The 10 most memorable moments from the first decade of the IPL.
10. VALTHATY, THE SHOOTING STAR
120* off 63, 19 fours, two sixes
Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings, April 13, 2011, IPL 4
Paul Valthaty’s career was the IPL in microcosm: a blindingly bright and tantalisingly short burst of action. It had been a long road for him – as far back as 2002 he was in the India under 19 squad – but how he seized his moment, when it finally came. He shot from obscurity with a spectacular 120*, as he chased down CSK’s 188 almost by himself – the next highest score was 21 – and a superb all-round display the game after, taking 4-29 before smashing 75 off 47 to help KXIP ace another chase. But after that? Nothing. Or at least very little. By the middle of the next season, he would be dropped for good, never to be heard of again, having left an unforgettable mark on the tournament and vanished into the night.
9. PACE IS PACE YAAR
3-0-11-4
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils, May 13, 2008, IPL 1
On IPL debut, at Eden Gardens, the ground where he’d bowled Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar with successive yorkers a decade earlier as Pakistan won a classic Test match, the Rawalpindi Express gave a further exhibition of his frightening abilities. Not for Shoaib – this time at least – were the subtleties of slower balls; pure pace accounted for every member of Daredevil’s top four, Sehwag, Gambhir and de Villiers among them, in a ferocious new ball spell, as KKR clinically defended a small total. It is a shame that now the performance serves as an example of the value Pakistani players could bring to the tournament, were they allowed to participate.
