STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Follow UsHeading into Match 52, the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad were the only two teams with two matches remaining. Though it wouldn’t have made a difference for Hyderabad, Bangalore on the other hand, would have had the top two spots in their sights. After electing to field first, Bangalore bowlers finally made a breakthrough in the powerplay overs, their first in the UAE leg. However, the pair of Kane Williamson and Jason Roy resurrected the innings with a 70-run second wicket partnership. By the 12th over, though they lost Williamson, Hyderabad were in a good position to post 150+ total. But, once again their middle order let them down. In the last eight overs, they scored only 50 runs and lost five wickets. Hence, they had to settle for a total of 141/7 in their 20 overs.
In their attempt to defend 142, Hyderabad’s most experienced bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, provided the vital breakthrough in the first over. After a crisp drive through covers off the first ball, Virat Kohli once again was pinned in-front while walking across. The trial and run method of sending Daniel Christian at number three failed in consecutive matches as he scored a solitary run. If Devdutt Padikkal at one end was struggling to score runs, the new version of Glenn Maxwell was the biggest threat for Hyderabad in the middle overs. He took on against Rashid Khan by launching a six off the first ball he faced against the wily bowler. But, before he could maximize, a brilliant piece of fielding by Williamson saw Maxwell short of his ground for a 25-ball 40. AB de Villiers and Shahbaz Ahmed tried their best but Hyderabad bowlers pulled it off in the last two overs to win the competition by four runs. Here are some of the notable stats from Match 52:
Harshal’s dream run continues
The season keeps getting better and better for the uncapped bowler. Harshal Patel with 29 wickets this season is on course for a grand year. With seven wickets difference between him and Avesh Khan, he is already way ahead in the race for Purple Cap. His 29 wickets in IPL 2021, is not only the best this season, but the best for an Indian bowler in a season of IPL. He went past Jasprit Bumrah’s tally of 27 wickets in IPL 2020 to achieve this feat.
The death over specialist
When we hear the tag ‘death over specialist’ among Indian bowlers, immediately Bumrah appears in our imagination. But in IPL 2021, Harshal’s name is written all-over it. Out of the 29 wickets he has bagged in this season, 21 off those have come in the last five overs of the innings. This is the most wickets scalped by an Indian bowler in this phase in a season of IPL and the third most overall. To emboss more, out of those 21 wickets, 11 have come in the last over of the innings (20th). Only Dwayne Bravo in 2015 had bagged 12 wickets, which is not at all far considering the form he is in.
Most three wicket-hauls in a season
The biggest reason behind Harshal donning the Purple Cap is his consistency. In the 13 matches played this season, only in three matches he hasn’t bagged a wicket and in the remaining 10, he has a two-wicket haul in each. He has one five-wicket haul, one four-wicket haul and four three-wicket hauls this season. All-in-all, he has a total six three-wicket hauls this season. This is the most three-wicket hauls bagged by a bowler in a season of IPL.
Virat departs in the first over
It is a universal known fact that Kohli is one of the most consistent batsmen across all formats. Though he has been off-color in recent times, the run machine is still a priced wicket. In the match against Hyderabad, Kohli was packed off by Bhuvneshwar in the last ball of the first over. This was only the second time in his IPL career that Kohli was dismissed in the first overs of the innings. The only other time was against Kolkata Knight Riders in 2017 in Kolkata and Bangalore suffered a loss and registered the lowest score in the history of IPL (49). Today as well, they lost but, by a small margin.
Pinned in-front too often?
The special ability of Kohli is, he is one of those players who doesn’t repeat his mistakes very often. But, this season has been different. He has been dismissed far too often when he has shuffled across and has been adjudged LBW. Post 2017 IPL, Kohli was never dismissed through LBW until 2021. This season, he has got out through this mode thrice, which is his most in a season of IPL.
Umran Malik’s flamethrowers
Coming in as a replacement, Umran Malik is now one of the hottest topics of the IPL 2021. With the big auctions around the corner, he is certain for some lengthy bid wars. In his first match itself, he was amongst the fastest bowlers with a 151kph delivery. In today’s match, he bowled a 152.9kph delivery. This not only is the fastest of this season but, the fastest ball recorded in the history of IPL by an Indian bowler. He went past Navdeep Saini who had bowled 152.8 in the 2019 season of IPL.
Padikkal’s limping innings
The young opener of Bangalore Padikkal, struggled throughout his innings against Hyderabad. His innings was also one of the reasons why Bangalore fell short by inches. Padikkal batted for 51 balls, which is 42.5 percent of the balls and scored at less than 80. Among batsmen who have played 50+ balls in an IPL innings, only Michael Hussey (78.4) in 2013 against Kolkata at Eden Gardens had a lower strike rate than Padikkal (78.9).
A rare failure for the superman
Generally, 13 runs required of the last over and the superman, de Villiers at the crease, there is always a hunch that he backs himself to finish it off. But, on rare days like today, he also failed. In his IPL career, de Villiers has stayed not-out 21 times in a chase and 19 of those have come in wins. Today’s instance and one in 2019 against Mumbai Indians, where he stayed not-out on 70 off 41 balls and they fell short by six runs, are the only two that came in loss while chasing in the IPL.
