Last Updated on 1 year by Charbel Coorey
Despite the high-scoring nature of the Indian Premier League, the bowlers tend to gain the upper hand as the tournament enters its playoff stage. This is because of various factors. One of them can arguably be because the conditions of the pitches slow down or rather deteriorate towards the conclusion of the two-month long competition.
Sub-par totals have been defended successfully by teams on several occasions. The spinners actually often turn out to be vital in these circumstances, reiterating the point about the slightly sluggish nature of the pitches towards the fag end of the encounter.
Without further ado, let us have a look at some of the best bowling spells in IPL playoffs over the years.
Umesh Yadav: 4-0-13-3 vs KXIP in IPL 2014 Qualifier 1
Kolkata Knight Riders’ victorious IPL campaign in 2014 was propelled by a convincing victory against Kings XI Punjab in the first Qualifier. Chasing 164 in the second innings, the George Bailey-led side succumbed to a 28-run defeat.
This was stimulated by Umesh Yadav’s fiery spell in which he dismissed three batsmen and conceded merely 13 runs in four overs. Most importantly, all of those were critical scalps. The Vidarbha fast bowler sent Virender Sehwag and Glenn Maxwell back to the pavilion for meagre, single-digit scores.
Yadav then returned back to deliver the final over and gave away a single run, also ensuring that George Bailey didn’t spark a late turnaround. The Aussie batsman’s wicket was taken by the KKR bowler in the first delivery of the 20th over as Gautam Gambhir’s side rounded off a very cogent, crucial victory.
Karn Sharma: 4-0-16-4 vs KKR in IPL 2017 Qualifier 2
To hurt a team most in a limited overs game can be done by breaking the back of their batting lineup in the very start of the innings. Karn Sharma did exactly that in the second qualifier of the 2017 edition of the IPL.
Firstly, all of Karn’s four wickets were from the top-six batsmen in KKR’s lineup. Secondly, Kolkata had lost five wickets for 31 runs in 6.5 overs, and the leg-spinner had taken three of those scalps. He was instrumental in Gambhir’s team being bowled out for 107 runs in the all-important qualifier. Sunil Narine’s dismissal for 12 runs was particularly notable, as the pinch-hitter had provided KKR several quick starts in that season.
Ishank Jaggi had looked to stabilize his team’s innings and was set to accelerate the scoring rate in the last five overs after having notched 28 runs individually. However, Karn Sharma returned in the 15th over to dismiss Jaggi, and accordingly derail KKR’s innings completely.
Also read: Top 5 best batting innings played in IPL playoffs
Doug Bollinger: 4-1-13-4 vs Deccan Chargers in IPL 2010 Semi Final
Doug Bollinger’s sole four-wicket haul in the IPL was in the Semi Final encounter against Deccan Chargers in CSK’s maiden title win.
MS Dhoni’s men could only set up a target of 143 in front of the Hyderabad-based franchise. However, Bollinger breathed fire that night as his four wickets broke the spine of Charger’s batting unit.
He got the main job done first, as Adam Gilchrist was dismissed before the dynamic Aussie could turn the course of the game. Tilumansethi Suman, a rising star for the Chargers at point in time, followed his captain back to the pavilion due to Bollinger in the very same over.
Bollinger wasn’t done yet. Gilchrist’s team required 40 runs off 19 deliveries, which is when the CSK pacer struck twice within two deliveries to tarnish any aspirations of the opposition making their way back in the game.
Not conceding runs is of paramount importance in such low total defenses, and Bollinger delivered 18 dot balls in his four-over spell. Combine that along with his four wickets, and how could we not include this effort by Doug Bollinger in our list?
Ravichandran Ashwin: 4-0-16-3 vs RCB in IPL 2011 final
Chris Gayle had taken the IPL by storm with his several blitzkriegs of innings after joining RCB as a replacement to Dirk Nannes in 2011. Hence, no target, whatsoever huge, seemed massive in front of him.
Hence, when CSK put 205 on the board in the Final, they still had to be extremely cautious to prevent a Gayle-storm from taking them by cleaners. Step up, Ravichandran Ashwin. The much-celebrated off-spinner worked out a fantastic tactic to dismiss Gayle for a duck in the very first over of the chase.
The opener nicked a delivery to MS Dhoni who didn’t make any mistake in collecting the ball behind the stumps. In his very next over, Ashwin dismissed Gayle’s opening partner Mayank Agarwal. RCB’s task was cut out, so they never really got into the chase properly.
Captain Daniel Vettori was dismissed was a first-ball duck by the spinner from Tamil Nadu. In an innings when RCB had a required run rate of 10.3 RPO in front of them, Ashwin completed his spell with an economy rate of four. Add to that his three wickets, including that of the maestro from Jamaica, and it is not surprising as to the reasoning behind his spell’s inclusion in this list.
Anil Kumble: 4-0-16-4 vs Deccan Chargers in IPL 2009 Final
Anil Kumble’s four wickets in the final of IPL 2009 could not result in a victory for RCB. However, it was the team’s batsmen who are to be blamed, not the leg-spinner. Kumble had started off the match in a brilliant way, as he bowled over Adam Gilchrist in only the third delivery of the innings.
He sent back Andrew Symonds in the same way, just when the Aussie crossed the 30-run mark and looked set to pile up a huge total. Rohit Sharma’s scalp by Kumble was critical too, considering that Chargers’ innings had entered the last four overs and Sharma has had a knack of going bonkers towards the end of the innings even back then.
In the very same over, Venugopal Rao was dismissed for the duck by the former Indian captain. Having given away merely 16 runs, this four-over spell by Anil Kumble was nothing short of match-winning. He had single-handedly turned the momentum in his team’s favor in three different phases, thus ensuring that his impact was felt in each part of the innings.
The legendary spinner conceded only a single boundary, proved that a veteran could adapt and succeed in the shortest format of the game too.
Akash Madhwal: 3.2-0-5-5 vs Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL 2023 Eliminator
The inexperienced Akash Madhwal blew LSG away. His spell in the middle overs, where he built great pressure and dismissed Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran in consecutive deliveries, will be remembered by he and Mumbai Indians fans for years to come.
In the end, MI’s 182 was more than enough thanks to Madhwal’s efforts as well as MI’s excellence in the field. The seamer’s control of length was a feature once again, soon after he took an excellent four-wicket haul in MI’s win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their must-win league game to reach the playoffs.
Written by Tarkesh Jha. Follow Tarkesh on Twitter today.
Also read:
- Top 5 best batting innings played in IPL playoffs
- Analysis: Who is the best Indian top order batsman in IPL history?
- Why India should be very grateful to have Ajinkya Rahane
- Has Rishabh Pant been backed properly in T20Is?
