Exciting finishes by Kartik, Cummins, Badoni bring the 'spark' back in IPL 2022
Mumbai, April 8: After a few back-to-back one-sided matches in the IPL 2022, the exciting and thrilling finishes scripted by Dinesh Kartik, Pat Cummins and Ayush Badoni for their respective teams, have brought back the spark and interest in the cash-rich league.
Since the emergence of T20 cricket, teams have preferred to chase the target after winning the toss and it gives them a fair amount of time to re-access their batting strategy and play accordingly. The IPL 2022 also saw the same trend in the first four matches and the dew factor also gave an advantage to the team batting second in Mumbai, where the league matches of the tournament are being played. As a result, the teams batting second won the first four matches easily.
The Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan changed the trend by winning consecutive matches while batting first. The organisers also used Apsa 80 - an anti-dew agent to negate the dew factor and balance the contests. Certainly, dew was not the only factor for the one-sided matches, the tactical mistakes by captains, the imbalance in playing XIs, the poor form of key players and pressure are the other contributors which led to one-sided matches.
However, the last three IPL matches have witnessed some exciting finishes and it has brought back the spark and excitement in the league. Social media has been buzzing with praise for finishers - Kartik, Cummins, and Badoni.
Match 13: RR vs RCB -- The 'DK' Show
Chasing a target of 170, RCB were in trouble -- 87/5 in the 13th over -- when Dinesh Karthik came in to bat. The veteran changed the course of the game with his outstanding counter-attacking shots and clobbered three fours and a six against Ashwin in the 14th over.
The right-handed batter gave similar treatment to Navdeep Saini, scoring 16 runs with three boundaries -- one whipped through mid-wicket, one lap-swept to backward square and the third one flipped over short fine-leg in the following over.
With 28 required off the final three overs, Shahbaz Ahmed smacked a four and six each against Boult before he was cleaned up by the left-arm pacer. The equation was down to 15 off the final two overs as Dinesh Karthik wrapped the chase in style and remained unbeaten on 44 off 23 deliveries while Harshal Patel hit the final six to take RCB home.
Speaking after the game, Karthik mentioned that he is making a conscious effort to reinvent himself and prove that he was "not done yet" and has a lot to offer to any team.
"I made a conscious effort to do justice to myself. Felt I could have done better in the last few years. The way I've trained has been different. I was telling myself I'm not done yet. I have a goal and I want to achieve something," said Karthik during the post-match presentation.
Match 14: KKR vs MI -- Cummins's carnage
Chasing a total of 162 runs, KKR were on 101 for 5 in 13.1 overs, when Cummins walked out to bat and turned the game on its head with his attacking knock.
The Australian brought the equation down to 47 off 36 with a flick over deep midwicket and cut placed between point and short third man. In the next over, Cummins repeated the feat against Jasprit Bumrah, which dragged the match in their team's favour. But, he wasn't even done with the wild willow-swinging when KKR needed just 35 off 30 balls.
Cummins needed just six more of the available deliveries to complete the chase -- smashing them all in an erroneous Daniel Sams over which included four sixes -- all big clean hits -- and two fours. A ball before he completed the chase with a six, he reached a 14-ball half-century. He equalled K.L Rahul's record for the fastest half-century of all time in the IPL and ended the match unbeaten on 56 off 15 balls and powered KKR to victory, with four overs to spare and five wickets in hand.
Asked by his Kolkata team-mate Venkatesh Iyer in a video posted by the IPL website on Thursday, Cummins tried to recall how his blistering knock happened.
"I don't know (on how his knock happened). I think you guys did the hard work up front, so for when I come in, I was trying to hit big sixes, trying to think really clearly: If it's in my area, I am going to go for it, if it's not in my area, I'll just try and take a single. Batting at the end of the game, it's not swinging, it's not seaming so it's a bit easier for me. It was good fun," he said.
Match 15: LSG vs DC -- Badoni's calmness
Chasing a target of 155 for victory, Lucknow needed just five runs off the final over but they lost the wicket of Deepak Hooda in the first ball of the last over. But young Ayush Badoni (10 not out off 3) held his nerve and finished the chase with a four and a six, with two balls to spare and six wickets in hand.
Earlier, on his debut IPL match, the 22-year-old Badoni had fired an impressive 41-ball 54 and shocked the cricket fraternity. The youngster, who was bought by LSG at his base price of Rs 20 lakh, had also shown nerves of steel in a massive run-chase against Chennai Super Kings.
With his unique ability to play shots all around the ground, Badoni certainly has a bright future ahead of him, not just for LSG, but also for the Indian cricket team. Coming from a middle-class family, Badoni is a ward of the Sonnet Club, a premier academy in Delhi, which under the peerless late coach Tarak Sinha, had blossomed to produce over a dozen India cricketers.