Picture Credit: IPL
The 14th season of the most celebrated T20 tournament kick started with Royal Challengers Bangalore’s last ball thriller against Mumbai Indians, with the former registering a two wicket victory to win the tournament opener. Since then it has been a battle of close games, stellar knocks, and unexpected game changing spells. With all the teams having played at least 2 games each, Mumbai Indians sit at the top of the table. On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad is the only team to have lost all three of their matches and languish at the bottom of the table. The other six franchises have won one and lost the other game.
Let’s have a look at the 5 Best moments from the first week:
Sanju Samson’s phenomenal ton on captaincy debut
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson spearheaded RR’s chase in their opening game and marked his IPL captaincy debut with a 54-ball 100 against PBKS, to became the first player to have achieved this feat. Despite a phenomenal innings scoring 119 off 63 hitting 12 fours and 7 sixes, the skipper failed to lead his side to victory, with an upsetting last ball dismissal in a so near yet so far case for Samson and RR.
Harshal Patel’s fifer against Mumbai Indians
The highlight of the season opener of IPL 2021 was the spectacular fifer by RCB pacer Harshal Patel. The 30-year-old is the first bowler to take a fifer against Mumbai Indians. Patel picked three crucial wickets of Krunal Pandya, Pollard and Jansen in the final over, after dismissing Hardik Pandya and Kishan in the 18th and 16th overs, respectively. The RCB pacer is currently the purple cap holder with 7 wickets after the first week of IPL.
Ravindra Jadeja’s brilliant fielding performance against PBKS
In a week full of dropped catches, Ravindra Jadeja’s fielding brilliance was one of the key highlights from the first week of IPL. Jadeja’s rocket arm throw to dismiss KL Rahul and a sensational dive to send Chris Gayle back to the pavilion, left the cricketing world awestruck. Following this, Michael Vaughan took to twitter to call him ‘India’s greatest ever fielder’.
Chris Morris’ 18-ball 36; the six that made him believe
Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Chris Morris played a remarkable innings against Delhi Capitals to lead RR to their first victory in IPL 2021. This knock proved the big buy’s worth after the opening match- single controversy between him and Sanju Samson. Chris Morris’ finishing six in a match winning innings justified his whooping price tag of Rs 16.25 crore, the most expensive buy in the history of IPL.
RCB’s game changing comeback against SRH
Royal Challengers Bangalore made a striking comeback against Sunrisers Hyderabad to register an epic 6-run victory. Despite Warner’s 54 off 37 giving a steady start to the Sunrisers, RCB’s game changing performance in the death overs restricted SRH from chasing a total of 149. Shahbaz Ahmed’s spell to dismiss Bairstow, Pandey and Samad in the 17th over turned the tables for RCB. Pacers Mohammad Siraj and Harshal Patel also kept the heat and took quick wickets of the lower order, leading the side to a victory.
