IPL 08: A Tale of Comebacks
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IPL 2015 enters its last week of league matches. The Chennai fortress has fallen. A resurgent Mumbai have done the improbable. Five wins in the last five matches taking them to the top four spots in the table – their last win coming against Chennai at Chennai on Friday. With 30 runs to get in two overs, the odds and Gods seemed to favour Chennai. But not if a certain Hardik Pandya has his way. Three sixes and a Pawan Negi over later, the Gods are smiling on Mumbai. The end of the 19th over also ended Chennai’s reign over its fortress this season. The same Negi, who made a 17-ball 36 to take Chennai to a competitive 158, could not repeat his magic with the ball, completing Mumbai’s excitingcomeback story this week.
Seven wins for Chennai, six each for Rajasthan, Kolkatta and Mumbai, five for Bangalore and five for Hyderabad, the last two, with a game in hand. As of Friday night, it still remains anybody’s IPL. Only Punjab are completely out of it, with nothing going right for their famed batting line-up this season.
While Hyderabad’s middle-order resurgence is another comeback story, anchored by the talented and versatile Eoin Morgan whose 28-ball 63 showed his class, Bangalore certainly qualify for the next big comeback of the week. Their loss to Chennai aside, they had a strong week, starting with a rain-curtailed, nail-biter against Kolkatta. They were able to chase down 111 runs off 10 overs, due to the the calculated hitting of Mandeep Singh, finishing up his 45 with a carved six off an Andre Russell yorker, followed by a pull to the square leg boundary. The power of Gayle, however, was not to be denied much further. Stamping his reign as the destructive king of T20 cricket, his 57-ball 117 saw Bangalore reach a total of 226 , the end result a foregone conclusion against the desperately out-of-form Kings XI.
The bowlers are not being completely outdone either – be it Umesh Yadav steaming in for Kolkatta to deceive Warner and Ohja with pace and movement, and disturbing their stumps in the very first over, or Sandeep Sharma bowling six yorkers out of six for Punjab against Mumbai, or the domination of Mitchell Starc for Bangalore. What is interesting is that while the senior batsmen can find the T20 World unforgiving, given the need for speedy reflexes, quick running between wickets and improvised shots, the four overs/bowler format seems to suit the senior bowlers well and, in fact is proving to be a perfect platform for them to showcase their skills.
Ashish Nehra, aged 36, with 17 wickets and the purple cap, is the lead-weapon in the Chennai bowling arsenal. Imran Tahir, aged 36, with 15 wickets is proving invaluable for Delhi. Pravin Tambe, aged 43, has become the main-stay of the Rajasthan spin attack, since they discovered him two years ago from club cricket. Brad Hogg, aged 44, with 9 wickets from 5 games, has been miserly and effective for Kolkatta. Zaheer Khan, aged 36, with 4 wickets in 4 matches is spearheading the Delhi attack. Harbhajan Singh, aged 34 is one of the key factors for Mumbai’s comeback in the tournament with his 12 wickets.
T20, by design, is a deluge of fours and sixes, destroying respected bowling reputations and many a fledgling career along the way. Matches with an even competition between bat and ball represent an interesting dimension. And when this is being led by the senior bowlers, most considered too old to be representing their countries, it certainly becomes the big comeback story of IPL 08.