Two consecutive matches; Two brilliant finishes, that is exactly what an IPL fan needs. From Rajasthan Royals pulling off an incredible run chase, to Mumbai Indians' heartbreak in the super over, here's all you need to know.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS VS KINGS XI PUNJAB
Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals met at The Sharjah Cricket Stadium in UAE. Rajasthan won the toss and elected to field first. Punjab captain, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal started off the innings and absolutely destroyed RR's bowling attack. The two maintained a partnership of 183 runs with Mayank bagging his first IPL century in just 45 balls.
It was only in the 17th over that the first wicket fell when Tom Curran dismissed Mayank Agarwal with a catch out taken easily by Sanju Samson. It wasn't long that KL Rahul left the field as he too, was caught out. Nicholas Pooran and Glen Maxwell scored some late boundaries and sixes to secure KXIP a total of 223 runs for a loss of just two wickets.
Rajasthan Royals had a mighty target of 224 runs to chase. Captain, Steve Smith and Jos Buttler started off sloppy as Buttler was dismissed by Sheldon Cottrell and returned to the dressing room with just 4 runs on the scoreboard. Sanju Samson and Smith scored a partnership of 81 runs in just 40 balls when Smith was caught out by James Neesham, grabbing an extremely important wicket for Kings XI Punjab. While Samson was battering boundaries, Rahul Tewatia struggled. After an exceptional innings of 85 runs from 42 balls, Samson departed in the 17th over as he was caught behind by Jos Buttler.
The Royals required 51 runs off the last three overs with an average of 17 runs per over. They needed a big over and Tewatia provided them with exactly that. The 27 year old smashed five sixes off Sheldon Cottrell's over, meaning that they were now just 21 runs from making history. Unfortunately, Robin Uthappa's innings came to an end as the former KKR batsman fell just short of the boundary and was caught by Pooran. English all rounder, Jofra Archer grabbed two sixes in the same over. Tewatia too hit a six but was caught when they were just 2 runs away from victory.
Riyan Parag was bowled by Murugan Ashwin in the final over but his replacement Tom Curran snatched away all of KXIP's hopes by scoring a boundary and securing the maiden IPL champions a crucial two points. Rajasthan Royals also added their name to the history books by successfully chasing down the highest score in IPL history.
MUMBAI INDIANS VS ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore faced off at The Dubai International Cricket Stadium with Rohit Sharma winning the toss and choosing to bowl first. Devdutt Padikkal and Aaron Finch commenced RCB's innings. The two of them maintained a decent partnership of 81 runs before Finch was sent packing back to the dressing room by Trent Boult.
The skipper, Virat Kohli scored just 3 runs in 11 balls and was caught by Rahul Chahar. AB De Villiers and Padikkal were cracking boundaries until Padikkal was caught, again by Trent Boult. Shivam Dubey was the man who came in for him and he and DE Villiers carried Bangalore to a massive total of 201 runs for only 3 wickets.
The four - time IPL Champions, Mumbai Indians had quite a slow start as Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Quinton De Kock were all dismissed soon by Washington Sundar, Isuru Udana and Yuzvendra Chahal respectively. Meanwhile, Ishaan Kishan was having a rather great time with the bat; he soon scored a half century to give MI some hope.
Hardik Pandya though, too couldn't provide much for the team either as he scored just 15 runs and was caught by Adam Zampa. West Indian hard - hitter Kieron Pollard was the next batsman in and he made a half century off just 20 balls to show Mumbai some light at the end of the tunnel. With Pollard and Kishan just racking up fours and sixes, MI needed 5 runs off the last 2 balls. Unfortunately for Ishaan Kishan, he was caught by Padikkal on 99 denying him his first IPL century; and on the last ball Kieron Pollard hit a four to tie the match. Only on the 10th match of this IPL, we were witnessing a second super over.
Mumbai Indians only scored 7 runs in the super over, gifting RCB an easy win in an absolutely chaotic match between two amazing teams.
The 13th edition of IPL has been a crazy one with thrilling matches and hopefully we can see more of the same in the upcoming games.
CREDITS: mykhel.com, sports.ndtv.com