Scoring a century when the whole team just has 120 balls is an achievement. 
Taking a five-wicket haul when all you have are 4 overs, is just incredible. Posting a target of 214 in 20 overs is mind-boggling. Believe it or not, all the above-said happened for the South Australian Redbacks against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Nokia Champions League T20. But after all this, still ending up on the losing side courtesy a last ball six is just plain bad luck. Hearing about all this itself is hard to believe. Imagine watching it live.
Taking a five-wicket haul when all you have are 4 overs, is just incredible. Posting a target of 214 in 20 overs is mind-boggling. Believe it or not, all the above-said happened for the South Australian Redbacks against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Nokia Champions League T20. But after all this, still ending up on the losing side courtesy a last ball six is just plain bad luck. Hearing about all this itself is hard to believe. Imagine watching it live.
I had forgotten about the match and stumbled upon it while scrolling through channels looking for something interesting. RCB were 143/1 in 12.5 overs. What a score I thought. They should easily win it. But the equation read 72 required of 43 balls. Whoa!
Daniel Harris had hit a century, Callum Ferguson had supported more than a handful and the two made light of the RCB bowling. But now Dilshan and Kohli were entertaining the crowd with nonchalant hitting. There were no slogs. Vettori later admitted in the post match presentation that he had never seen such clean cricket shots flying into the crowd. But the partnership ended creating a template. A batsman comes in, hits a six and then gets out and that too to Shaun Tait. This infused life into the match. Wickets kept tumbling suddenly and it came down to 14 off the last over and finally 6 off the last ball. I was updating my friend and co-author of this blog (btw if you didn't know, this blog is supposed to have him!) all the while. And I almost messaged him, "Miandad anyone?". Harsha on TV was saying, "This match has had everything. Will we see a last ball six?". As if dreams come true, Arun Karthik, an import from the CSK emerged an unlikely hero, hoisting Christian's slower ball into the stands.
It was a scene of chaos at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Crowd had gone berserk. Kohli was high on emotions. Gayle, wrapped in a towel and shorts, was jumping around. There was a red battalion on the field. The noise was cacophonous! Bengaluru had just witnessed the T20 match of a lifetime. The word amazing failed to describe the match fully.
As I am writing this, RCB pulled off another rabbit from the hat chasing down 200+ score yet again. As Sid Monga said, for those who love this format, it is purely unadulterated porn!
There have been other good and close matches this Champions League including the just concluded first semis. But this one was at its peak. The IPL may have invoked some harsh criticisms, but its positives are pure entertainment and awesome cricket. What a match!
It was a scene of chaos at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Crowd had gone berserk. Kohli was high on emotions. Gayle, wrapped in a towel and shorts, was jumping around. There was a red battalion on the field. The noise was cacophonous! Bengaluru had just witnessed the T20 match of a lifetime. The word amazing failed to describe the match fully.
As I am writing this, RCB pulled off another rabbit from the hat chasing down 200+ score yet again. As Sid Monga said, for those who love this format, it is purely unadulterated porn!
There have been other good and close matches this Champions League including the just concluded first semis. But this one was at its peak. The IPL may have invoked some harsh criticisms, but its positives are pure entertainment and awesome cricket. What a match!
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