The action that unfolded on the first and last ball of every IPL season

The Indian Premier League is the biggest festival in the domestic Indian circuit and it brings with it moments of greatness and entertainment, some of which go deep down the memory lane.

The showbiz surrounding the opening ceremony which precedes the first match of the tournament beautifully sets up the stage for the entire season to unfold. All eyes are on the first ball that gets things underway. Similarly, the last ball happens to be one which officially decides the champions for that season and ends what had been an eventful two months of cricket.

Let us have a look at the action that unfolded on the first and last ball of each season of IPL.

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2008

First Ball

Praveen Kumar of RCB bowled the first ball in IPL history

Praveen Kumar of the Royal Challengers Bangalore will go down as the bowler who delivered the first ball in Indian Premier League history. The batsman facing him was Sourav Ganguly who ran a leg-bye at the insistence of his partner, Brendon McCullum, as Praveen strayed on to his pads. What McCullum did thereafter is written in the golden pages of IPL history.

Last Ball:

Warne's inspirational leadership took Royals from underdogs to champions

With the final match of IPL’s inaugural edition going down to the wire, the encounter had lived up to it’s billing. Laxmipathy Balaji of Chennai Super Kings had to defend a solitary run as Rajasthan’s Sohail Tanvir (Purple cap holder that season) pulled a short delivery through the mid-wicket region and he completed an easy single with captain Shane Warne at the other end. Considered to be the underdogs at the beginning, Rajasthan Royals scripted history.

2009

First Ball:

RP Singh also won the Purple Cap in 2009

Manpreet Gony of CSK had the ball in hand for the season opener of 2009 in South Africa. His short pitched delivery was dealt with soft hands by Mumbai Indians’s Sanath Jayasurya, towards mid-wicket, as Sachin Tendulkar scampered through for a single.

Last Ball

Entrusted with the responsibility of defending 15 runs in the final over, RP Singh of Deccan Chargers ensured that the match result did not rely upon the action of the last ball.

With an improbable eight to get of the final delivery, Robin Uthappa of RCB swung his bat at a length ball that was fielded by Venugopal Rao at mid-on as the batting duo picked up a single and the Chargers found themselves on the other end of the IPL standings, from wooden spooners in 2008 to champions in 2009.

2010:

First Ball:

Vaas is one of the only two bowlers to take a wicket off the first ball of an IPL season

2010 IPL opener saw the first of two instances of a batsman getting out on the first ball of a season. Chaminda Vaas of DC bowled a lose delivery on the pads of KKR opener Manoj Tiwary who replied with an even more ordinary shot as he lobbed the ball to Rohit Sharma at mid-wicket, heading back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers.

Last Ball:

With 27 runs in the bank for the final over and only the tail-enders to deal with, Doug Bollinger of CSK had quite an easy job at hand. Dilhara Fernando of MI managed to squeeze the final ball yorker towards the point region only to complete a single with compatriot Lasith Malinga as CSK achieved their maiden IPL title.

2011:

First Ball:

Abdullah was the Emerging Player of the Year in 2011

After umpire Billy Doctrove’s greetings to the Chennai crowd “Chennai Vanakkam” and call to start proceedings, left arm orthodox KKR bowler Iqbal Abdullah bowled a length ball from around the wicket as Aniruddha Srikkanth of CSK leaned forward in defence. It was the first and only time that a spinner had opened the bowling in an IPL season opener.

Last Ball:

73 runs required from 6 balls- this is what the match equation read at the end of RCB’s 19th over in the final of 2011. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, all set to lift the IPL trophy in consecutive editions, handed the ball to Suresh Raina to complete the formalities. Saurabh Tiwary who faced the last ball, a flighted delivery outside off stump, managed to deposited the ball in the stands over the extra cover region, only to see his team go down by 58 runs.

2012:

First Ball:

Tiwary hit the winning stroke when KKR were first crowned Champions

Mumbai Indians’ legend Lasith Malinga had the ball in hand to deliver the first over of the fifth edition. The bowler was not quite in his grove yet as he bowled a wide down the leg side that was cleanly collected by Dinesh Karthik.

The first legal delivery though, was right on the money as Faf du Plessis of CSK had to get right behind the line of the ball to be able to fend it away.

Last Ball:

9 runs was what KKR required in the final over of IPL 2012 to lift the coveted trophy. The responsibility of defending their consecutive title was given to CSK all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.

Manoj Tiwary of KKR ensured that his batting heroics which included a couple of fours, one off the fourth and eventually the last ball of the match sealed victory for his team. A short pitched delivery was dealt with a pull through square-leg as Shah Rukh Khan in the stands climbed the railings to celebrate triumph.

2013:

First Ball:

Lee's wicket of Unmukt shall rank as the most memorable of all first balls in IPL

Unmukt Chand, fresh from leading a successful campaign at the U-19 World Cup, was up against the pace of Brett Lee as Delhi Daredevils took on Kolkata Knight Riders in the opener for season six of IPL.

Lee’s delivery, that pitched on good length and shaped away from the right handed batsman was too good for the youngster as his off stump went for a cartwheel, making this the second and the more famous instance of a batsman falling off the first ball of an IPL season.

Last Ball:

Playing their fifth final in 6 years, Dhoni’s men were up against Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai in the final of 2013. CSK were once again in a situation wherein the last over began with only formalities needing to be completed. The difference though, being that they were at the receiving end this time around.

With 42 to get, Kieron Pollard had some fun bowling the last over to Dhoni himself. ‘Captain Cool’, known to play the glory shot at the end of so many famous wins, hit the last ball for a four through long on but could not save his team from defeat by 23 runs.

2014:

First Ball:

One of the fewer instances when Chawla's services with his bat overshadowed that with the ball

The first leg of IPL 2014 saw the marquee event touch the middle-east shores for the first time in it’s history as Mumbai Indians took on Kolkata Knight Riders in it's opener at Abu Dhabi.

The first ball involved two of India’s left handed greats as Zaheer Khan bowled an away swinging delivery to Gautam Gambhir who was solid in defence. Not just the first ball, but the entire over ended uneventfully as Gambhir conceded six dots apart from the wide down the leg side.

Last Ball:

With just 5 runs to defend in the final over, it was always going to be an uphill task for Kings XI Punjab bowler Parvinder Awana. The third ball he bowled was a low full toss which was craft fully carved over the point fielder by KKR leggie Piyush Chawla as the ball ran into the boundary ropes, giving KKR their second title.

Chawla, who made room to hit the boundary, had just deposited a Mitchell Johnson delivery into the stands to bring the equation in his team’s favour.

2015:

First Ball:

Mumbai laid their hands on the IPL trophy for the second time in three years

The opening ball of IPL 2015 was bowed by Lasith Malinga, the only bowler to have done this twice in his IPL career. Facing him was KKR’s wicketkeeper batsman Robin Uthappa who defended the incoming ball with a straight bat.

The in-swing of Malinga's ball meant that it hit Uthappa's inner half of the bat and trickled towards the mid-wicket region as he completed a single with captain and opening partner Gambhir.

Last Ball:

The last over of the final of 2015 must have been one of his easiest and most pressure-free overs that R Vinay Kumar has bowled in his cricket career. Or so at least it looked to be.

With 63 runs in the bank, the Karnataka pacer went about his job without much strategy as Mohit Sharma of CSK blasted him for a couple of sixes before the last ball found the top edge of his bat and flew over the keeper’s head into the boundary ropes for four inconsequential runs.

Mumbai won their second IPL trophy while it proved to be CSK’s last match before their two year ban in the T20 extravaganza.

2016:

First Ball:

Bhuvi and Warner played pivotal roles in Sunrisers winning their maiden title

A Maharashtra derby, the 2017 IPL opener saw debutants Rising Pune Supergiants taking on defending champions Mumbai Indians. MS Dhoni’s friend and teammate RP Singh was handed the ball for the first over as Lendl Simmons got ready to face.

An in-swinging back of a length delivery greeted Simmons, who nudged the ball towards the square leg region to complete a single that brought Rohit Sharma on strike.

Last Ball:

The finale of IPL 2016 saw Sunrisers Hyderabad taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the latter’s den. 18 off the final over would have been a tough ask any day. Add to it that lower order batsman were facing the eventual Purple Cap winner Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the pressure of losing a third final, RCB had their task cut out.

Before running in to bowl the last ball, Bhuvi had ensured that his team will be crowned champions as 13 were still required. He missed the yorker by a couple of inches which enabled Iqbal Abdullah to scoop it past the fine leg fielder for an insignificant boundary.

2017:

First Ball:

Johnson, Krunal and Bumrah: the chief architects of Mumbai's 2017 victory

2017's IPL opener saw a repeat of the final of the previous edition, just that it was played in Hyderabad and not Bengaluru. Tymal Mills, who was picked up at the preceding auction for a whopping Rs 12 crores, came out to bowl the first ball of the tournament.

The short of length delivery he bowled had pace and bounce and was cut by David Warner towards the cover fielder as no run was taken.

Last Ball:

Just like 2016's final was the opener encounter of 2017, the 2017 final saw a repeat of the opening match of 2016. Mumbai and Pune battled it out for the coveted prize which the latter looked all set to win when they needed just 7 off the last 5 balls that were to be bowled by Mitchell Johnson.

Luck, though favoured Mumbai as Pune lost Manoj Tiwary and well set captain Steve Smith on consecutive balls. With a four needed off the final ball of IPL 2017, Johnson bowled an over pitched delivery on the pads of Dan Christian who flicked it between square leg and mid wicket region.

Suchith did the fielding at deep square leg and an accurate throw meant that wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel had no problem in clipping the bails off before the batsmen could complete three to tie the match. It surely goes down as the most thrilling last ball victory in the history of IPL finals.