IPL 6: 5 special moments beyond cricket

Sirf dekh neka nahi, is what IPL has been urging all its fans this season. Yet, that is precisely what I have been doing for the last 20 days. On sudden realization, I immediately decided to rectify my folly. But alas, with two left legs, my hopes of emulating Farah Khan’s choreographed moves were quickly dashed. As an alternative, I thought of penning down my 5 special moments that goes beyond the runs and the wickets in this edition of IPL.

Reintegration of rebels is complete: Kapil Dev, the face of the rebel cricket league ICL (funded by Zee Group) is being seen for the first time doing match analysis of the IPL games from the Set Max studios. It may be noted that ICL, in the years of its operations between 2007-2009 was never recognised by either BCCI or ICC. But over the years after ICL shut its operations, the players who took part in that league have been reintegrated in the main stream of Indian cricket, many of them like Manvinder Bisla, Ambati Rayudu, Shalabh Srivastava (the UP cricketer was banned last year after the spot-fixing scandal) playing in the IPL as well. With Kapil’s involvement with the IPL, one can safely say that the reintegration is complete. Kapil Dev has been one of the biggest icons of Indian cricket and hence it’s great to see BCCI and Kapil patching up. Welcome back to Indian cricket Kapil paaji. I am sure he still has a lot to offer to Indian cricket.

Ironic commercial of the title sponsors: Pepsi, the official sponsor of IPL came up with an IPL specific ad to drive home its message ‘Oh yes abhi’. In the ad, we see Ranbir Kapoor as a common man trying to patch up a rift between two fans supporting Punjab and Kolkata. He delivers sermons on how we are all Indians. In the meantime, a little kid comes in the scene and shouts Delhi jeet gayi. Hearing that, Ranbir shows his true colours and starts celebrating Delhi’s victory. Being the advertisement of the title sponsor, this ad kept coming on the screen frequently.

The irony of it all was that in the actual field of play, Delhi found it very difficult to register even their first win. Eventually, in their 7th game of the season against Mumbai Indians on 21st of April, they finally tasted victory. I am sure it brought a huge sigh of relief to not only the Delhi fans but also to the creative team behind this commercial.

When foes turned friends: In the 10th match of the season, played between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils, a very heart warming incident played out live in front of millions of fans who were watching the match. Harbhajan Singh was opening the bowling for Mumbai. Unmukt Chand was facing him. The first ball that Chand faced took the outside edge of his bat as he tried to nudge it towards the leg side and flew towards extra cover. Ricky Ponting pulled off a stunning air-borne catch even at the age of 38. That in itself was a great cricket spectacle.

But what followed was even more special. Ponting and Harbhajan ran towards each other and embraced. Their teammates soon joined in. The bitter feud in which Ponting and Bhajji got involved in 2008 in the ‘monkey-gate’ scandal has been one of the most bitter cricketing moments of the last decade. It was a poignant moment to remind critics that sports is not the continuation of war by other means. And I don’t think we could have witnessed this episode anywhere apart from IPL.

Run-out, but who? Referring to a third umpire to decide on a run-out is pretty common in the world of cricket. But if both the batsmen get stranded at the same end of the pitch, do we still need a third umpire? The answer is yes, if none of the batters refuse to sacrifice his wicket.

This rather funny incident took place at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians. The two batsmen were Ambati Rayudu and Harbhajan Singh. Rayudu was at the striker’s end. He tucked the ball away on the leg side and called Bhajji for a run straight away. Harbhajan initially took a couple of steps but then decided against it. By then it was impossible for Rayudu to return. They ended up at the same end. And none of them wanted to leave the crease. It finally took quite a few replays for the third umpire to finally give marching order to Bhajji. What made the matter even more amusing was the fact that at that time, the Mumbai India’s scoreboard read 64/6 (before this dismissal) in the 14th over in a chase of 180. The match was out of Mumbai’s reach already. For a neutral spectator, it was indeed hilarious but I am not sure how the Mumbai fans viewed this.

A fitting tribute to dad: Ajinkya Rahane has been a regular for the Rajasthan Royals in this season as well as in last one. He has also represented India in a solitary Test and a few ODIs. However, it was only in this season of IPL that his father, Mr. Madhukar Rahane first made it to the stadium to watch his son’s skills. The match was against the star-studded Mumbai Indians. Batting first, Ajinkya held the innings together for Rajasthan Royals by scoring a crucial 68 not out. Rajasthan Royals went on to thrash Mumbai Indians and Ajinkya went on to win Man of the Match award.

In the post match interview, Mr. Rahane(Sr.) was beaming with joy and pride. He profusely thanked Rajasthan Royals owner Mr. Raj Kundra and skipper Rahul Dravid for giving his son a chance to show his mettle. We know that parents have to sacrifice a lot to allow their children to spread their wings and take off in their chosen odyssey towards greatness. So, we can offer our thanks to Mr. Madhukar Rahane for allowing Ajinkya to pursue his passion for cricket. I am sure in the comings years, Indian cricket would be well served by this diminutive right hand batsmen.

These were some of the moments beyond cricket that stood out for me so far in this edition of IPL. I hope in the coming weeks, we get to witness some great cricketing spectacle on the pitch and some memorable moments off it. Long live IPL!