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‘No idea why Kohli bowled’ — Albie Morkel recalls famous 28-run IPL over

Morkel Kohli
by Wisden Staff 2 minute read

Recollecting the memorable 2012 IPL game when he steered Chennai Super Kings to an unlikely win against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Albie Morkel has said that, in hindsight, Virat Kohli should never have bowled his infamous 28-run over.

Morkel, the former South African all-rounder, headlined Super Kings’ heist with a stunning assault at No.7, scoring a seven-ball 28, all of his runs coming from one Virat Kohli over, the penultimate one of the game. It helped CSK hunt down RCB‘s 205-8, the then second-highest successful chase in the competition.

Reminiscing the win on CSK’s YouTube channel, Morkel said that he had no idea why Daniel Vettori, RCB’s skipper, chose Kohli to bowl the 19th over, with 43 to get from two.

“Look, that’s one of those evenings… once again, we were out of the game,” Morkel said. “RCB had the game in their bag… I had no idea why they bowled Virat. All due respect to him, he shouldn’t have bowled that over anyway. We lost a wicket in the last ball of the 18th over.

“The 19th and 20 were left. We needed 42 off two. I walked in at No. 7. You look at the scoreboard and you’re like, ‘oh no, 40-odd off two, that’s impossible’. You walk in and then you see Virat’s bowling, then I thought ‘if I can connect a few, maybe we can get close.’”

Morkel hit Kohli for 4,6,4,6,2,6, bringing the equation down to 15 off the last six. He perished in the final over, but Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja finished the job, with Jadeja hitting a four off the final ball.

“That moment lasted about 15 minutes in my career. It is magical to look back at.”

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