IPL: When it became difficult to score runs even at a strike rate of 100, Rahane also got a wicket.

Although the batsmen dominate the Indian Premier League (IPL), there have been many occasions when the bowlers have forced them to kneel. Something similar was seen in Centurion during IPL 2009. In the 42nd match of the season, the batsmen of Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) looked helpless in front of the sharp bowling of Mumbai Indians (MI) and could score only 119 runs after playing the entire over. The Punjab team had stalwarts like captain Yuvraj Singh, Kumar Sangakkara, Simon Katich and Irfan Pathan but none of them could perform.

KXIP had crossed 50 in the powerplay

KXIP, who came to bat first after winning the toss, did not have a good start but Sunny Sohal’s stellar batting took them to 50 runs in the powerplay. Despite the cheap dismissals of fellow openers Sin Katich (0) and Irfan Pathan (0), Sohal made his shots freely and scored 43 runs in 23 balls, hitting 5 fours and 3 sixes. He returned to the pavilion after being run out by a direct throw from MI captain Sachin Tendulkar in the last over of the powerplay.

By the end of the powerplay, KXIP’s score was 51 runs for the loss of 3 wickets. That IPL season, which was held in South Africa due to the Lok Sabha elections, was dominated by the bowlers. Only once did a team cross the 200 mark. At that time 150 was also the match winning total. With Yuvraj Singh and Kumar Sangakkara at the crease, KXIP also seemed to be going around 150. But MI bowlers wreaked such havoc that KXIP could not even reach the 120-run mark.

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Yuvraj could score only 12 runs after playing 18 balls. Sangakkara scored 8 runs in 19 balls. Three KXIP batsmen including Katich-Pathan failed to open the account. KXIP’s poor batting was such that except Sunny Sohal, no one was able to score runs at a strike rate of 100 or above. Harbhajan Singh bowled lethally for MI and took 1 wicket for 9 runs in 4 overs. JP Duminy gave 15 runs in 4 overs and took 2 wickets in his bag.

Rahane also took wicket

That day in Centurion, MI bowlers were so dominant that they allowed KXIP to score only 87 runs in 14 overs and took 6 wickets. Seeing the condition of KXIP’s batting, MI also handed the ball to Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane also clean bowled Luke Pomersbach while giving his hand to the flowing Ganga. This is the first and only wicket of Rahane in IPL career. After this he never bowled in IPL. Lasith Malinga and Dhawal Kulkarni were also successful bowlers for MI and helped the team in restricting KXIP to a small score.

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It is worth noting that even two weeks before this match, MI had restricted KXIP to the score of 119. However, it could not achieve even this target and lost the match by 3 runs. MI did not repeat this mistake in Centurion and easily achieved the target losing 2 wickets in 16.2 overs.