Five worst knocks of Indian T20 League

The Indian T20 league has often been witness to some of the most power-packed knocks that took the respective teams to near impossible victories. The USP of the tournament is the skill that the players display to draw their teams out of trouble.

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While exciting finishes are something that the fans enjoy and anticipate from Indian T20 League, ending up on the losing side often disappoints them. Some knocks have been ill-timed according to the context of the game. These innings have been responsible for the defeat of the teams from winning positions. Here we take a look at five such knocks from players that led the teams to defeat.

5. Ambati Rayudu, 29 (29) vs Bangalore, 2019: This innings came in the 39th match of the Indian T20 League 2019. Chennai was taking on Bangalore in the latter’s home ground. Bangalore batted first and scored 161 runs in their 20 overs.

When Chennai came out to bat, they made a mess of a start to the chase. Ambati Rayudu came into bat when the score read 6 for 2 wickets in the first over of the innings. Rayudu stabilized the innings for the team. 

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But even after the initial period of settling down, Rayudu never got going. He scored 29 runs off 29 deliveries. This left a lot to be done in the end. But the skipper of the team MS Dhoni played an amazing knock of 84 runs off 48 deliveries, although Chennai lost the match by just 1 run. If Rayudu could have initiated the change in momentum earlier, Chennai could have gone across the line with probably a few overs in hand.

4. Rahul Dravid, 26 (25) vs Hyderabad, 2010: This was the 40th match of the Indian T20 League’s 2010 edition. Bangalore was batting first in the match. Jacques Kallis gave a great start to the team, scoring 68 runs from 44 deliveries. Rahul Dravid was playing the second feed to Kallis in his innings. He just scored 26 runs from 25 deliveries. It was the courtesy of a young Virat Kohli’s 58 off 35 deliveries that Bangalore reached a total of 184 runs.

Hyderabad chased down the target with 7 wickets in hand and 4 deliveries to spare. This left the fans wondering whether Bangalore was 10-15 runs short. It feels like if Dravid had shifted gears during his knock, Bangalore might have got that 15-20 extra runs to win the match.

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3. Krunal Pandya, 24(18) vs Kolkata, 2019: Kolkata was taking on Mumbai in the 47th match of Indian T20 League 2019. Kolkata batted first and on the back of three wonderful knocks by Shubhman Gill (75 off 45), Chris Lynn (54 off 29), and Andre Russell (80 off 40), they posted a total of 232 runs in 20 overs. Mumbai did not get the start they needed to chase the huge target. Kieron Pollard along with Suryakumar Yadav steadied the ship a bit. 

But it was Hardik Pandya who looked in a different touch on the day. Everything he was hitting was going out of the stands. Hardik scored 91 runs off just 34 deliveries. But his brother Krunal Pandya never got going at the opposite end. Krunal just scored 24 runs from 18 deliveries. He batted with a strike rate of 133.33. But the situation demanded an onslaught from both the batsmen. Krunal’s lack of intent led Mumbai to a defeat by 34 runs.

2. Harshal Patel, 24(17) vs Hyderabad: The year was 2018 and it was match number 42 of the season. Harshal Patel was a part of the Delhi franchise at that time. Delhi was batting first in the match. Rishabh Pant was having a blast at the crease that day. He scored 128 runs off just 63 deliveries in the innings. Harshal Patel joined Pant when the team’s score was 3 for 43. 

He was sent ahead of Glenn Maxwell with the job to accelerate the scoring rate. Patel’s 24 off 17 deliveries was not what Delhi needed in the situation. Delhi scored 187 runs from 20 overs. Hyderabad chased down the target very easily with 9 wickets in hand and 7 deliveries to spare. If Harshal would have showed a bit more intent, Delhi might have ended up with 20-30 runs more that could have won them the match.

1. MS Dhoni, 42 (31) vs Punjab, 2014: Chennai was facing off against Punjab in the 2nd Qualifier of the Indian T20 League. The match will definitely be remembered for Virender Sehwag’s 122 off 58 deliveries. Punjab posted a huge total of 226 runs for Chennai to chase.

When Chennai started the chase, they lost Faf du Plessis in the very first over. Raina took guard when the score was 1 for 1 in the first over. Suresh Raina then played one of the most memorable knocks of the Indian T20 League history. He scored 87 runs in just 25 deliveries. Chennai crossed 100 runs mark in just 6 overs. After this, their chase fell apart. MS Dhoni, known as the greatest finisher failed to show the intent needed for the chase. Dhoni scored 42 runs off 31 deliveries, which was not the order of the day. Chennai lost the match by 24 runs, leaving the fans wondering if MSD was too late to shift gears.