PHOTO FEATURE
Follow UsIPL 2024 was full of surprises. In the first half, the towering scores raised everyone’s eyebrows to the extent that scores of 220s became the new normal. In the second half, when bowlers began to have a bit more say, it was the teams trickling from one end of the points table to the other, re-establishing that most things in the second half don’t conform to the order established in the first half of the season.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were the flag bearers of this notion. They were down and out in the first half, managing only one win in eight matches. When cornered by the cricketing fraternity, RCB won six on a bounce and qualified for the playoffs by defeating the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 27 runs. The margin was nine runs more than what RCB needed to qualify. It was the most improbable qualification of all time in IPL history. And Yash Dayal was the center of the celebrations synonymous with winning a final.
While RCB climbed upwards, everyone expected the same from MI but the move never arrived. They did everything to accommodate Hardik Pandya back in their setup, giving their batting line-up an invincible look. But it was the same batting that crashed when needed, with Hardik turning out to be the biggest disappointment of the season both with the bat and as captain.
Who can forget Sunil Narine when talking about surprises? Seldom a player has won the Player of the Tournament award with such inevitability.
The IPL’s MVP points system acknowledges batting strike rate and bowling economy better than many fantasy websites. Narine aced both fronts. In the blink of an eye, the slowest reacting human being you would know in the competition sealed the MVP at the halfway stage itself. He was like Gautam Gambhir had created the most perfect all-rounder in a lab, using a special ingredient like Chemical-X or Compound V.
Here, he celebrates his maiden hundred in professional cricket, in the 16th year of his career.
Finishing ninth on the points table, Punjab Kings (PBKS) didn’t do much to remember in the season, except scaling the highest successful run chase in T20 cricket. Jonny Bairstow’s season-reviving hundred sailed Punjab to the unlikeliest win of the season - chasing down 262 with an over to spare.
The season also saw some anticipated comebacks unfurling themselves. IPL means MS Dhoni time. The whole build-up of a new IPL season is built around his return to the cricket field. And Thala didn’t disappoint this time either. Playing his first season in long hair, he thrilled the crowd with his final over bravados. It won’t be a stretch to say that the crowd rushing into the stands was paying to watch Dhoni hit boundaries.
CSK had an uncharacteristic season end before the playoffs but if Dhoni has played his last IPL game, then just think about this: His last scoring shot is a 110-metre six, the longest of the season, which sent the ball outside the stadium. As Ravi Shastri would say, the ball would be found in Cubbon Park.
From master to apprentice, Rishabh Pant’s comeback was a narrative bigger than his team, Delhi Capitals (DC). He started slow but soon got back to his older self, ie, falling around, hitting the most outrageous shots with ridiculous ease, chirping behind the stumps, and getting into awkward positions.
Virat Kohli has been on a hot run of proving a point. Ahead of this IPL season, there were questions about his T20 credentials and his strike rate against spin. Kohli delivered an Orange Cap season with a flurry of enticing strokes against both bowling types. His sixes over the on-side were a treat to watch.
Here is a no-look six from Kohli. You can almost hear the sound of the bat sending the ball into The Himalayas here.
Kohli doesn’t need a bat to entertain when he is on the field. Here, the West Delhi boys go up against each other in a friendly banter. Ishant Sharma had to walk out to bat and face the music from Kohli after getting him out in the first innings.
Probably, the most heart-warming yet spiciest banter in IPL history.
Jake Fraser-McGurk hit the tournament like a cannonball. You don’t see many overseas players crack the code of IPL in their maiden season. JFM not only cracked it open but re-assembled it into a new binary code only interpreted in 4s and 6s.
We are no Ian Bishop but, “REMEMBER THE NAME!!”
Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma were the ‘Atapi-Vatapi’ (demon brothers) of IPL 2024. It was like watching Travis Head and the Indian Travis Head batting together.
Head evoked memories of Chris Gayle in front of the Chinnaswamy crowd. He went to the den of the RCB, also happened to be his previous IPL team, pasted them for a 39-ball hundred and then mounted his helmet on the handle of his bat. It was either a tribute or simply a stone cold display of power.
From the fastest hundred of the tournament to the second-fastest, Will Jacks dashed from 50 to the 100-run mark in only 10 balls. No one could believe it, including his batting partner, Virat Kohli.
RCB gave us too many moments. Here is Faf du Plessis right after taking a stunner at a crunch moment against CSK.
The next time you watch the highlights of this match, do notice RCB’s bench in the background as du Plessis grabs a one-hander out of thin air. Their raw emotions are why you play sports and why you watch it on your screen.
Adieu to the ambassador of we keep trying. Dinesh Karthik had announced that IPL 2024 would be his last and left a legacy with his finishing touches. The precision with which DK threaded the gap between wicketkeeper and the short third-man was like Kohli hitting the gap in the covers. Between Jacks’ whirlwind hundred and Karthik’s 83 off 35 in a losing cause against SRH, RCB piped CSK’s net run-rate to make the qualification possible from a 1% chance.
Death, taxes and Mitchell Starc in BIG matches!!
The Australian speedster clean bowled both elements of Travishek one by one — Head in the first over of Qualifier 1 and Abhishek in the first over of the final. Talk about coming clutch on the big stage. Despite only 12 wickets in the league stage, the southpaw has made every penny of his record paycheque worth it.
And now onto the winning moment. It was kind of an anti-climactic end to the season. The team that had broken the IPL record for the highest team total twice in the season was bowled out for 113 in the final.
The winning run wasn’t six or a boundary but an oddly placed single over the head of the wicketkeeper. Two Iyers ran across for a single to win a final for Kolkata in Chennai.
