Introduction Every sport has a moment that tells you exactly what it is going to be. For the Indian Premier League, that moment arrived in the very first hour of the very first match. It was April 18, 2008, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The stadium was packed with 50,000 fans who were curious, a...
Introduction There are bad days at the cricket ground, and then there is what happened at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on May 5, 2017. Royal Challengers Bengaluru — a franchise containing Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Chris Gayle simultaneously — were bowled out for 49 runs in 9.4 overs. The lowest total in IPL...
Introduction Most cricketers spend years building up to their best IPL performance. They need time to understand the conditions, learn the batters, find their rhythm in the unique pressure of the franchise tournament. Alzarri Joseph did none of that. The West Indian fast bowler had never played in the IPL before the night of April...
Introduction The 2008 IPL auction was a spending competition. Mumbai Indians splashed cash on top internationals. Chennai Super Kings built methodically around quality. Delhi Daredevils went hard for big names. And then there was Rajasthan Royals — the franchise that spent the least money of any team in the competition, picked up players that nobody...
Introduction Hyperbole is cricket journalism’s favourite tool. Everything is the greatest, the most dramatic, the most extraordinary. So it requires something genuinely special to cut through. Chris Gayle’s 175* off 66 balls for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Pune Warriors India on February 23, 2013, cuts through every time. It is not just the highest individual...
Introduction It was October 27, 2020, in Sharjah. Rajasthan Royals were chasing 224 runs against Kings XI Punjab in an IPL 2020 league match played in the UAE because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With 51 runs needed from the last 3 overs and Tewatia on 17 runs from 23 balls — struggling hopelessly — Rajasthan...
Introduction In 2008, when the IPL held its first edition, Pakistan’s finest cricketers were free to participate. Sohail Tanvir — a left-arm seamer from Rawalpindi with a slingy, awkward action that troubled every batter he faced — took 22 wickets in the season for Rajasthan Royals, winning the tournament’s inaugural Purple Cap (for most wickets)...
Introduction They won the IPL title in 2009. They had Adam Gilchrist. They were one of the franchise cricket world’s great success stories. And then, three years later, Deccan Chargers ceased to exist — terminated by the BCCI with one day’s notice, removed from the competition they had once won, their players dispersed to a...
Introduction Cricket records fall regularly. The IPL, with its attacking batting, short boundaries, and high-intensity format, accelerates record-breaking faster than any other form of the game. But there is one number that has stood untouched for nearly a decade, that every top-order batter in the competition has looked at and understood is essentially beyond reach:...
Introduction On April 3, 2023, Kolkata Knight Riders needed 29 runs off the final over against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens. Most people watching had already made peace with the result. KKR had one wicket remaining. The batter at the crease was Rinku Singh — a 25-year-old from Aligarh who had spent years on the...