Live From the Brabourne...

Tweet

Along with many of my friends I was present on Brabourne Stadium on 20th March to watch the match between Mumbai Indians (MI) & Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Today, I will post about how the match was set up & this is how I saw the match...

"याचि देही याचि डोळा":
Have you seen the God? You must have worshiped some religion, but what about seeing the God in front of you..? Well, I must say, "YES" is my response to the above question. I SAW SACHIN TENDULKAR, THE GOD, DIRECT- IN FRONT OF ME... Of course, there were other Gods of the likes of Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Jack Kallis, Sanath Jayasurya etc whom I could see but after the divine innings of 200*, Tendulkar is the undoubted 'the God'! In all, there were many international players whom I saw playing yesterday-"याचि देही याचि डोळा". That was a dream came true...

The atmosphere before the match begun:
Outside the gate number 7, I saw huge crowd in line trying to enter in the stadium earlier than their co-supporters. Even there, crowd cheered "Sachin~~ Sachin, dhan dhan dhan; Sachin~~ Sachin, dhan dhan dhan..."

Robin Uthappa: 6 2 6 6 4 1 versus S. Srishant

Tweet

It was over number 13 in the match of Royal Challenges Bangalore (RCB) versus Kings XI Punjab (Punjab). RCB was 114 for loss of 1 wicket. They needed another 90 runs from only 48 balls.

Task was looking difficult even though they had 9 wickets in hand. Robin Uthappa was to face the 13th over, to be bowled by S. Srishant.

This over started with a SIX, bang..! M. Kaif consoled Srishant, cheered him up.
Next bowl, Uthappa got forward to drive to left of long-off for couple of runs.

3rd ball, going, going & gone...a huge SIX..! It looked like the ball was just flying and did not want to come down!!!

4th ball, Srishant tried to bowl a yorker but missed the trick completely & bowled a full-toss. Uthappa was ready to hit it out of the park for SIX for 3rd time in the over..! The crowd was loving it... The whole Chinnaswami Stadium was thoroughly enjoying the cameo of local boy- Uthappa!

5th ball, Srishant was under huge pressure, he bowled, and thwack! Ball was onto the legs of Uthappa who guided it to the square-leg for FOUR.

Meanwhile, commentator commented, "Srishant must be having sense of victory" he continued, "because he was giving runs in SIXES but now he has given 'only' a FOUR..!" Those were the most humiliating comments heard by me on anyone..! And well, Srishant deserved it.

Well, the over was not over yet... After the 5th ball was bowled, Srishant started marching towards his fielding position. That's how you feel when you are getting punished. You want to leave your place!!!

6th ball, Uthappa managed 'only' a single out of it.

The over looked like= 6 2 6 6 4 1 = total of 25 runs scored in it. It changed the equation dramatically. Before the over, Uthappa was batting on 23 from 11 balls, now he went to 47 from just 17 balls. Later he completed his 50 from just 19 balls, very fast by any standards...

Jack Kallis, who played a marvelous innings of 89 not out from 55 ball played handsome knock to finish the game & register their 1st win in IPL-3. Finally, it was Robin Uthappa's innings, according to me, which shifted the momentum in favor of RCB and made their victory look easier and 6 2 6 6 4 1 was the magical over...

Final Result:
Kings XI Punjab 203/3 (20 overs) versus Bangalore 204/2 (18.5 overs)

Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 8 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)

By Abhijeet.

Fastest Century in DLF IPL - Yousuf Pathan 100 of 37 Balls!!!

Tweet

Hi Guys,

I hope you have watched one of the most exciting knocks in the DLF IPL on Saturday, the Century of Yousuf Pathan - the dashing 'Pathan' from Rajasthan Royals from just 37 Balls against the mighty bowling attack of Mumbai Indians. Pathan, the 'Man of the Match' for the day smashed Nine Fours & Eight towering sixes which excited the whole Brabourne stadium. Finally Mumbai Indians had a lucky escape as Yousuf got run out in a very cruel manner & Mumbai won by a very thin margin of 4 runs.

Shane Warne, the Rajasthan Royals captain, has described Yousuf Pathan's 37-ball century against Mumbai Indians as the best innings he's seen in his 21-year career. The greatest Leg Spinner further said "I've played cricket for 21 years and I have seen Sachin Tendulkar as the best batsman against whom I have played as he has murdered attacks and hit bowlers all over the park. But today was the best innings I have ever seen"

What a Compliment!!! And Yousuf deserves it. There was a time when Yousuf was scoring at the strike rate of just above 100 & required run rate was mounting towards 15 runs per over, but next 11 balls which he faced changed the equation dramatically. Yousuf blasted 5 sixes & 6 fours in those 11 balls & scored 54 runs out of those 11 balls!!! What a dramatic turnaround!!! Yousuf was hitting sixes & boundaries at his will & the target of 213 in 20 overs which was looking impossible earlier, started looking probable. Even the Mumbai Indian's captain & the legend Sachin Tendulkar said " it was a treat to watch, but as I was the opposition captain, I could not enjoy it".

Certainly, the innings was very special, although Rajasthan Royals could not win, the inning will be remembered for a very long time by every cricket lover.

By-Aashish