Indian Premier League has always been a thrilling fiesta to the fans of Indian cricket as it had always presented the supporters of the sport with something to be thrilled and cheer about. Several records were penned and rattled in the flash of an eye, while several upstarts kissed the skies, while Gods fell from their perch.
However, all of this had a first somewhere, the roots from where it started. In this piece we are going to eye the five firsts of the Indian Premier League, taking a walk down the memory lane.
First-century of IPL
The opener of this glamorous fray witnessed some insane hitting which was the official introduction of T-20 to Indian spectators. Brendon Mc Cullum penned a royal preamble to the tournament as he clubbed the Bangalore bowlers with zero mercy.
He started the innings with some lethal batting that saw him smoking the Bangalore fast bowlers into every single nook and cranny of the park. The batsmen at the other end were nothing but a spectator of this horrific onslaught from Baz. He reached the magical figures in the 16th over as he completed a swashbuckling century off just 53 balls, erupting the stands into frenzied celebrations. He stayed unbeaten till the end as he managed to post 158 from 73 balls that saw him blasting 10 fours and 13 sixes.
First five-wicket haul
Chennai Super Kings was left gobsmacked when Sohail Tanvir dismantled their bowling part by part, coming out with the second-best figures of IPL which stayed as the best until Alzarri Joseph rattled it in the preceding year.
Right from the word go, Tanvir was in business as he caught Parthiv Patel’s leg stranded in front of the stumps with some capricious reverse-swing. The next man to follow suit was Patel’s opening partner, Stephen Fleming as the former Kiwi captain suffered the same fate as that of his partner, unable to anticipate the movement of the ball.
He was in no mood to relent as he came back even stronger in the second that saw him scalping S Vidyut with brilliant delivery angling away from the batsman as the latter royally nicked at it, giving a simple catch to Shane Warne. As Albie Morkel and Suresh Raina carried on with their repair, Warne introduced Tanvir back to the attack in the 17th over and the Pakistani fast bowler reaped gold in no time. He took out a set Morkel with a slow inswinger that saw the South African’s timber rattled.
Next up against the express train was Muralitharan, whose batting flair has been nothing but some quality time pass. Tanvir notched up the first five-wicket haul of IPL as he bowled in the blocks and castled Murali. He hammered the final nail in the coffin when he pulled off another yorker that left Ntini befuddled and bowled. He ended up with figures of 4-0-14-6.
First hat-trick
In a gilt-edged performance from Lakshmipathy Balaji where the former Indian fast bowler scalped five wickets against Kings XI Punjab, it also saw him claiming the first hat-trick of the tournament.
It came in the final over of the innings where his first victim was Irfan Pathan who got out for 40, trying to smack another biggie against the medium pacer. The next man to follow suit was Piyush Chawla, trying to loft the ball over long-off but failing miserably.
The final man to go was VRV Singh, who trying to swing the bat wildly ended up nicking to Dhoni, making it a perfect three-on-three for Balaji.
First super over in IPL
It was in 2009 when KKR was chasing a modest total of 150. Despite a good bowling performance, their batting wasn’t up to the mark which saw Saurav Ganguly spearheading the innings with a 30-ball-46. He couldn’t finish it in the end as Kamran Khan got the better of him and also defended 6 runs in the final over to compel the first super over of the tournament.
Gayle smashed 16 runs in the Super Over that gave KKR a decent chance to defend, however, Yusuf Pathan took to the skies against Ajantha Mendis in the very first over as he smoked the first two balls into the stands to steal a remarkable victory for the Royals.
First all-out
Like the first feat mentioned here, this too happened in the Indian Premier League opener as KKR bundled out Royal Challengers Bangalore for a paltry 82 in response to their 222 runs.
Ajit Agarkar, Saurav Ganguly, and Ashok Dinda ran riot as the trio shared 7 wickets between them with Shukla and Ishant Sharma claiming a piece each. There was a run-out that saw Agarkar catching Noffke out of the crease to make it a perfect 10.
