IPL 2018: Top 4 emotional moments of the season

In a country where the game of cricket is pretty much close to the people's heart than mind, Indian Premier League (IPL) has room for plenty of emotional moments attached at team or player level.

The recently concluded season of 2018 was never short of enough drama and thrill. Until this season, the teams which were about to make the playoffs could easily be guessed at halfway through the tournament. But this year, one had to wait till the last match of the league stage to finalise the last four to make it to the playoffs. Such was the composition and the spirit that all the teams showed in the tournament.

The biggest feeling of all was the return of one of the most consistent teams in the IPL history. The Chennai Super Kings was all set to return back to IPL after two years which spiked the emotions of the fans that set a new benchmark.

There were several happy, sad, and painful moments in the season of which few are presented here:

---

#1 Dhoni-Ziva celebration at finals

Dhoni with his daughter Ziva

Mahendra Singh Dhoni became one of the most successful IPL captains as his Chennai Super Kings lifted the IPL trophy in their record seventh final. It was indeed a memorable comeback to the Yellow Army as they won the IPL trophy for the third time.

Shane Watson with his blistering century helped his side record an 8-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final. His unbeaten knock of 117* took just 57 balls to seal the game for CSK.

After the win, MS Dhoni was still typically composed. All that seemed to fade away in a few minutes. While the whole team was celebrating with the trophy, Dhoni, as always, was standing behind and letting the rest of the team enjoy.

When he found his daughter Ziva come running towards him, Dhoni turned around from his team celebration, and took Ziva in his arms and gave her a big old swing.

The father-daughter had their own moment and did not care what was happening around as they both enjoyed the confetti sprinkled around. They were in a world of their own after which the duo joined the team's celebration. This moment won a lot of hearts and went viral on social media for at least a few hours.

#2 Jersey swap by Hardik and Rahul

Rahul in MI jersey & Pandya in KXIP jersey

KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya introduced the jersey-swapping ritual to the Indian Premier League post a thrilling game between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab at Mumbai (Match 50).

The home team beat Punjab by 3 runs in a thrilling game at the Wankhede Stadium and went on to keep their campaign alive in the IPL, while Kings XI, on the other hand, were on the verge of elimination after suffering their fourth successive loss in the season.

Rahul's brave 94 off 60 balls went in vain as Kings XI failed to chase down 186 thanks to some superb bowling by Jaspirit Bumrah (3/15) and Mitchell McClenaghan (2/37). His 60-ball innings was laced with 10 boundaries and three sixes. The in-form batsman was dismissed by Bumrah in the penultimate over after which Kings XI failed to chase the target.

At the end of the game, Rahul and Hardik swapped their jerseys in a wonderful gesture and upheld the spirit of the game. Rahul revealed it was done at the request of Hardik.

On maintaining mutual respect for each other, the opener said, "That's the beauty of the IPL. We play really hard, we play aggressive cricket and we all want to win the game. Even though we play 300 days of cricket together but these two months when we play IPL there's no friendship once we step on the field. I want to take him down, and he wants to take my wicket."

#3 Gambhir stepping down from captaincy

Gambhir in a bad patch this season

Gautam Gambhir’s much-anticipated “homecoming” to Delhi Daredevils (DD) ended with his decision to step down from captaincy.

After the team found itself at the bottom of the points table, with eight matches to go in the league, the left-hander announced his decision to step down as captain and handed over the reigns to Shreyas Iyer.

Gambhir said, “Absolutely my decision. I thought that I had not contributed enough and at the same time, to the performance of the team. I had to take the responsibility being the leader of the ship. I owe that responsibility as I should as a leader. I feel this is the right time (to step down as captain). We are very much in the competition. So this was the right time to put my hand up and where we stand in the points table.”

He also added, "Sometimes you realize that, maybe, I just could not handle the pressure, which came with the position and the responsibility that I was given."

Gambhir had scored 85 runs in five innings till then. The dashing former national opener who was instrumental in winning 2007 WT20I Cup and 2011 World Cup, did not play any of the remaining IPL matches post his resignation of the position. It was said that he would play a player-mentor role for the remaining matches of the season.

It was also revealed that Gautam Gambhir also decided to give up his entire Rs 2.8 crore salary while taking responsibility for the team's disastrous run. It was conceivably the first time that an IPL captain had decided to forego his salary because of non-performance. It was heartbreaking to see the champion cricketer's career fade away in such a fashion.

The heart-breaking decision for most of his fans and Delhi supporters turned out to be a helpful one too as DD turned things around to get back to winning ways but not well enough to qualify for playoffs. At the end of their campaign, DD promised to be a young energetic team led by young Shreyas Iyer that only got too late to get their composition right.

#4 KL Rahul giving away his award to a fan:

Gem of an innings in a losing cause

In the match where Kings XI Punjab was set a target of 187 runs, KL Rahul played a gem of an innings to guide his side just a few inches away from triumph. The match was against Mumbai Indians in its own den.

Rahul's 94 off 60 balls consisted of 10 fours and 3 sixes. His inning was not enough for Kings XI Punjab as his team fell short by a margin of three runs in the chase to a total of 187. Once again, a big inning from Rahul was not enough as the R Ashwin-led side fell short by 3 runs. Once Rahul was dismissed in the 19th over, it closed down all hopes for KXIP of winning the match.

When asked about his knock, Rahul said, "In the first half of IPL I was hitting the ball well but I would get out on 50-60 and then I'd find myself sitting in the dugout, seeing my team struggle sometimes. As an opening batsman, I wanted to take that extra responsibility."

He further added, "I knew if I bat 20 overs more often than not we would end up on the winning side and end up getting a big target. But unfortunately, the last two innings haven't gone my way or the team's way. But everything's a learning and I'm learning from these games. Hopefully, come a situation like this while playing for the country or any other tournament, I'm sure I'll have better answers."

It was such a crucial match the opener was seen crying after the loss since they were almost knocked off from the tournament. Even a win in their ultimate game would not ensure them a place in the next round as their qualification scenario was heavily dependant on the other matches and their Net Run Rate.

After the post-match presentation, he decided to give away his award which he won for that magnificent inning to a random fan. Though emerging as Orange cap holder then, the opener was disappointed at failing to get his team home which won thousands of hearts.