Unlike the previous season, this year, pitches had equal assistance for batters and bowlers. The reintroduction of the saliva rule helped the bowlers to reverse the old ball, which was missing in white ball cricket in recent years. We have seen many high-scoring matches and centuries from batters, but bowlers have always had the last laugh.
Yuzvendra Chahal’s spin magic
PBKS and KKR clashed at Mullanpur in match no.31. PBKS batted first and scored just 111 runs. KKR lost both of their openers for just 7 runs, but Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi made a partnership of 55 runs for the 3rd wicket and pushed Punjab out of the game.
Yuzvendra Chahal came to the attack in the 8th over. He dismissed Captain Rahane in the fourth ball. He also dismissed the well-settled Angkrish Raghuvanshi in his second over. In his 3rd over, He dismissed Rinku Singh and Ramandeep Singh in back-to-back deliveries.
He ran through the middle order of KKR, and they collapsed for 76/7 in 12 overs. Even though Russell smashed 16 runs in his last over, he finished his spell with 4-28-4. He dismissed Rahane and Raghuvanshi, who were settled in the crease. And opened the door for PBKS in the game.
KKR were bowled out for just 95 runs, and PBKS won by 16 runs. This is the lowest total ever defended in IPL history.
Noor Ahmad marks his arrival
Noor Ahmad was bought by CSK in the auction for 10 crores in the mega auction. He is one of the very few positives for them this season. He proved his worth in the first match by picking a four-wicket haul against the arch-rivals MI at Chepauk.
MI batted first. Khaleel Ahmed and Ravichandran Ashwin removed their top 3 within the powerplay. Noor Ahmed continued the momentum created by them and executed his plans perfectly in his debut match for the franchise in front of home fans. He ran through the middle order and dismissed Suryakumar Yadav ( 29 off 26 ), Tilak Verma ( 31 off 25 ), Robin Minz ( 3 off 9 ) and Naman Dhir ( 17 off 12 ). MI went from 87/3 to 118/7. This helped CSK to restrict MI for 155/9 in 20 overs.
Noor Ahmad finished his spell with 4-18-4. A dream debut for any bowler for a new franchise. CSK chased the target with 4 wickets in hand and 5 balls to spare with the help of half-centuries from Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra.
Krunal Pandya’s clutch performance in the final
RCB and PBKS faced in the big final at Ahmedabad. RCB batted first and scored 190/9 in 20 overs. It looked like they were 10-15 runs short as PBKS chased 204 against the strong bowling attack of MI with one over to spare at the same venue.
But RCB bowlers took the tough challenge and defended the total successfully. Krunal Pandya was the pick of the bowlers in the final. He gave just 17 runs in his 4 overs and picked two crucial wickets of Prabhsimran Singh and Josh Inglis.
The wicket of Josh Inglis almost sealed the match for RCB. RCB won the match by just 6 runs in the end. His four overs was the difference between both the sides. He led RCB to their first ever IPL trophy. He grabbed the man of the match award for his game changing spell. This was his second man of the match award in the finals. He got his first with MI in 2017.
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