When Pathan Power Exploded In The Inaugural Edition Of IPL

Heroes In the IPL Finals- Episode 1

Twenty-20 cricket, the ‘cricket’s amateur baby’ or ‘school boy cricket’ as it was called in the late 2000s, was not accepted by many cricketing gurus or former cricketers to a larger extent. But, as in the movies, someone suddenly rises to the occasion and saves the day, inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa became that hero. Now, suddenly, the amateur boy with his growth hormones added the exuberance and excitement of watching this newest and craziest format of the game.

The success of T20 World Cup and India winning it, certainly led to the formation of one of the prestigious leagues in the world. The Indian Premier League had arrived and so was the ‘bhel’ of international, young, domestic, and retired yet legendary cricketers were served to us. This led to one of the primitive sons of cricket to born which grew and grew and has reached newer heights.

IPL is exciting for Indian cricket fans, but nothing is bigger than watching a closely contested finals of a cricket game. The inaugural IPL final was just that cheery on the top of already beautiful piece of cake. Both the finalists Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), played tremendously throughout the league stages and deserved their spots in the finals.

RR’s Journey in a Nutshell:

At the start of the IPL 2008 and visualizing the RR squad, they were truly not the favorites for the tournament. With a foreign captain and comparatively weaker side on paper, nobody gave RR any chance. However, they turned out to be the dark horses of the tournament as not only jelled together as a team but ran through the tournament like a pro. RR was a blend of a great leaders and a captain like Graeme Smith and Shane Warne, exciting young cricketers like Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, S Asnodkar plus the upcoming foreign cricketers like Shane Watson. On their verge of dominance, RR won 11 out of the 14 matches in league stages losing only 3 crunch games. Throughout the league stages, batting and bowling heroes was born in every game. In the semi-final game, Shane Watson with his all-round performance, dominated Delhi Daredevils and helped RR to win by 105 runs.

CSK’s Journey in a Nutshell:

CSK was one of those big teams in the IPL who were more into expectations because the ever-reliable MS Dhoni was their captain. Things were very good for CSK in the start as their foreign cricketers like Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey dominated the first four matches and left for international duties. After the terrific start, Chennai was smacked in next 3 games losing them all. Finally, with the exuberance of youths like Suresh Raina and experience of MS Dhoni, Chennai got the required 16 points and ended up at the third position in the league stages. In semi-finals one side dominance was resurrected as both Makhaya Ntini and Manpreet Gony ran through the Kings XI Punjab side to win by 9 wickets.

The Big Stage, The Finals:

Finals was not a new entity for the experienced cricketers; however, it was game of pressure for young players. Among all these young guns, Yusuf Pathan took the onus on himself and pulled off a great all-round show in this pressure game. RR won the toss and choose to field first in a greasy and spin-friendly pitch in Dy Patil Stadium at Mumbai. Batting first, CSK went off to a decent start with 39 runs for the first wicket. However, Yusuf had different ideas as he picked up the first three wickets and got them in crucial moments to stop the flow of runs. Yet, Suresh Raina who was the star for CSK through that league, scored a gritty 43 (30). With contributions of Raina and firing knock by MS Dhoni 29 (17), CSK propelled their score to post a par total of 163/5.

The pitch wasn’t used in the tournament, so 160 plus in the finals was looking more than enough to put pressure on any side. Batting second, RR's innings didn’t go of the plane, as they lost both their openers and number 3 at the score of 42/3. Yusuf Pathan joined Shane Watson and both put on a decent partnership of 65 for the 4^th wicket. Yusuf was brutal yet smart in his innings, milking singles in crucial times and ended up scoring a gritty half century in the process. M Muralitharan broke their partnership in 14^th over and after 17.1 overs the scoreboard read 139/6. With 25 needed of 17 balls and Pathan still at the crease, things were still under control. However, Raina pulled off a blinder and ran-out Pathan in 17^th over of the innings leading to a nail bitter.

After 18 overs, RR required 18 runs of 12 balls and Makhaya Ntini gave away 10 runs in the penultimate over after the last ball boundary through covers by S Warne. With only 8 required in the final over, L Balaji was handed the responsibility of defending it. Balaji got off to a great start by giving only 2 singles of first 3 balls. With 6 runs needed of 3 balls, Balaji bowled a wide which was missed by P Patel and RR ran an extra run. With 3 runs needed of 2 balls, S Tanvir scored 2 runs in the long leg region as Balaji missed his yorker and ended up bowling a full-toss. Finally, in the last ball of the IPL 2008, Balaji dropped it short and took his pace off, however Tanvir was up to the task  and pushed it through the gap in the mid-wicket and won the dramatic final for RR.

Yusuf Pathan for his all-round show (3/22 and 56 of 39 balls) was awarded match of the match, whereas Shane Watson with his all-round performances (472 runs and 17 wickets) through the tournament, won man of the series prize. S Tanvir with 22 wickets was the highest wicket-taker in the tournament and won the purple cap.

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Image source- India Today

According to you, who was the true hero for RR in the IPL 2008

1. Yusuf Pathan
2. Shane Warne
3. Shane Watson
4. Sohail Tanvir