The T20 format of the game requires a player to think on his/her feet. The nature of the game is fast and exhilarating, and the players have to be on their toes all the time and think out of the box to achieve success. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a cricketing carnival that keeps the entire country hooked.

There is no doubt that cricket is the biggest form of unity in India, and the IPL has been a massive success. The league that started in 2008, is now into its 14th year, and the aura of the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IPL</a> has been growing with every passing year.

During the course of the T20 extravaganza, there have been several moments where the teams and players have thought in an innovative manner. While a few of the decisions couldn&#8217;t work out well, some of them turned out to be masterstrokes.

In this article, let us take a look at the top 5 smartest decisions in IPL history:

1. Mumbai Indians buy Jasprit Bumrah for his base price of just INR 10 lakhs

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-462834" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Jasprit-Bumrah-of-Mumbai-Indians.jpg" alt="Jasprit Bumrah of Mumbai Indians" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-462834" class="wp-caption-text">Jasprit Bumrah of Mumbai Indians. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption>

Sometimes, spotting talent early is very important. In the year 2013, the Mumbai Indians (MI) side spotted a 19-year-old pacer with an unconventional bowling action. They immediately bought him ahead of the 2013 IPL edition for his base price of just INR 10 lakhs.

And, more than 7 years later, this bowler has emerged as the linchpin of the Mumbai Indians’ bowling attack. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/crictracker/posts/4390149394349081" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jasprit Bumrah</a> has now played 93 IPL matches for MI and has picked up 111 wickets at an excellent strike rate of 19.06. In fact, in the 2020 edition of the IPL, the pacer scalped a whopping 27 wickets and played a key role in the Mumbai side lifting the IPL title.

Bumrah is now a pacer, who is dreaded for his ability to bowl toe-crushing yorkers at will and scalp wickets with stunning regularity. And, it all boiled down to Mumbai spotting him as a 19-year-old rookie with latent talent. Mumbai provided the breeding ground for Bumrah’s talent to blossom, and he is now a colossus in IPL cricket.

2. Ravi Ashwin opens the bowling for CSK in the 2011 IPL final

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-504525" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Ravichandran-Ashwin.jpg" alt="Ravichandran Ashwin" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-504525" class="wp-caption-text">Ravichandran Ashwin. (Photo Source: Twitter)</figcaption>

2011 was the year when Ravi Ashwin announced himself as a talent to watch out for. Turning out for the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/csk-chennai-super-kings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chennai Super Kings</a> (CSK) in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Tamil Nadu spinner scalped 20 wickets to emerge as the fourth highest wicket-taker.

But then, it was Ashwin’s performance in the summit clash that is talked about even today. The Super Kings locked horns with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the final. Batting first, the MS Dhoni-led Chennai outfit posted a total of 205/5 on the board. Chennai needed to scalp the wicket of Chris Gayle early, and MS Dhoni threw the ball to Ashwin in the very first over of the RCB innings.

And, Ashwin responded to his captain by dismissing Gayle for a duck. The spinner bowled a delivery that went on with the arm, and Gayle edged the ball into Dhoni’s hands. And, the Bangalore side never recovered after losing their biggest batting gladiator.

In fact, the RCB side folded up for a total of just 147/8, as Chennai thrashed the Bangalore outfit by a margin of 58 runs in the summit clash to win the IPL title. And, Ashwin was the catalyst with the ball for the Chennai side. The crafty spinner picked up three wickets, giving away just 16 runs in his four overs, and continuously put the brakes on the opposition.

3. MS Dhoni places long off and mid off in the same line to dismiss Kieron Pollard

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-458747" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/KP.jpg" alt="Kieron Pollard" width="640" height="427" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-458747" class="wp-caption-text">Kieron Pollard and MS Dhoni. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption>

<a href="https://www.crictracker.com/ipl-2021-heres-why-ms-dhoni-was-fined-for-slow-over-rate-and-kohli-rohit-werent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MS Dhoni</a> is a phenomenon. He is always one step ahead of the opposition and is always on the lookout for opportunities to plot the downfall of the opposition. In the 2010 IPL final against the Mumbai Indians (MI), Dhoni unveiled a masterstroke that led to the downfall of Kieron Pollard.

Let us do a little background check of the entire match to fully understand the impact of Dhoni’s decision. In the summit clash, the Chennai side batted first and posted a competitive total of 168/5 on the board. Suresh Raina led Chennai’s charge with the willow and scored a 35-ball 57*.

In reply, batting icon Sachin Tendulkar stood up for the Mumbai Indians. Even though wickets kept tumbling at the other end, Tendulkar held the innings together and scored a sedate 48. Even after the dismissal of Tendulkar, the Chennai side had to see the back of one man to win the match. Kieron Pollard is always a threat to the opposition, and he decimated the Chennai bowling attack in the 2010 IPL final.

The equation for the Mumbai side boiled down to 55 runs needed off the last three overs. And, that is when Pollard went berserk. The big West Indian batsman smashed Doug Bollinger for 22 runs in the 18th over to keep the hopes of the Mumbai side alive.

That brought the equation down to 33 needed off the last two overs. Off the third ball of the 19th over bowled by Albie Morkel, Pollard smashed another boundary. And, this was when Dhoni put on his thinking cap. The CSK skipper placed a fielder at mid-off, even though the fielder at long off was already there, and both men were standing in a straight line.

One delivery later, Pollard hit the ball exactly to the fielder placed at mid-off by Dhoni. The move had worked! After Pollard’s dismissal, the hopes of the Mumbai side fizzled out, and they lost the match by 22 runs.

4. Royal Challengers Bangalore buy Chris Gayle ahead of the 2011 IPL season

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-499194" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Chris-Gayle.jpg" alt="Chris Gayle" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-499194" class="wp-caption-text">Chris Gayle. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption>

Ahead of the 2011 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/rcb-royal-challengers-bangalore/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Royal Challengers Bangalore</a> side brought in West Indian batting icon Chris Gayle as a replacement for Dirk Nannes. And, that proved to be one of the best decisions that the Bangalore franchise ever made.

In the 2011 IPL edition, Gayle smashed 608 runs at an average of 67.56 and won the Orange Cap award. In the 12 innings that he played in the fourth IPL edition, the left-hander scored three fifties and two hundreds and helped the Bangalore outfit reach the final.

He continued his incredible run in the 2012 edition of the IPL and amassed a colossal 733 runs at an average of 61.08. The left-handed batting colossus scored seven fifties and a century in the 14 innings that he played in the fifth IPL edition. In the 2013 season too, Gayle continued to decimate the bowlers. In fact, it was during the 2013 IPL season that Gayle smashed the highest ever individual score in the tournament history. Against the Pune Warriors, Gayle smashed a scintillating 66-ball 175* to power the Bangalore side to a total of 263/5 and helped them thrash the opposition by 130 runs.

In fact, Gayle has found the most success in his IPL career while playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore side. In the 85 matches that he played for the Bangalore outfit, Gayle plundered 3163 runs and scored his runs at an average of 43.33. The RCB side would definitely not have regretted their decision of bringing in Gayle into their squad ahead of the 2011 IPL edition.

5. Mumbai Indians make Rohit Sharma the captain of the side in 2013

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-245753" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Rohit-Sharma-4.jpg" alt="Rohit Sharma" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-245753" class="wp-caption-text">Rohit Sharma plays a shot. (Photo Source: Twitter)</figcaption>

This is perhaps the greatest decision in the history of the IPL. Till the year 2012, MI had not won even a single IPL title. But then, in the middle of the 2013 edition of the tournament, the team handed over the reins of the side to Rohit Sharma.

And the rest, as the cliché goes, is history. Under the calm yet dynamic leadership of the ‘Hitman’, the Mumbai side achieved unprecedented success in the IPL. Since 2013, Rohit has inspired the Mumbai outfit to a staggering five IPL titles.

The right-hander has also accumulated glittering numbers with the willow while playing for the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/mi-mumbai-indians/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mumbai Indians</a>. In the 156 IPL matches that he has played for Mumbai, the legendary batsman has scored 4079 runs and has scored his runs at an average of 31.38.

Let us delve a little deeper into Rohit’s exploits as the skipper of the Mumbai side. Rohit has led the Mumbai side in 117 matches and has a win percentage of 59.82%. No other IPL skipper, who has led an IPL side in 50 matches or more, has a higher win percentage as the captain than Rohit. In fact, Mumbai has played five IPL finals under the leadership of Rohit, and has not lost even a single final.

The Mumbai side truly hit the jackpot by handing over the skipper’s hat to the ‘Hitman’.

Note: All the stats have been taken from iplt20.com, Cricinfo, and Howstat cricket and have been updated as on 11th April 2021.

The T20 format of the game requires a player to think on his/her feet. The nature of the game is fast and exhilarating, and the players have to be on their toes all the time and think out of the box to achieve success. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a cricketing carnival that keeps the entire country hooked.
There is no doubt that cricket is the biggest form of unity in India, and the IPL has been a massive success. The league that started in 2008, is now into its 14th year, and the aura of the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IPL</a> has been growing with every passing year.
During the course of the T20 extravaganza, there have been several moments where the teams and players have thought in an innovative manner. While a few of the decisions couldn’t work out well, some of them turned out to be masterstrokes.
<h3>In this article, let us take a look at the top 5 smartest decisions in IPL history:</h3>
<h3>1. Mumbai Indians buy Jasprit Bumrah for his base price of just INR 10 lakhs</h3>
<figure id="attachment_462834" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-462834" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-462834" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Jasprit-Bumrah-of-Mumbai-Indians.jpg" alt="Jasprit Bumrah of Mumbai Indians" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-462834" class="wp-caption-text">Jasprit Bumrah of Mumbai Indians. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
Sometimes, spotting talent early is very important. In the year 2013, the Mumbai Indians (MI) side spotted a 19-year-old pacer with an unconventional bowling action. They immediately bought him ahead of the 2013 IPL edition for his base price of just INR 10 lakhs.
And, more than 7 years later, this bowler has emerged as the linchpin of the Mumbai Indians’ bowling attack. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/crictracker/posts/4390149394349081" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jasprit Bumrah</a> has now played 93 IPL matches for MI and has picked up 111 wickets at an excellent strike rate of 19.06. In fact, in the 2020 edition of the IPL, the pacer scalped a whopping 27 wickets and played a key role in the Mumbai side lifting the IPL title.
Bumrah is now a pacer, who is dreaded for his ability to bowl toe-crushing yorkers at will and scalp wickets with stunning regularity. And, it all boiled down to Mumbai spotting him as a 19-year-old rookie with latent talent. Mumbai provided the breeding ground for Bumrah’s talent to blossom, and he is now a colossus in IPL cricket.

<h3>2. Ravi Ashwin opens the bowling for CSK in the 2011 IPL final</h3>
<figure id="attachment_504525" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-504525" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-504525" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Ravichandran-Ashwin.jpg" alt="Ravichandran Ashwin" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-504525" class="wp-caption-text">Ravichandran Ashwin. (Photo Source: Twitter)</figcaption></figure>
2011 was the year when Ravi Ashwin announced himself as a talent to watch out for. Turning out for the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/csk-chennai-super-kings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chennai Super Kings</a> (CSK) in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Tamil Nadu spinner scalped 20 wickets to emerge as the fourth highest wicket-taker.
But then, it was Ashwin’s performance in the summit clash that is talked about even today. The Super Kings locked horns with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the final. Batting first, the MS Dhoni-led Chennai outfit posted a total of 205/5 on the board. Chennai needed to scalp the wicket of Chris Gayle early, and MS Dhoni threw the ball to Ashwin in the very first over of the RCB innings.
And, Ashwin responded to his captain by dismissing Gayle for a duck. The spinner bowled a delivery that went on with the arm, and Gayle edged the ball into Dhoni’s hands. And, the Bangalore side never recovered after losing their biggest batting gladiator.
In fact, the RCB side folded up for a total of just 147/8, as Chennai thrashed the Bangalore outfit by a margin of 58 runs in the summit clash to win the IPL title. And, Ashwin was the catalyst with the ball for the Chennai side. The crafty spinner picked up three wickets, giving away just 16 runs in his four overs, and continuously put the brakes on the opposition.

<h3>3. MS Dhoni places long off and mid off in the same line to dismiss Kieron Pollard</h3>
<figure id="attachment_458747" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-458747" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-458747" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/KP.jpg" alt="Kieron Pollard" width="640" height="427" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-458747" class="wp-caption-text">Kieron Pollard and MS Dhoni. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://www.crictracker.com/ipl-2021-heres-why-ms-dhoni-was-fined-for-slow-over-rate-and-kohli-rohit-werent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MS Dhoni</a> is a phenomenon. He is always one step ahead of the opposition and is always on the lookout for opportunities to plot the downfall of the opposition. In the 2010 IPL final against the Mumbai Indians (MI), Dhoni unveiled a masterstroke that led to the downfall of Kieron Pollard.
Let us do a little background check of the entire match to fully understand the impact of Dhoni’s decision. In the summit clash, the Chennai side batted first and posted a competitive total of 168/5 on the board. Suresh Raina led Chennai’s charge with the willow and scored a 35-ball 57*.
In reply, batting icon Sachin Tendulkar stood up for the Mumbai Indians. Even though wickets kept tumbling at the other end, Tendulkar held the innings together and scored a sedate 48. Even after the dismissal of Tendulkar, the Chennai side had to see the back of one man to win the match. Kieron Pollard is always a threat to the opposition, and he decimated the Chennai bowling attack in the 2010 IPL final.
The equation for the Mumbai side boiled down to 55 runs needed off the last three overs. And, that is when Pollard went berserk. The big West Indian batsman smashed Doug Bollinger for 22 runs in the 18th over to keep the hopes of the Mumbai side alive.
That brought the equation down to 33 needed off the last two overs. Off the third ball of the 19th over bowled by Albie Morkel, Pollard smashed another boundary. And, this was when Dhoni put on his thinking cap. The CSK skipper placed a fielder at mid-off, even though the fielder at long off was already there, and both men were standing in a straight line.
One delivery later, Pollard hit the ball exactly to the fielder placed at mid-off by Dhoni. The move had worked! After Pollard’s dismissal, the hopes of the Mumbai side fizzled out, and they lost the match by 22 runs.

<h3>4. Royal Challengers Bangalore buy Chris Gayle ahead of the 2011 IPL season</h3>
<figure id="attachment_499194" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-499194" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-499194" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Chris-Gayle.jpg" alt="Chris Gayle" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-499194" class="wp-caption-text">Chris Gayle. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
Ahead of the 2011 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/rcb-royal-challengers-bangalore/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Royal Challengers Bangalore</a> side&nbsp;brought in West Indian batting icon Chris Gayle as a replacement for Dirk Nannes. And, that proved to be one of the best decisions that the Bangalore franchise ever made.
In the 2011 IPL edition, Gayle smashed 608 runs at an average of 67.56 and won the Orange Cap award. In the 12 innings that he played in the fourth IPL edition, the left-hander scored three fifties and two hundreds and helped the Bangalore outfit reach the final.
He continued his incredible run in the 2012 edition of the IPL and amassed a colossal 733 runs at an average of 61.08. The left-handed batting colossus scored seven fifties and a century in the 14 innings that he played in the fifth IPL edition. In the 2013 season too, Gayle continued to decimate the bowlers. In fact, it was during the 2013 IPL season that Gayle smashed the highest ever individual score in the tournament history. Against the Pune Warriors, Gayle smashed a scintillating 66-ball 175* to power the Bangalore side to a total of 263/5 and helped them thrash the opposition by 130 runs.
In fact, Gayle has found the most success in his IPL career while playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore side. In the 85 matches that he played for the Bangalore outfit, Gayle plundered 3163 runs and scored his runs at an average of 43.33. The RCB side would definitely not have regretted their decision of bringing in Gayle into their squad ahead of the 2011 IPL edition.

<h3>5. Mumbai Indians make Rohit Sharma the captain of the side in 2013</h3>
<figure id="attachment_245753" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-245753" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-245753" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Rohit-Sharma-4.jpg" alt="Rohit Sharma" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-245753" class="wp-caption-text">Rohit Sharma plays a shot. (Photo Source: Twitter)</figcaption></figure>
This is perhaps the greatest decision in the history of the IPL. Till the year 2012, MI had not won even a single IPL title. But then, in the middle of the 2013 edition of the tournament, the team handed over the reins of the side to Rohit Sharma.
And the rest, as the cliché goes, is history. Under the calm yet dynamic leadership of the ‘Hitman’, the Mumbai side achieved unprecedented success in the IPL. Since 2013, Rohit has inspired the Mumbai outfit to a staggering five IPL titles.
The right-hander has also accumulated glittering numbers with the willow while playing for the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/mi-mumbai-indians/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mumbai Indians</a>. In the 156 IPL matches that he has played for Mumbai, the legendary batsman has scored 4079 runs and has scored his runs at an average of 31.38.
Let us delve a little deeper into Rohit’s exploits as the skipper of the Mumbai side. Rohit has led the Mumbai side in 117 matches and has a win percentage of 59.82%. No other IPL skipper, who has led an IPL side in 50 matches or more, has a higher win percentage as the captain than Rohit. In fact, Mumbai has played five IPL finals under the leadership of Rohit, and has not lost even a single final.
The Mumbai side truly hit the jackpot by handing over the skipper’s hat to the ‘Hitman’.
<h5>Note: All the stats have been taken from iplt20.com, Cricinfo, and Howstat cricket and have been updated as on 11th April 2021.</h5>

The T20 format of the game requires a player to think on his/her feet. The nature of the game is fast and exhilarating, and the players have to be on their toes all the time and think out of the box to achieve success. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a cricketing carnival that keeps the entire country hooked.
There is no doubt that cricket is the biggest form of unity in India, and the IPL has been a massive success. The league that started in 2008, is now into its 14th year, and the aura of the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IPL</a> has been growing with every passing year.
During the course of the T20 extravaganza, there have been several moments where the teams and players have thought in an innovative manner. While a few of the decisions couldn&#8217;t work out well, some of them turned out to be masterstrokes.
<h3>In this article, let us take a look at the top 5 smartest decisions in IPL history:</h3>
<h3>1. Mumbai Indians buy Jasprit Bumrah for his base price of just INR 10 lakhs</h3>
<figure id="attachment_462834" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-462834" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-462834" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Jasprit-Bumrah-of-Mumbai-Indians.jpg" alt="Jasprit Bumrah of Mumbai Indians" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-462834" class="wp-caption-text">Jasprit Bumrah of Mumbai Indians. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
Sometimes, spotting talent early is very important. In the year 2013, the Mumbai Indians (MI) side spotted a 19-year-old pacer with an unconventional bowling action. They immediately bought him ahead of the 2013 IPL edition for his base price of just INR 10 lakhs.
And, more than 7 years later, this bowler has emerged as the linchpin of the Mumbai Indians’ bowling attack. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/crictracker/posts/4390149394349081" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jasprit Bumrah</a> has now played 93 IPL matches for MI and has picked up 111 wickets at an excellent strike rate of 19.06. In fact, in the 2020 edition of the IPL, the pacer scalped a whopping 27 wickets and played a key role in the Mumbai side lifting the IPL title.
Bumrah is now a pacer, who is dreaded for his ability to bowl toe-crushing yorkers at will and scalp wickets with stunning regularity. And, it all boiled down to Mumbai spotting him as a 19-year-old rookie with latent talent. Mumbai provided the breeding ground for Bumrah’s talent to blossom, and he is now a colossus in IPL cricket.

<h3>2. Ravi Ashwin opens the bowling for CSK in the 2011 IPL final</h3>
<figure id="attachment_504525" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-504525" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-504525" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Ravichandran-Ashwin.jpg" alt="Ravichandran Ashwin" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-504525" class="wp-caption-text">Ravichandran Ashwin. (Photo Source: Twitter)</figcaption></figure>
2011 was the year when Ravi Ashwin announced himself as a talent to watch out for. Turning out for the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/csk-chennai-super-kings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chennai Super Kings</a> (CSK) in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Tamil Nadu spinner scalped 20 wickets to emerge as the fourth highest wicket-taker.
But then, it was Ashwin’s performance in the summit clash that is talked about even today. The Super Kings locked horns with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the final. Batting first, the MS Dhoni-led Chennai outfit posted a total of 205/5 on the board. Chennai needed to scalp the wicket of Chris Gayle early, and MS Dhoni threw the ball to Ashwin in the very first over of the RCB innings.
And, Ashwin responded to his captain by dismissing Gayle for a duck. The spinner bowled a delivery that went on with the arm, and Gayle edged the ball into Dhoni’s hands. And, the Bangalore side never recovered after losing their biggest batting gladiator.
In fact, the RCB side folded up for a total of just 147/8, as Chennai thrashed the Bangalore outfit by a margin of 58 runs in the summit clash to win the IPL title. And, Ashwin was the catalyst with the ball for the Chennai side. The crafty spinner picked up three wickets, giving away just 16 runs in his four overs, and continuously put the brakes on the opposition.

<h3>3. MS Dhoni places long off and mid off in the same line to dismiss Kieron Pollard</h3>
<figure id="attachment_458747" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-458747" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-458747" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/KP.jpg" alt="Kieron Pollard" width="640" height="427" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-458747" class="wp-caption-text">Kieron Pollard and MS Dhoni. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://www.crictracker.com/ipl-2021-heres-why-ms-dhoni-was-fined-for-slow-over-rate-and-kohli-rohit-werent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MS Dhoni</a> is a phenomenon. He is always one step ahead of the opposition and is always on the lookout for opportunities to plot the downfall of the opposition. In the 2010 IPL final against the Mumbai Indians (MI), Dhoni unveiled a masterstroke that led to the downfall of Kieron Pollard.
Let us do a little background check of the entire match to fully understand the impact of Dhoni’s decision. In the summit clash, the Chennai side batted first and posted a competitive total of 168/5 on the board. Suresh Raina led Chennai’s charge with the willow and scored a 35-ball 57*.
In reply, batting icon Sachin Tendulkar stood up for the Mumbai Indians. Even though wickets kept tumbling at the other end, Tendulkar held the innings together and scored a sedate 48. Even after the dismissal of Tendulkar, the Chennai side had to see the back of one man to win the match. Kieron Pollard is always a threat to the opposition, and he decimated the Chennai bowling attack in the 2010 IPL final.
The equation for the Mumbai side boiled down to 55 runs needed off the last three overs. And, that is when Pollard went berserk. The big West Indian batsman smashed Doug Bollinger for 22 runs in the 18th over to keep the hopes of the Mumbai side alive.
That brought the equation down to 33 needed off the last two overs. Off the third ball of the 19th over bowled by Albie Morkel, Pollard smashed another boundary. And, this was when Dhoni put on his thinking cap. The CSK skipper placed a fielder at mid-off, even though the fielder at long off was already there, and both men were standing in a straight line.
One delivery later, Pollard hit the ball exactly to the fielder placed at mid-off by Dhoni. The move had worked! After Pollard’s dismissal, the hopes of the Mumbai side fizzled out, and they lost the match by 22 runs.

<h3>4. Royal Challengers Bangalore buy Chris Gayle ahead of the 2011 IPL season</h3>
<figure id="attachment_499194" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-499194" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-499194" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Chris-Gayle.jpg" alt="Chris Gayle" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-499194" class="wp-caption-text">Chris Gayle. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)</figcaption></figure>
Ahead of the 2011 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/rcb-royal-challengers-bangalore/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Royal Challengers Bangalore</a> side brought in West Indian batting icon Chris Gayle as a replacement for Dirk Nannes. And, that proved to be one of the best decisions that the Bangalore franchise ever made.
In the 2011 IPL edition, Gayle smashed 608 runs at an average of 67.56 and won the Orange Cap award. In the 12 innings that he played in the fourth IPL edition, the left-hander scored three fifties and two hundreds and helped the Bangalore outfit reach the final.
He continued his incredible run in the 2012 edition of the IPL and amassed a colossal 733 runs at an average of 61.08. The left-handed batting colossus scored seven fifties and a century in the 14 innings that he played in the fifth IPL edition. In the 2013 season too, Gayle continued to decimate the bowlers. In fact, it was during the 2013 IPL season that Gayle smashed the highest ever individual score in the tournament history. Against the Pune Warriors, Gayle smashed a scintillating 66-ball 175* to power the Bangalore side to a total of 263/5 and helped them thrash the opposition by 130 runs.
In fact, Gayle has found the most success in his IPL career while playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore side. In the 85 matches that he played for the Bangalore outfit, Gayle plundered 3163 runs and scored his runs at an average of 43.33. The RCB side would definitely not have regretted their decision of bringing in Gayle into their squad ahead of the 2011 IPL edition.

<h3>5. Mumbai Indians make Rohit Sharma the captain of the side in 2013</h3>
<figure id="attachment_245753" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-245753" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-245753" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Rohit-Sharma-4.jpg" alt="Rohit Sharma" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-245753" class="wp-caption-text">Rohit Sharma plays a shot. (Photo Source: Twitter)</figcaption></figure>
This is perhaps the greatest decision in the history of the IPL. Till the year 2012, MI had not won even a single IPL title. But then, in the middle of the 2013 edition of the tournament, the team handed over the reins of the side to Rohit Sharma.
And the rest, as the cliché goes, is history. Under the calm yet dynamic leadership of the ‘Hitman’, the Mumbai side achieved unprecedented success in the IPL. Since 2013, Rohit has inspired the Mumbai outfit to a staggering five IPL titles.
The right-hander has also accumulated glittering numbers with the willow while playing for the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/t20/ipl-indian-premier-league/mi-mumbai-indians/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mumbai Indians</a>. In the 156 IPL matches that he has played for Mumbai, the legendary batsman has scored 4079 runs and has scored his runs at an average of 31.38.
Let us delve a little deeper into Rohit’s exploits as the skipper of the Mumbai side. Rohit has led the Mumbai side in 117 matches and has a win percentage of 59.82%. No other IPL skipper, who has led an IPL side in 50 matches or more, has a higher win percentage as the captain than Rohit. In fact, Mumbai has played five IPL finals under the leadership of Rohit, and has not lost even a single final.
The Mumbai side truly hit the jackpot by handing over the skipper’s hat to the ‘Hitman’.
<h5>Note: All the stats have been taken from iplt20.com, Cricinfo, and Howstat cricket and have been updated as on 11th April 2021.</h5>

These decisions have turned out to be masterstrokes, a few in matches and some over the years.

Top 5 smartest decisions taken in IPL history

During the course of the IPL, there have been several moments where IPL teams and players have thought in an innovative manner.