If you thought the IPL couldn’t top Rinku Singh’s jaw-dropping finish over the weekend, you were wrong. For the second night in a row, a match ended in a series of bizarre happenings.
Let’s set the context. RCB powered their way to 212-2 in 20 overs, recovering from a mid-innings rut to finish on a high. They had LSG on the mat at 23-3, before Marcus Stoinis steadied the innings and Nicholas Pooran shook it completely. His heroic act ended in the 18th over. Then, things took a wild turn.
The bizarre sequence begins
It started with an Ayush Badoni six that wasn’t one. Their last remaining specialist batter, the 21-year-old swiped at a full delivery from Wayne Parnell, playing his first IPL game in nine years. The contact was enough for the ball to sail over fine leg, but ecstasy turned into anguish when he realised what his bat swing had done. The stumps lay disrupted and the drama had begun. Badoni was hit wicket with 7 needed off 8.
Only the bowlers remained: Mark Wood joined Jaydev Unadkat, but you could still see little but an LSG win. Wood has been an able bat for England, while Unadkat can hang around. By the end of the over, 5 were needed off the last 6. Still gettable. And oh, RCB could only place four fielders outside the circle because of their slow over rate.
Final over
Harshal Patel, who had encountered a rather difficult outing thus far (3-0-44-0), had a chance at redemption and emerging a hero. When he bowled Wood off the second ball – a cross-seamed yorker too nasty for a tailender – the vindication was in motion. The crowd was on their feet, he had his 100th IPL wicket. Unadkat had Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan for company.
Bishnoi did the sensible, tapping the ball around for three runs off the next two. Only 1 run remained, off the last 2 balls. That’s when Jaydev Unadkat had a brain fade of sorts: he took a hard swipe at ball No.5, only to top edge it to Faf du Plessis at mid-on. The shot made little sense in the context, but not a lot of other stuff did anyway.
The final ball
Right then, 1 off 1. Tap and run. You miss, run anyway. Avesh to face.
Harshal ran in, Bishnoi slid out of his crease. The bowler tried to whip the bails, but incredulously missed in his first attempt. He turned around, Bishnoi is way out…
Harshal threw an almighty attempt to make up for the first try and hit the stumps. Bishnoi dived back – replays showed he would have been out by inches – but the umpires did not review. Instead, they decided to give it a dead ball. Looking at the laws, we are not sure why.
1 off 1, encore.
Harshal Patel ran in, Bishnoi sprinted out of his crease again. No one was looking back this time. Avesh missed – because well, you had to complete the dramatic end. Dinesh Karthik did not do the one-glove thing. In fact, Karthik fumbled. By the time he had scampered to re-collect and fire the ball back, Bishnoi was in. Karthik’s teammates had their hands on their heads.
Avesh, having not put a bat on the ball, celebrated like he’d won his side the World Cup. In a wild dash of rage, he threw his helmet on the ground – for which he was reprimanded later.
Maxwell whipped the bails off in frustration, the umpire signalled a bye. The home crowd was stunned beyond repair, and the pockets of blue jerseys were waving their flags in joy.
To summarise – in ten minutes, there was a hit-wicket six, a slow over-rate penalty, a pre-delivery run-out that wasn’t, a near Super Over, and the wildest reprimand-inducing celebration by someone finishing on 0* (1).
It’s just been ten days of IPL 2023 so far. We can’t imagine what else is in store.
