Previous Seasons recap 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
MI is quickly catching the Mission Impossible series with their 5th and consecutive title win this year. They were invincible like the Aussies in their prime. What seemed like an impossible tournament with a lot of doubts turned out to be wonderful entertainment and kudos to everyone involved for finishing it successfully without any glitch.
For the first time, CSK didn't get to the playoffs, RCB went to the playoffs after 4 years, DC into the finals for the first time and MI won the championship in an even year, but it's 2020 we shouldn't be surprised by any of this.
Here are some of the highlights from this year's IPL.
MIvsCSK Started with INDvsPAK of IPL and Dhoni was playing after 434 days in his new look, but it was an anticlimax with the bat. And, the first ball of this year was bowled by covid recovered Chahar. CSK won it after MI's 4-0 last year thanks to Rayudu and Faf. Overall a fantastic start, little did we know it gonna be a contrasting season for both the teams.
DCvsKX1 start their campaign with a thriller. Shami was best with the new ball and Stoinis rescued DC at the end. And, while chasing Mayank singlehandedly took them to victory, but playing Bangladesh player shot playing in the air when a single would have been enough and match went to super over thanks to Stoinis again for that final over with two wickets. And, Rabada just like last year picked two wickets in the super over for just 2 runs and DC won it eventually.
SRHvsRCB, RCB start with a win thanks to a fantastic 50 on debut by Padikkal, and once again it was Chahal with a ball who triggered a collapse when SRH was at 121 for 2 chasing 163 and eventually got all out for 153.
RRvsCSK, Sanju Samson hits 9 sixes in Sharjah and RR reach 216, but CSK decided to play for NRR after 12 overs especially Dhoni, who finished with 3 sixes of the last ball which was utterly useless, if only they have won this, things would have been different towards the end of the tournament.
KX1vsRCB, Rahul scored 132, from 90 of 60 to 132 of 69 thanks to Kohli for dropping him twice, and RCB while chasing fell short of KL's total itself.
KX1vsRR, Rahul, and Mayank's opening stand were 183 and they reach 223, once again Sharjah Samson played an excellent inning of 85 off 42 balls, but it was Tewatia who stole the show with a remarkable turnaround. This was the best moment of this IPL easily, from 17 of 23 where everybody expected him to get out, he scored 30 off Cortrell's over and finishes the inning with 53 of 31.
RCBvsMI RCB scored 201 though Kohli failed to score thanks to 50s from Padikkal, Finch, and ABD. But, Ishan playing his first game for MI scores 99 along with Pollard's 60 of just 24 and almost won the game, but it went to super over. Saini was excellent in the super over and MI was able to score 7 and RCB won it.
CSKvsKX1 After a hat-trick of losses CSK makes comeback with a 10 wicket win against KX1, Watson as promised on Twitter delivers a perfect game for CSK and he finally made a major contribution in this season.
CSKvsKKR, but in the very next game CSK lost a winnable game. First, it was Dhoni 11(12) who struggled against the spin and got out to Varun, and then came this season's most talked-about CSK player, Jhadav with an excellent inning of 7(12) who has the audacity to refuse the second when Jaddu called. KKR bat first in 5 years and 69 matches after winning the toss in this match and delaying Narine's entry worked wonders where they pulled off a heist.
KX1vsKKR, KX1always does a reverse Tewatia during the first half of this season, chasing 151 they were going comfortably at 115/1and lost by 2 runs. Needed a six off the last ball for super over, Maxwell's hit was just short of few inches. Once again KKR won the impossible match where KX1 needed 21 off 16 with 8 wickets.
SRHvsRR, Chasing 163, RR lost Buttler, Stokes, Samson, Smith they were 5 for 78, but Parag and Tewatia again do it for RR. Both the players were playing strike rate less than 100, but in the end, they made it, especially Tewatia's two reverse sweeps against Rashid was the turning point.
KKRvsRCB, Sharjah's pitch has slowed down and everyone was struggling to score, then comes ABD and scores 73 of just 33 at an SR of 221 where even Virat was struggling with an SR of 117. Nobody got going KKR and they lost by 82 runs and it was solely ABD's brilliance.
KX1vsRCB, the universe boss Gayle is back from the hospital and starts with a 50, but as usual, KX1 almost choked this as well. With 2 runs needed from the last over with Gayle run out and they needed 1 from the last ball, Pooran clears Morris to win it, it was just inches away from getting caught.
RCBvsRR, freak ABD does it again for RCB, when they needed 60 from 26 balls and AB Devilliers was 8*(9) and then he scores 6,0,6,2,4,1,1,6,6,6,1,2,6 and took the team into victory.
CSKvsDD, CSK didn't want to get Dhawan out they keep dropping catches of him and he went on to score his first century in the IPL and with 17 needed off the last over and with Bravo injured, it was Jadeja who bowled against the two left-handers and Axar hits 3 sixes to seal the game.
KKRvsSRH and KX1vsMI, that was super over Sunday, with Warner playing in the middle order against some ordinary bowling by Russel's in final over he couldn't cross the line and in the super over Fergusson were great and KKR won it easily. And, in the second game for the first time, we saw two super overs and KX1 finally won it thanks to Mayank's incredible stop at the boundary line and hitting the winning runs in the second super over. The first super over, saw both Bumrah and Shami executing the yorkers, especially Shami. Overall a Super Sunday it was.
CSKvsRR, after a string of worst performances Dhoni keeps Jhadav in the eleven, but not trusting him enough to send him ahead of Jadeja, with zero intent from Dhoni and Jadeja CSK manages just 125 with 5 wickets remaining. RR had some trouble losing early wickets and Buttler came and shows them how it is done by scoring 70 out of the target and finishes it.
KKRvsRCB, RCB's new ball bowling was unbelievable with two consecutive maidens from Siraj who picked 3 wickets and there were two more maidens with a total of 4 maidens for the first time in IPL, and KKR manages just 84 from 3-3.
CSKvsMI, after a lot of debate on "spark", CSK decided to drop Jhadav and opted to go with the young guns and both Ruturaj and Jagadeesh failed to score and the scorecard read 3-4, worst start ever and thanks to Curran they go past the 84 and reach 116 and MI finishes it in no loss with Rohit's absence Ishan was promoted as an opener and he delivers with a 68 not out.
KKRvsDC after a collapse in the previous game KKR turns it around with the bat thanks to Rana and Narine and they post 194, but DC collapses 135 with Varun taking a 5 for.
KX1vsSRH, SRH does a KX1 against KX1 itself, chasing just 125, they choked by losing 7 wickets for 14 runs and lost the match by 12 runs.
RRvsMI, RR sticking with Stokes as an opener eventually paid off chasing 195 against MI, thanks to Pandya's 60 of just 21 balls, Stokes scored a century and Samson too scored a 50 and they won it with 8 wickets against the mighty MI.
SRHvsDC, who would have thought replacing Saha for Bairstow will be the turn around SRH needed, Warner and Saha came out all guns blazing and scored 219, with 77 runs in powerplay, and Saha top scored with 83. DC never got going and Rashid finished with an excellent spell of 3 wickets for just 7 runs.
KX1vsRR, Gayle proves he still got it with a 99, who fell short of a century against Archer, but RR once again chases 185 handing KX1 their first loss after their 5 consecutive wins.
CSKvsKX1 CSK once out of contention started winning with Ruturaj hitting 3 consecutive 50s while chasing, showing some much-needed "spark" and ending the KX1's chances of entering the playoffs as well, also they made sure they didn't end up at the bottom of the table.
MIvsDC, in the first qualifier mightly MI once again reach 200 though Rohit and Pollard got out for a duck, DC's scorecard read 0 for 3 and they just couldn't win against MI at all. Bumrah's yorker to Dhawan was fantastic to watch.
RCBvsSRH, Virat finally decides to open, but couldn't score big and RCB reaches just 131, but with some tight bowling they were in the contest till the end, but cool-headed Williamson sees them through with an unbeaten 50. Also, Nattu's yorker to clean up well set ABD was an excellent ball of the tournament.
DCvsSRH, in the second qualifier DC decided to open with Stoinis and it paid off eventually and none of their openers got out for a duck, and once again Williamson threatens to take the game away, but DC manages to win and reach the IPL finals for the first time.
Final, just like last year they did against CSK winning all four games, this time MI won all four games against DC, with Stoinis getting out of the first ball and Rohit coming to form they won the finals easily without much drama. It was hard luck for DC though after losing initial wickets Shreyas and Rishab Pant rebuild their inning. After a disappointing season, Pant finally scored a 50, but it was not enough.
Looking forward to next year's IPL, hopefully in India, and wonder how CSK's gonna go with their approach. With Raina and Bhajji deciding to leave the tournament wonder whether they will be back to CSK next year with Watson already announcing his retirement, it could/should be a new CSK next year. Even in their worst season, they were just one game short of qualifying, so things should return to normal next year.
My Best XI of the tournament
1. Dhawan - DC
2. Mayank - KX1
3. SKY - MI
4. Ishaan - MI
5. ABD ✈️ - RCB
6. Tewatia - RR
7. Rashid ✈️ - SRH
8. Rabada ✈️ - DC
9. Chahal - RCB
10. Bumrah - MI
11. Archer ✈️ - RR
My Worst XI
1. P Shaw
2. Finch ✈️
3. Pant
4. Dhoni
5. Jhadav
6. Dhinesh Karthik
7. Maxwell ✈️
8. Russell ✈️
9. Steyn ✈️
10. Unadkat
11. Umesh
My Best Uncapped XI
1. Gaikwad
2. Paddikal
3. Rana
4. Ishan Kishan
5. Samad
6. Tewatia
7. Bishnoi
8. Varun
9. Mavi
10. Nattu
11. Tyagi
