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While good all-rounders are sought after in all formats, they are far more important in the T20 format, especially in leagues like the IPL. Any player who can contribute with both bat and ball can greatly impact the 240 balls of a T20 game. IPL, too has seen its share of great all-rounders over the years.
Though IPL 2021 might be temporarily suspended, it has seen some crucial contributions from all-rounders so far. Moeen Ali scored 206 runs at a strike rate of 157.25 and has 5 wickets at an average of 14.8 for CSK.
The first half of the IPL saw a few all-round performances that turned games on their heads. We take a look at some of them here.
3. Harpreet Brar (Punjab Kings) vs. RCB at Ahmedabad
Having won the toss, Virat Kohli asked the Punjab Kings to bat first. The Kings skipper KL Rahul and Chris Gayle attacked the RCB bowlers after Mayank Agarwal was dismissed early.
However, Chris Gayle's wicket changed the situation a little bit. Nicholas Pooran was dismissed for a duck yet again, while Deepak Hooda and Shahrukh Khan couldn't stick around for long either.
Harpreet Brar walked out to support his captain in the middle. They stabilized the situation, taking the team to 132/5 after 17 overs, but the Kings needed a flourish towards the end to finish in style.
The duo decided to take on the bowlers, and young Harpreet impressed with his cool head. He attacked Harshal Patel, who proved to be RCB's weakest link. Harpreet smacked two sixes and a four off him and ended with a solid 25 off 17. The Punjab Kings ended their innings at 179/5.
While the RCB innings never quite got going, Harpreet Brar pretty much ended the game with his spell. He dismissed Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, and AB De Villiers in the space of seven balls to demolish the RCB effort. His 3/19 left the Bangalore franchise reeling at 69/4, with all their top stars back in the pavilion.
They could only manage 145/8, and PBKS won the game by 34 runs.
2. Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians) vs. CSK at Delhi
MI won the toss and chose to field against CSK, but that backfired when their bowlers were punished all around the ground by Faf Du Plessis, Moeen Ali, and Ambati Rayudu. Rayudu was especially brutal with his 72 off 27.
Kieron Pollard, with his 2/12, was the lone bright spot in their bowling. As a result, MI needed 219 to win the game, and their chances were looking bleak.
Kieron Pollard came in at No.5 with MI still needing 138 runs off 62 balls with 7 wickets in hand. His 87 off 34, compiled with the assistance of 8 sixes and 6 fours, ensured that MI chased the target down off the final ball.
More so, MI scored only 13 off the first 14 balls of his stay. Thus, they required 125 of the final 8 overs. But no total was enough for Pollard on this special IPL night.
Along the way, he smashed 3 sixes off Jadeja and Ngidi. He also helped MI take 23 runs off an over from Shardul Thakur. His unbeaten 87 will be remembered as one of the most brutal innings of all time in the IPL.
1. Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai Super Kings) vs. RCB at Mumbai
A few days before the Harpreet storm, RCB had to contend with the Ravindra Jadeja hurricane that hit them in their IPL game at Mumbai. CSK elected to bat first and looked set for a decent total, courtesy of contributions from Ruturaj Gaikwad (33), Faf Du Plessis (50), and Suresh Raina (24).
At 142/4 in 17.3 overs, they would've expected a score in the range of 165-170. Ravindra Jadeja was determined to give CSK the big push, and he decided to go after RCB's best bowler until then in the final over. Harshal Patel's figures read 3/14 before he delivered the final over of CSK's innings.
The Purple Cap holder ended up giving away 37 runs off CSK's 20th. Jadeja hit 5 sixes and a four, finishing on 62 off 28 balls. MS Dhoni's men ended their innings at 191/4 in their 20 overs.
RCB hadn't fully recovered from this onslaught, but Jadeja added to their misery with a run-out and a spell of 3/13, including the wickets of Washington Sundar, Glenn Maxwell, and AB de Villiers. CSK crushed RCB by 69 runs to go to the top of the IPL table.
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