Harshal Patel L and Krunal Pandya. Picture Credit: IPL/BCCI
The 14th edition of the Indian Premier league (IPL) has completed its first week. The season kicked off with a clash between Royal Challengers Bangalore and defending champions Mumbai Indians in Chennai, wherein Virat Kohli's men won the last over thriller.
The excitement only increased with each passing day as the fans witnessed one after another nail-biting encounters, including some anticipated and some unimagined moments, in the just-concluded first week of the season. Now, as we move to the second week and enjoy another wave of sensational games, let's have a look at five surprising moments from the past week of IPL 2021.
1. First 5-wicket haul for any player against Mumbai Indians
It was Harshal Patel’s night in the 2021 IPL opener where his side Royal Challengers Bangalore faced defending champions Mumbai Indians. The pacer became the first player in the history of the tournament to take a fifer against Mumbai Indians. He achieved this landmark after dismissing Marco Jansen in his last over with an inswinging yorker.
2. Kyle Jamieson’s yorker splits Krunal Pandya’s bat into two
Apart from the hearts of Mumbai Indians' fans, Krunal Pandya's bat also got broken in the opening game of the season that saw RCB eventually inching the five-time champions. A yorker delivery on middle stump by RCB debutant Kyle Jamieson in the 19th broke Krunal’s bat into two pieces. MI were limited to a modest 159/9 and Bangalore won the game by 2 wickets.
3. Moeen Ali bats at No. 3 for CSK ahead of Suresh Raina
England all-rounder Moen Ali, who was bought by CSK for INR 7 crore at IPL 2021 auction, batted at number 3 ahead of Suresh Raina in the side's first game of the season.
After losing opener Faf du Plessis for a mere score of 7 on the board, MS Dhoni decided to give Moeen a go at number 3 position. It was quite surprising for the fans to see the English all-rounder coming ahead of Suresh Raina, who has been batting at number 3 position for CSK for a very long time now. While Moeen scored a 24-ball 36, 'Chinna Thala' struck 54 runs off 36 balls batting at number 4 spot in the game.
4. Russell & Karthik fail to take KKR home with the side needing 31 off 28
It was rather an easy win for Kolkata Knight Riders, who had restricted Mumbai Indians for mere 152 runs at Chepauk on Tuesday and needed just 31 off the last 5 overs while chasing. As fate would have it, the batsman on strike Shakib Al Hasan played a dot ball before losing his wicket and leaving KKR 31 runs behind the target with 28 balls to go.
Even in their fanciest of dreams, the Mumbai fans wouldn't have expected the result to go in their team's favour as big-gun Andre Russel and finisher Dinesh Karthik were at the crease. But to everyone's surprise, MI kept KKR 10-run short by the end of 20 overs despite dropping Russell twice.
5. The mystery of pitch at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Though chasing is something almost every team prefers in a T20 game, the pitch of MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai has put the trend in question. Given that the teams batting first have won 5 out of the 6 games there in IPL 2021, now every team wants to bat first on the mysterious pitch.
The fact that chasing teams are losing the games even after a dominating performance in the first half is something that has kept everyone puzzled.