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The first week of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) is behind us. The matches held in the period produced some scintillating as well as some disappointing cricket.
IPL 2021 kicked off with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pulling off a last-ball upset against defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI). RCB have also gone on to defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a close game since.
With all the teams have played two games each, RCB are currently the top of the IPL 2021 points table. They are the only franchise to have won both their matches. Six other sides have won one and lost the other.
SRH are the only team to have lost both their matches of IPL 2021 and are yet to get points on the table. After going down to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), they also finished second best against RCB.
3 defining moments from Week 1 of IPL 2021
As part of our weekly roundup series of IPL 2021, we look back at three defining moments from the first week that changed the course of the respective matches.
#3 Kyle Jamieson outsmarts David Warner
SRH southpaw David Warner is among the most aggressive batsman on the planet in the T20 format. And while that is a massive advantage, at times it can prove to be his undoing as well - like it did in the game against RCB in Chennai, in game 6 of IPL 2021.
Chasing exactly 150, SRH were cruising at 96 for 1 in the 14th over. They did not need to do anything spectacular as they could have got home playing normal cricket. Warner had seen what happened in the previous game between KKR and MI. One wicket had led to another and the former inexplicably choked in the chase.
Despite a grave example in front of him, the SRH captain’s attacking instincts took over. Off the second ball of the 14th over, Warner tried to have a go at RCB pacer Kyle Jamieson.
The Kiwi bowler smartly delivered a slower one, which completely messed up Warner’s timing. All the Aussie managed to do was find the fielder on the boundary.
What happened next?
Following Warner’s dismissal, SRH completely lost momentum. From 96 for 2, they crumbled to 143 for 9. Left-arm seamer Shahbaz Ahmed claimed three wickets in an over to completely dash SRH’s hopes in the IPL 2021 clash. He sent back Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Abdul Samad in quick succession to kill what, at one point, looked like a straightforward chase.
#2 Chahar wins the battle of Rahuls
Before the SRH-RCB encounter, the KKR-MI match in IPL 2021, also played in Chennai, charted a similar path. After MI were bowled out for 152 courtesy a surprise Andre Russell five-for, KKR seemed to be cruising in the chase.
They had eased their way to 72 in the 9th over when Shubman Gill (33) perished. Despite Gill’s loss, at 84 for 1 in the 11 over, KKR looked in complete control of proceedings. After all, their two batting heroes from the game against SRH, Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi, were at the crease.
MI needed something special to break the partnership. Leggie Rahul Chahar, buoyed by the wicket of Gill, produced the moment of magic. He got a ball to rip and turn viciously off the surface to catch the edge of Tripathi, who walked back with 5 runs against his name.
What happened next?
Chahar also took out KKR skipper Eoin Morgan (7) as the left-hander slog-swept one straight to a fielder in the deep. KKR’s hopes then rested on Rana (57). He too panicked and ran down the wicket to Chahar, only to be left stranded and stumped.
Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult then bowled two superb death overs as MI sneaked in a victory by 10 runs in the fifth match of IPL 2021.
#1 The six that made Chris Morris believe
After having gone down to the Punjab Kings (PBKS) by four runs despite a breathtaking hundred by Sanju Samson in match four of IPL 2021, the Rajasthan Royals came close to losing against the Delhi Capitals (DC) as well.
In the seventh encounter of IPL 2021, the RR bowlers did well to restrict a strong DC batting line-up to 150. Left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat was unplayable at the top with figures 3 for 15. However, DC bowlers fought back equally hard to restrict RR to 90 for 6.
David Miller made a fighting 62 but his dismissal in the 17th over left RR at 104 for 7. All-rounder and IPL 2021’s most expensive buy, Chris Morris, was struggling to time the ball.
With 27 needed of 12 balls though, he clobbered the first delivery of the penultimate over bowled by Kagiso Rabada over the midwicket fence. Morris picked the legcutter and played a punishing stroke.
What happened next?
Having found his big-hitting range, Morris then swung the fifth ball of the over, which was a length delivery, over the long leg boundary. Tom Curran bowled the last over with RR needing 12. The second ball, another leg-cutter, sat up nicely for Morris to swing a six over deep square.
The tall South African took RR home in style as another IPL 2021 game came to an incredible end. He swatted the fourth ball, which was a full toss, over deep square for his fourth six.
RR erupted in celebrations as they crossed the finish line after having narrowly missed out against PBKS.
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