The IPL: The 10 best moments
10. The Shooting Star
Paul Valthaty
120* off 63, 19 fours, two sixes
Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings, 13 April 2011, IPL 4
Paul Valthaty’s career was the IPL in microcosm: a blindingly bright and tantalisingly short burst of action. It had been a long road for him – as far back as 2002 he was in the India Under 19 squad – but how he seized his moment when it finally came. He shot from obscurity with a spectacular 120*, as he chased down CSK’s 188 almost by himself – the next highest score was 21 – and a superb all-round display the game after, taking 4-29 before smashing 75 off 47 to help Kings XI ace another chase. But after that? Nothing. Or at least very little. By the middle of the next season, he would be dropped for good, never to be heard of again, having left an unforgettable mark on the tournament and vanished into the night.
9. All Time Low
Virat Kohli
0 off 1 ball
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 23 April 2017, IPL 10
Chasing a small target – Kolkata Knight Riders had made just 131 – and with three of the all-time great T20 batsmen in their line-up in Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, and AB de Villiers, few would have given KKR a sniff, let alone expected them to record an 82-run victory. Virat Kohli’s first-baller set in motion a slide to a paltry 49 all out. No RCB batsman made it into double figures as their innings subsided within 10 overs. Kohli described it as his side’s “worst batting performance”, which was hard to argue with.
8. The Unlikely Dasher
Sunil Narine
54 off 17 balls, six fours, four sixes
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, 7 May 2017, IPL 10
Since joining Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012, Sunil Narine has been one of their key players in a period in which they have won the IPL twice and reached the play-offs on a further two occasions. But until 2017, little of that success had to do with his efforts with the bat – in more than 200 T20 games leading up to this innings, he hadn’t hit a single fifty. That all changed in incendiary fashion when having spent some time at the top of the order to help take advantage of the Powerplay, he smashed the fastest half-century in IPL history to help his side chase down 159 in just over 15 overs. His swing-at-everything approach has since made his batting one of the most entertaining things to watch in the IPL.
7. In Added Time
Aditya Tare
6 off 1 ball, 1 six
Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals, 25 May 2014, IPL 7
One for the mathematicians. Thanks to the miracles of net run rate, Mumbai Indians needed to surpass Rajasthan Royals’ 189 within 14.3 overs to qualify for the playoffs, and push Royals down into fifth place. Corey Anderson’s 95 off 44 got them close, but when Ambati Rayudu was run out going for a match-winning second, it seemed all over. But was it? Confusion reigned, as Mumbai’s boffins put their heads together and calculated that the extra runs from a boundary would push the run rate up just enough to seal the deal. Aditya Tare came in to face his first ball, and duly smashed a James Faulkner full toss over square leg for six, breaking Royals' hearts.
6. Do You Remember The First (And Last) Time
Adam Gilchrist
0.1-0-0-1
Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians, 18 May 2013, IPL 6
Perhaps the tournament’s most heart-warming moment. Adam Gilchrist – walker, smiler, good bloke – was playing his last ever game of professional cricket, and, with the match in the bag, handed the gauntlets to Praveen Kumar and decided to give himself a bowl. With his first ball in the format – offies if you were wondering – he coaxed Harbhajan Singh into a slog, and the ball nestled in the hands of long-on, sealing the game for his team. Cue jubilant, unfettered celebrations. With an economy and average of zero, and a strike rate of one, Gilchrist has unquestionably the best record of any bowler.
5. The Record-Breaker
Chris Gayle
175* off 66, 13 fours, 17 sixes
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Pune Warriors, 23 April 2013, IPL 6
Forget the Test triples and the World Cup double – this is the Universe Boss’ defining moment. Gayle can justifiably claim to be the greatest batsman the shortest form has seen: he is its record run-scorer and century-maker, and this game against Pune Warriors saw him at his most destructive. Halfway through the innings 200 didn’t seem implausible. He had to settle for 25 runs short, and a slew of records: the format’s highest individual and team score, the most sixes in a T20 innings, and professional cricket’s fastest hundred.
4. Pondulkar
Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, 4 April 2013, IPL 6
One of the best things about the IPL is watching the best players in the world who would normally be competing against each other take the field together for the same team. As dream combinations go, surely nothing beats Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, 171 international hundreds between them, opening for Mumbai Indians. To complete the dream, the sixth over of this match was bowled by the man with 1,347 international wickets, Muttiah Muralitharan. When Sachin unveiled that straight drive, we were truly in heaven.
3. Third Time's The Charm
Rajasthan Royals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 8 May 2014, IPL 7
A true comedy of errors. We’ll do our best to describe, but few moments define the word ‘inexplicable’ more perfectly. In the final over of Sunrisers’ innings, Amit Mishra’s wild slog missed a James Faulkner slower ball by about a pitch width and went through to Royals keeper Sanju Samson. Mishra then tried to steal a bye but was left stranded by his unresponsive partner Irfan Pathan. Then it got weird. The leg-spinner seemed to decide now was a good time to go on a leisurely stroll, as Faulkner and Samson enjoyed a bit of fielding practice, throwing it back and forth to each other on the bounce, unsuccessful twice in their attempts to nail direct hits. Finally, the gloveman managed to find the target, just as Mishra’s wander was about to take him back to safety. Nonplussed, he found himself with his foot hovering in the air over the crease as the timber was demolished.
2. The Curtain-Raiser
Brendon McCullum
158* off 73 balls, 10 fours, 13 sixes
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 18 April 2008, IPL 1
As Brendon McCullum prepared to face up to the first ball of the first season, we all waited with bated breath for what would follow. BMac’s extraordinary first effort – 158 off 73 balls, 10 fours, 13 sixes, then the record for the format’s highest score – delivered fireworks befitting of any opening night.
1. Clash Of The Titans
AB de Villiers
47 off 17 balls, 5 fours, 3 sixes
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Deccan Chargers, 6 May 2012, IPL 5
The IPL at its very best: two countrymen, the best batsman and best bowler in the world at the time, at the top of their games, facing off in a high-stakes contest. The match situation saw AB’s RCB needing 39 off three overs, a tough ask, especially since two would be bowled by Dale Steyn. Thanks to AB, Dale would just bowl the one over. He took Steyn, bowling with all of his 90mph fury, apart. Bouncers were hooked, slower balls dismissed, yorkers smashed over extra cover, and length balls scooped over fine leg. Then, to show he could be calm as well as incandescent, he dropped the last ball of the over for a strike-retaining single. Fourteen more runs flowed from his bat off the first three balls of the 19th, and the game was done with seven balls to spare. The look on Steyn’s face, as anger turned into amazement, showed that sometimes all you can do is applaud.