of the IPL comes to its end for the season, it makes sense to look back at the event as a whole and assess what worked, what didn’t and what can be done to improve the viewer experience for IPL5. So far we have looked at the atmosphere and the tournament coverage. In this article, we will look at the tournament matches and I will name my top 5 matches for the season.

There are many things this IPL will be remembered for, but close and exciting matches will probably not be one of them. Barely any match went into the final over with the result in any doubt and a match in which fortunes swung from one side to the other were few and far in between. The few matches which will be talked about will be more about individual performances and not the match itself. I will look at the best individual performances tomorrow and today will be about the matches only. The following 5 are the top 5 matches of the season as per me. The matches were chosen for a lot of reasons, but the main reasons were the uncertainty in the result till the very end and the excitement involved in watching the match and following the ebb and flow through each over.

Number 5: 22nd match Kolkata Knight Riders v Kochi Tuskers KeralaThis match was played on what was, if not a minefield of a pitch, a pitch on which no one knew what the par score would be like. Kochi did well to get to 132 and Kolkata looked to be in trouble when they needed 56 off the last 6 overs. But they kept getting a boundary every single time it looked like they were out of it. Finally it came down to 14 runs off the last over and Vinay Kumar produced his best over in this IPL. Only 5 singles came off it and a wicket to boot. Kochi had won this by 6 runs and provided us with a close finale

Number 4: 30th match Delhi Daredevils v Royal Challengers BangaloreThis match was a study in how to commit hara-kiri. First off, Delhi look like a surefire score of 170+ but are pulled back and restricted to 160. Then of course, Gayle comes in and makes the bowling look ordinary. He tonks Delhi and when he is finally dismissed Bangalore end up needing 74 off 74 with eight wickets in hand. The Bangalore team collapses though and somehow wind up needing 24 off 3 overs with 3 wickets in hand and the debutant Syed Mohammed joining Vettori at the crease. Luckily Mohammed comes good on the day and hits 2 fours off Umesh Yadav and guides Bangalore home with 3 deliveries to spare. The sheer number of times the momentum shifted in this match gains it a spot on this listNumber 3: 1st match Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight RidersJust the fact that the opening match should feature on the list of best matches tells us a lot about this season of the IPL. The opening match was close, but nowhere close to being thought of as a potential best match of this IPL.Chennai batted first in this match and put on 153. Kolkata started their chase off well and had brought the chase down to 66 off 54 with 2 set batsmen and 9 wickets in hand. But Chennai as they have shown us throughout this IPL pegged thing back in the middle overs. It came down to 9 off 6 and Tim Southee was chosen to bowl this crucial over. In one of his few appearances in this tournament, Southee managed to only concede 6 runs and led to Chennai winning a close match by just 2 runs. The IPL was off to a great start.

Number 2: 21st match Mumbai Indians v Pune WarriorsThis match showed us exactly why Mumbai did not win this edition of the IPL despite looking like the strongest team in contention. It was their complete inability to pace a chase. Chasing only 118, Mumbai took it too easy in the early going of the chase and needed some power hitting from Symonds and Rohit Sharma at the end to get them home. Needing 1 off the last ball, Rohit hit Yuvraj for a six to guide Mumbai home. But this inability to pace a chase combined with a constantly shuffling batting order would prove to be Mumbai’s downfall.

Number 1: 70th Match Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai IndiansThe match which will be remembered as the one which denied KKR a place in the finals. With Mumbai needing 21 off the last over, Balaji produced unhittable deliveries which caught Franklin’s edges and went for boundaries. But with Rayudu on strike and 4 still needed, Balaji had a shot at redemption. Unfortunately, he let slip a full toss which was promptly hit for 6 by Rayudu and that was that.

That was my list. Agree? Disagree? Please use the comments to interact.Tomorrow, we will look at Individual performances. Plenty to see there.