We indeed witnessed a Super Sunday as both the matches were thrilling. It was a day for southern states as both CSK and RCB won their respective contests. CSK beat KKR in the last ball thriller, whereas RCB defeated a mediocre MI by a massive 54 runs.
M38: CSK vs KKR
Talking about the first game, it was a nail-biting contest. All of us were at the edge of our seats as Deepak Chahar hit the last ball over mid-wicket to clinch the win for Chennai. KKR did put up a decent score in the first innings, but it was a brilliant chase by CSK led by their openers and finished by Sir Jadeja. There were a few incredible performances throughout the match by both sides. Let us have a look at the same.
Sir Jadeja – The saviour
Sir Ravindra Jadeja, remember the name. Jadeja was the player of the match and also the savior for CSK. First, with the ball in hand, he put the brakes on the KKR score by picking up the wicket of the in-form Rahul Tripathi. Tripathi was hitting the ball well until Jadeja bamboozled him and clean bowled him. He also bowled pretty economically at the rate of 5.25. Jadeja was the reason CSK won this match. He scored an impressive cameo of 22 runs off eight balls scoring at a mind-boggling rate of 275. It included two fours and two sixes. CSK won the match thanks to Jadeja’s all-round performance, and he was rightfully declared the Man of the Match.
Superb Shardul
Rightly known as Lord Thakur, Shardul Thakur delivered for his team again with the ball in hand. He bowled a superb spell of fast bowling when other bowlers were getting smacked all over the park. Shardul looked at his peak as Thakur bowled at the rate of just 5.00, which included a maiden over. He picked up two crucial wickets. First of the in-form opener Venkatesh Iyer and the next one that of the dangerous Andre Russel. Also, he scored three runs off a single delivery in the final over, which secured CSK’s victory. Shardul is proving the world his ability and is certainly a player to watch out for in the future.
Solid batting effort by KKR
KKR did pretty well with the bat in the first innings. They posted a good total of 171 in their quota of 20 overs. In Abu Dhabi, it is not easy to chase a total of that kind, but CSK was able to do so. Rahul Tripathi led the batting effort with 45 off 33 deliveries. He scored at a rate of 136.36, striking four boundaries and a maximum. It was Dinesh Karthik who boosted the innings for them. He scored at an unimaginable rate of 236.36, which included three boundaries and a six. He was the reason KKR could achieve that extra 15 runs, but it all went in vain.
M39: RCB vs MI
The evening fixture between the two heavyweights of the tournament was expected to be a thriller. But it was King Kohli’s men who had the upper hand for the second time this year over the defending champions. It was a clinical performance by RCB, both with bat and ball. MI had no chance in the match as RCB controlled throughout the 40 overs of the match. RCB were at their best, and their important players were at their top performance. RCB had too many stars in the match against MI. Let us look at some of them.
Hat-trick Hero Harshal
The purple cap holder is in a league of his own. He now is eight wickets ahead of Avesh Khan, who is second in position for the purple cap. Harshal extended his lead by taking four wickets in the match. It included a hat-trick, yes, a hat-trick against the mighty MI. The wickets included the big names of Hardik and Pollard. He secured the win, along with Chahal and Siraj, who also bowled brilliantly for RCB. Harshal is in great form, and he now definitely should win the purple cap with his scintillating performance against MI.
The Big Show
The Australian all-rounder finally showed his all-round ability in this year’s IPL. This was an amazing performance by Maxwell, and he proved his worth in this match against MI. In the first innings, he scored a quickfire 56 off 37, striking six fours and three sixes. He scored at a strike rate of 151.35, and he provided RCB a decent score to defend. Then in the second innings, he shook everyone by picking up the wicket of the MI captain Rohit Sharma, followed by the wicket of Krunal. He also bowled an economical spell conceding just 23 runs at the rate of 5.75. He was the player of the match for his all-round performance.
Bowling duo of Boult and Bumrah
The only positive for MI in the match was their death bowling performance by their Ace bowlers Boult and Bumrah. They just conceded seven runs in the last two overs. Bumrah was the star performer for MI with the ball as he picked up three wickets. His wickets included the big names of Padikkal, Maxwell, and ABD. His wickets stopped RCB from scoring 20 runs more than what they achieved. Boult also bowled brilliantly, as he picked a single wicket of Ahmed, but he bowled economically at a rate of 4.75, conceding just 17 runs. These two need to continue their performance in the coming matches to give MI a chance to qualify for the top four.