IPL Week 3 - The tournament heats up!

It’s three week since the start of the 2012 IPL edition and this has probably been one of the best weeks of cricket. The matches were closely contested with most of them being decided in the very last over. Here’s a look at a few interesting things that happened during the course of this week.

Mumbai Indians crumble like a pack of cards

Match 19 was perhaps the lone one sided match of the week with Mumbai Indians’ star studded batting crumbling like a pack of cards. The team was dismissed for their lowest IPL score of just 92 runs and not surprisingly went onto to lose that match to Delhi Daredevils. The Mumbai team are really missing Sachin Tendulkar at the top of the order.

Remember to take your umbrellas and your hard hats! It's bound to rain sixes!

The Gayle Storm is back!

Chris Gayle, who thus far had a mediocre time with the bat, finally came good doing best what he always does best – destroying bowlers and punishing the white ball. He led the Royal Challengers Bangalore to victory with a brilliant 81 of 48 balls which included hitting 5 consecutive sixes of poor Rahul Sharma. Gayle again played another innings a couple days later annihilating Kings XI Punjab scoring 87 of 56 deliveries this time. Next time if you are in Chinnaswamy stadium, remember to take care because it is bound to rain sixes there.

Gayle’s big heart!

Yet another incident involving the big Calypso, and this time it’s not for his on-field exploits but rather for a particular incident that happened off the field. Gayle, in his innings of 81 against Pune hit a six deep into the crowd which landed on a small girl breaking her nose. The girl was taken to a hospital nearby for treatment and Chris Gayle paid her a visit as soon as the match ended, presenting her the medal he won for hitting the sixes in that match. The girl was overjoyed by the gesture and told cool cat Gayle to ‘chill’.

KP's ton against Deccan Chargers

KP’s big 9!

Kevin Pietersen is one of the most aggressive batsmen in the world and there is nothing better to watch than Pietersen on his day. He yet again proved his masterclass with a brilliant century against Deccan Chargers which consisted of 9 huge hits over the fence! Here is a video of those monsters.

Dada’s bad hair day Olympic dash

Sourav Ganguly might be 39 years old and not the fastest between the wickets, but match 27 showed us something completely different as we saw Ganguly take off in celebration, having castled an in-form Kevin Pietersen in his very first delivery since the 2010 IPL. His 100 meter dash with his hair waving in all directions was certainly a sight for the sore eyes. Dada would certainly have looked better had he used some Gatsby gel!

Week 3 has been one amazing journey and without any shadow of doubt, the best in this season. If this is anything to go by, the coming weeks promise much more action for the fans.