Like each of the previous eight editions, this year's IPL has also had its share of great performances and disappointments. There have been some great batting & bowling performances, athletic catches taken along with some inspirational displays of captaincy.
Given the long duration of the tournament and the number of matches played, it will be difficult to single out one thing which we liked the most or missed the most in the IPL. Hence, we take a look at five top things which has stood out in this years Vivo IPL
#1 Batting of Virat Kohli & AB de Villiers
It is a well known fact that the T20 format as a whole favours the batsmen and as a result they are expected to perform well. But the batting of Virat Kohli & AB de Villiers has taken the level of batting to a different level altogether and also increased the disparity between the bat and the ball.
Royal Challengers Bangalore’s turnaround in the tournament has been largely possible because of the batting of these two geniuses. They have put four century partnerships together and in fact the top three partnerships in the tournament belong to them (one of these being of over 200 runs).
With one match to go, the combined tally of runs scored by the two has already crossed 1600 runs. It is no surprise that the two occupy positions in the top three run scorers in this year’s IPL. While Kohli is at the top with four centuries and six fifties, ABD as he famously called is at number three (behind David Warner who is at number two) with one century and six fifties.
One more brilliant performance from either of the two in the final will ensure that RCB becomes the champion of the IPL for the first time.
#2 Commentary without Harsha Bhogle
The role of a commentator is of extreme importance in any sports and the game of cricket is no exception. Commentators often provide insights into the game which an average fan may not be able to construe. A good commentator has the power to make even the most boring phase of the match interesting.
While this year’s IPL has many great commentators from around the world, but the one name which has been missing from the commentary team is that of Harsha Bhogle. Harsha has been one man whose words has more often than not added delight to the viewing experience. Since its inception in 2008, every year Bhogle’s voice has been synonymous with the IPL commentary.
But this year, in a shocking move he was informed about the termination of his contract just a week before the commencement of the tournament. No proper reasoning was given for his ouster and we may never come to know the actual cause for this sudden move. It will remain one of the many unsolved mysteries involving the BCCI. But there is no doubt that the fans have been deprived of listening to Harsha’s calming words in tense moments of a match.
#3 Inspirational captaincy of Zaheer Khan
The Delhi Daredevils might have finished at 6th position in this year's IPL, but they did not go out without giving a fight. They won seven out of their fourteen games and were in the race for a place in the play-offs till the very end. And a certain extent of credit for this goes to their captain Zaheer Khan.
His leadership was inspirational throughout the tournament. He was not afraid to make changes in the squad and this made the Delhi side quite unpredictable. However, this also contributed to their demise as well towards the end as the team faltered due to a lack of stability after topping the table mid-season.
It may be noted that even during his playing days for India, Zaheer never shied off from giving advice to young fast bowlers in the Indian team. Probably, he carried off his mentorship skills from there and helped team Delhi put up a fight in this seasons IPL. Delhi fans will hope that his mentorship makes them the winner in next years season.
#4 No Mahendra Singh Dhoni in play-offs
When the decision was made to suspend Chennai Super Kings (CSK) - one of the most successful teams across seasons in IPL; their fans were distraught. But they took solace in the fact that their captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be representing another team and if not their team, at least their captain will have a successful season.
But much to the dismay of CSK & Dhoni fans, for the first time in the nine-year-old history of IPL; there was no Dhoni in the play-off stage of the tournament. Dhoni’s team, Rising Pune Supergiants won only five of their fourteen matches and were out of contention for a spot in the playoffs pretty early.
This was a sight which Dhoni fans would not have imagined before the start of the tournament. In fact, his team had one of the strongest batting line-up on paper. They were haunted by injuries to key players and Dhoni’s own form did not help the cause. Apart from a last over flourish against the Kings XI Punjab, in which Dhoni scored 23 runs to take the Pune team home; he was not his usual self with the bat.
#5 Juggling of catches in the boundary line
Cricket purists have never liked the T20 format of cricket. For them, test cricket is real cricket and some purists even do not consider T20 format as cricket. But even the biggest critic of T20 format will agree to the fact that this format has improved the fielding standards of players.
While One Day cricket ensured that diving to stop runs becomes a norm, T20 cricket, and IPL, in particular, has taken fielding to the next level. Take this year's IPL for instance and we have seen more than one instance of juggling of catches in the boundary line.
In certain cases the one player has himself juggled the catch and on certain others we have seen the juggling being done among two players. Shane Watson & David Wiese, Suresh Raina & Andre Russel, Chris Lynn are few players who performed this once unthinkable feat during fielding at the boundary line.
If this trend continues, then juggling of catches at the boundary line might become a norm very soon just as diving & sliding are a common sight today.
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