5 Best Bowling Performances after the league stages in IPL 2017

The bowlers stepped up by contributing to wins this year as 23 Man of the Match awards were won by them out of 60 games.

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Mitchell Johnson of Mumbai Indians
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Mitchell Johnson of Mumbai Indians. (Photo: IANS)

The IPL final was a cliff-hanger which will be etched in people’s memory for a long time. Mumbai Indians showed character to defend a modest total of 129 on the big night. RPS floundered in the big finals after playing outstanding cricket during the tournament. As Smith said at the post-match presentation, this will be “a hard pill to swallow” for RPS.

Mumbai Indians were not bothered about losing to RPS thrice this year as they went into the finals with a lot of assurance. They batted poorly in the initial overs until Krunal Pandya lifted their total to 129. Their bowlers then rolled out a performance worthy of a champion side to win the title for their franchise for a record third time. The difference of the margin was just a solitary run.

This year’s IPL was not all about power-hitting. Breaking the precedented norms, bowlers had a fair share of say this year as they contributed with telling spells which culminated into victories. Totals of 160 were defended several times this year as the bowling quality soared to reach new heights. Yorkers were bowled at consistent basis during the slog overs. RPS themselves had a great season due to consistency showed by their bowlers especially Jaydev Unadkat.

We bring you to the 5 best bowling performances of the playoffs and the finals:

1) Washington Sundar – 3/16 V Mumbai Indians in 1st Qualifier

Nobody imagined a 17-year old conjuring up a match-winning spell in a pressure game. Washington Sundar bowled with the new ball and ended up winning the Man of the Match for his brilliant 3/16 against Mumbai Indians. He kept it pretty simple by bowling wicket-to-wicket and not giving the batsmen any room to extend their arms.

The biggest moment of the match came in the 6th over when Sundar sent back Rohit and Rayudu, two reliable batsmen of Mumbai, in the same over which turned the match on its head. He was celebrating the wicket of Pollard two overs later as he chipped one straight to Smith at midwicket. The teenager showed great courage and character to bowl exceedingly well in a big game.

2) Nathan Coulter-Nile – 3/20 V Sunrisers Hyderabad in Eliminator

Coulter-Nile missed a few games as he sustained a head injury. He returned for the knockout clash with the defending champions Hyderabad and immediately contributed with the ball. Bowling with the old ball, Coulter-Nile was struck for a boundary and a six by Williamson as 15 runs came off his first two overs.

The Australian had the heart to come back from that situation as he captured three wickets in space of four balls – of Williamson, Vijay Shankar and Chris Jordan – to finish his spell with outstanding figures of 3/20. The third wicket of Jordan was a terrific return catch which Coulter-Nile took while diving to his left. His efforts restricted SRH to just 128 which brought their downfall in the Eliminator,

3) Karn Sharma – 4/16 V KKR in 2nd Qualifier

Karn’s inclusion instead of the experienced Harbhajan raised a lot of clamour in the cricketing circle. Rohit backed the wrist spin of Karn than the experience of Harbhajan and the former vindicated his selection by ending the 2nd Qualifier with career best figures of 4/16. His spell was crucial in bowling out KKR for a paltry 107 which was at least 30 runs short of a par score on the Bengaluru wicket.

Sharma’s first spell hurt KKR the most as he got the prized scalps of Narine, Gambhir and Grandhomme to reduce KKR to 31 for 5 in 7 overs. He used the googly to good effect to fox Narine and then trap Grandhomme in front. Sharma later broke a potential rearguard partnership when he sent Ishank Jaggi back in his last over.

4) Jasprit Bumrah – 2/26 V RPS in Finals

Bumrah was brilliant with the ball all season and yet again raised his hand up in the all important final. Coming on to bowl in the third over, Bumrah sent Tripathi back on his way on the second delivery he bowled. Bumrah was taken off immediately after the first over. He bowled the seventh over, giving away just 5 runs and Rohit saved his two overs for the death.

Bumrah’s third over turned the match on its head. With 33 to get off the final four, Pune were under pressure to finish the game early to avoid a close finish. Bumrah ran in and found some reverse swing with the old ball which got him the significant wicket of MS Dhoni off the second ball. He conceded just 3 runs in the over which was gold-dust in a pressure cooker situation. Bumrah’s 2/26 in four overs was a key to Mumbai’s win at Hyderabad.

5) Mitchell Johnson – 3/26 V RPS in Finals

Johnson did not expect to take part in the IPL after retiring from international cricket but Mumbai showed faith in him. McClenaghan, who is a similar bowler, was chosen ahead of Johnson but after a couple of bad games, the roles were reversed. Johnson saw himself running in to bowl the first ball of the 2nd Qualifier and also played the finals.

In the finals, after bowling two decent overs, Johnson broke a dangerous partnership between Rahane and Smith as the former chipped a slower ball straight into the hands of Kieron Pollard at long-on. He did not bowl between over number 12 to 19 as Rohit threw the ball at him to deliver the final over with just 11 runs required to win for RPS. After getting hit for a boundary first ball, Johnson did exceptionally well to give away just 5 runs in as many deliveries, which included the wickets of Manoj Tiwary and Smith off successive balls, to win his side the game by just one run. His figures of 3/26 were outstanding on the big night.

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