Twitter Reactions: KXIP put MI to bed after playing a 44-over breathless encounter

Many reckoned it was the best game of the IPL ever.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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2 Min Read

KL Rahul and Chris Gayle
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KL Rahul and Chris Gayle. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Amazing! It was absolutely amazing! For the first time in the history of T20 cricket, two Super Overs took place as Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) played out an absolute thriller of a game. Rather a total of three Super Overs happened in a day with SRH and KKR also playing one. Jasprit Bumrah conceded only five runs in the first Super Over doing a superb job. But Mohammed Shami matched his skills and defended those runs to take the game into the second Super Over.

There was all the way confusion about the rules, but it was cleared soon that the batsmen who got out in the first Super Over won’t participate in the second and the same bowler also wasn’t allowed to bowl in the second Super Over. MI came out to bat first after Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock could only muster five runs when the target was six in the first Super Over.

For the second one, Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya came out for the four-time champions and Chris Jordan bowled for KXIP. It was a good battle and the former made sure that 11 runs were scored in it to give a chance to his team. Rather, Mayank Agarwal saved an amazing six at the boundary else they would’ve ended up chasing 15 runs.

To chase down, 12 runs, Chris Gayle came out with Mayank Agarwal and the former thumped a full toss from Trent Boult for a six to get off to a great start. Agarwal smacked a boundary with five needed to win off three and another boundary followed to let the celebrations start in the KXIP camp as the game finally ended and they stayed alive in the tournament.

What happened earlier?

After opting to bat first, MI lost the wickets of their top orders quickly. Arshdeep Singh bowled superbly with the new ball to nip out crucial wickets of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan. At the other end, Mohammed Shami got the better of Suryakumar Yadav to leave MI reeling at 38/3 in the sixth over. To arrest the collapse, Krunal Pandya and he rebuilt the innings along with Quinton de Kock.

The South African was batting superbly at the other end despite wickets falling. They added 58 runs for the fourth wicket before Krunal got out to Ravi Bishnoi. But the southpaw had done his job scoring 34 off 30 deliveries and setting up the platform for the power-hitters to come. De Kock also got to his half-century before getting out to Chris Jordan. He scored 53 off 43 deliveries with three fours and as many sixes.

Just an over ago, Hardik Pandya was also dismissed and it left MI struggling at 119/6 in the 17th over of the innings. This is when Kieron Pollard joined hands with Nathan Coulter and plundered some poor death bowling from KXIP bowlers. The duo took on Arshadeep, Shami and Chris Jordan to add 57 runs off last 21 balls to help MI post 176 runs in their 20 overs.

While Pollard slammed an unbeaten 34 off just 12 balls, Coulter-Nile mustered 24 runs after facing the same number of deliveries.

KL Rahul leads the chase for KXIP before madness follows

After losing the momentum at the backend of the innings with the ball, KXIP needed their openers to start well. However, Jasprit Bumrah castled Mayank Agarwal in the fourth over only to being the mighty Chris Gayle in the middle. KL Rahul, meanwhile, began well and middled the ball on most of the occasions.

Gayle also tonked a couple over the ropes during the 42-run stand for the second wicket. But Rahul Chahar was brave enough to toss one up to the Universe Boss and get the better of him. Nicholas Pooran came out and played a breezy knock of 24 off 12 balls with two sixes and as many fours. With the situation getting desperate, Rohit Sharma went to his go-to bowler Bumrah and he didn’t disappoint his skipper.

After playing with Pooran’s mind, Bumrah delivered a well-directed short ball and the southpaw was holed out at fine-leg. Glenn Maxwell bagged a second-ball and the game suddenly turned on its head. All this while, KL Rahul kept on playing his shots and made sure that his team was ahead in the chase. He also got to his half-century at the same time and got an able ally in Deepak Hooda.

With 62 needed in 39 balls, the duo placed the ball exactly in gaps and some brilliant batting from them, brought the equation down to 27 off three overs. Once again Rohit had to go back to Bumrah to have some chance to take the game deep. And the best bowler in the world delivered yet again this time taking the prized wicket of KL Rahul. It was the perfect yorker at 149 kph speed and the batsman had no answer to it.

Despite scoring 77 off 51 deliveries, Rahul once again couldn’t finish the game for his team. However, Hooda was still in the middle and hitting well. The 18th over went for only five runs and with 22 needed in two overs, MI was once again back in the game. Coulter-Nile’s 19th over went for 13 runs as Trent Bout had to defend nine runs. Having gone for 40 runs in his three overs earlier, it was a tough task.

But the Kiwi pacer managed to deliver for his team sensationally despite Jordan getting one boundary off the edge. Rather, Boult defended four runs off last four deliveries to take the game into the Super Over. What followed was absolute madness in the middle as the world witnessed its first ever double Super Over in T20 cricket.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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