Indian Premier League is always one of the biggest sources of entertainment for the cricket crazy sub-continent fans. It isn’t just a mere contest of bat and ball for them but a fascinating clash of willow against cherry defended by timbre in the back. It also is a festival where fans gather to witness their favourite Gods take the battlefield while new Gods are forged. It is like a new chapter in mythology for the Indians.
In this article, we will look at five moments where some out of the box thinking helped the audience to get a glimpse of ingenious minds in the roster of Indian Premier League. In short, we are going to look at five most genius moves in the cash-rich league.
- Where Dhoni said Joginder Sharma not to take the bails off
It was a battle of KKR against Chennai as the former stuttered miserably against the CSK bowling. The only man who was successful in building up some resistance was the veteran cricketer of Bengal, Lakshmi Ratan Shukla who managed to garner 42 runs from 32 deliveries before this crazy incident happened. Just three balls remained in the innings. Much damage wouldn’t really have been caused even if a couple of sixes would have been smashed. Given the fact that Dhoni knew the importance of every single run, on the 5th ball of the over, there was a miscommunication between Shukla and Ishant Sharma.
Despite Shukla not being interested in a single, Sharma charged at him for a run. The striker denied and in the process, Joginder Sharma at the other end was about to dislodge the bails. This is when Dhoni gesticulated at him to stop. He waited until in the due course of a two-second conversation, Ishant Sharma crossed Shukla and then he very silently told Joginder to hit the stumps. When the bails were dislodged, Ishant was inside the crease, he had already crossed Shukla and the bails at the other end were dislodged. The conclusion is that the set Lakshmiratan Shukla was run out by a schoolboy error which was duly exploited by Mahi. Reminds you of your childhood, doesn’t it?
- Anil Kumble opening the bowling for Hyderabad in the 2009 final
This was Kumble’s best bowling essay in the Premier League as he managed to outwit his Chargers counterparts with an absolutely brilliant move in the very beginning. Gilchrist was in the form of his life and that brought out Kumble to open the bowling. The ratiocination behind this gritty effort from the Bangalore captain was that the Australian wicketkeeper was phenomenal at trading fast bowling.
However, the hard-hitting southpaw has always struggled with spinners especially in the beginning of the innings when the ball is new. Kumble stepped up, toyed with Gilly for a couple of deliveries and then pulled out a screamer up his sleeve that left the batsman bamboozled and his timbre rattled. Despite Chargers pulling off a phenomenal bowling performance, their batting line up wasn’t equal to the task and lost the trophy by a whisker.
- Promoting Narine to open the innings
When the entire nation heard that another Sunil is going to open the innings, the thought of an earlier Sunil Gavaskar rattled their brains. But it wasn’t really a blast from the past and no flouting of the cricketing rules either, it was Sunil Narine.
Surprising everyone, the number 10 batsman was promoted to open the innings for Kolkata Knighriders and the rest they say is history. This was an untapped potential of the spinner that was tested briefly by the Melbourne Renegades but KKR decided to pick up this pinch-hitter as a potent solution to their opening conundrum. Ever since Narine found himself opening the innings alongside Lynn and the West Indian southpaw has gifted us some fiery knocks that helped KKR to score big with the fielding restrictions on.
- Bringing Rohit Sharma to bowl out a few overs in the middle
With Mumbai cruising against Deccan Chargers in a more or less modest run chase, Gilchrist produced some bizarre thoughts that startled the entire world. With 46 required from 30 balls that witnessed JP Duminy and Abhishek Nayar at the crease, the Indians were very well set for a course leading to victory.
Gilly introduced Sharma to the attack, a part-time bowler in stages of the game where the match has almost slipped out of your hands. The first four balls leaked three runs which seemed pretty impressive for a part-time offie. The following ball saw Sharma castling an ambitious Nayar as the batsman’s effort to sweep the ball didn’t fructify. The next victim of Sharma’s magic was Harbhajan Singh as he bottom edged the ball on to his stumps. Sharma came for another over and this time his skitter took a sharp nick off Duminy’s bat and was pouched brilliantly by Gilly allowing Sharma to pull off a brilliant hattrick and also turn the tide of the match completely.
However, that wasn’t the end of his magical spell as he also claimed the scalp of Saurabh Tiwary in the fourth ball of his over.
- Brilliant bowling manoeuvres from Captain Watson
Chasing a stiff target of 171, KKR was cruising towards the target without breaking a sweat as Gambhir and Uthappa mounted a brilliant partnership of 121 runs from 14.1 overs. This is when Watson came introduced himself to the bowling and what followed thereafter was stuff from the folklore. Gambhir, Uthappa and Russell fell victim to some brilliant fast bowling from Watson.
The next bowler introduced was a veteran Praveen Tambe. The spinner rattled three more wickets in his over that saw Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan and Ryan Ten Doeschate getting dismissed for cheap. From 121 for no loss, KKR was down to 123 for 6 and was also handed a defeat through some brilliant captaincy from Watson.
