IPL 2020: 5 best highlights and unexpected moments of IPL 13 thus far

Here are the five moments which have left everyone awestruck and showed why IPL is loved by everyone.

The IPL 2020 has been one of the most amazing and unique editions of the league so far. The tournament was supposed to be played in March this year, but due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the BCCI had to indefinitely postpone it.

Amidst speculations of it being canceled this year, somehow the BCCI managed to find a window for the IPL 13 after the ICC had to postpone the T20 World Cup in Australia to 2022. However, the BCCI had to move the tournament to the UAE owing to the high number of COVID-19 cases in India.

The tournament was also played behind closed doors in Sharjah, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. But this led to record viewership numbers at home and a windfall for advertisers and broadcasters.

The IPL 2020 has not been short on the action as well, despite the players coping with playing in a strictly controlled bio-bubble environment. We have seen some amazing innings, great matches with tremendous finishes, and unexpected moments so far in the IPL 13 which nears the end of its league stage.

Team COC has picked out five such highlight-worthy and unexpected moments from the IPL 2020 for you to enjoy and be amazed.

Check out the 5 best highlights and unexpected moments of IPL 2020 so far

Rahul Tewatia’s brutal assault on Sheldon Cottrell

Rahul Tewatia was previously part of the Delhi Capitals (DC) team but was traded to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) ahead of the auction as DC got Ajinkya Rahane in return for Tewatia and Mayank Markande. Tewatia was fortunate enough to get selected in the playing XI of the RR in the initial stages of the tournament.

However, his best moment came during the 9^th match of the IPL 2020 when RR clashed against Kings XI Punjab. KXIP had batted first and put on a mammoth 224-run target in front of RR. During the chase, Sanju Samson was striking the ball sweetly, while Tewatia, who was promoted in the batting order, was struggling to get going and hit big shots in a tough chase.

IPL 2020: WATCH- RR's Rahul Tewatia mimics Sheldon Cottrell’s salute celebration after beating KXIP

But with 51 needed off three overs, Tewatia unleashed a brutal assault on left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell, hitting him for five sixes in an over in Sharjah. This 30-run-over turned the tide in favor of Rajasthan and though Tewatia got out after making 53 off 31 balls with seven sixes, Jofra Archer took RR past the finishing line with 3 balls to spare.

Rajasthan earned an amazing win which is also the record chase in IPL history, all thanks to Rahul Tewatia’s five sixes in one over.

Kings Xi Punjab’s resurgence; defends 126 against SRH

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) didn’t have a good start to their tournament as they lost their first match in IPL 2020 via a super over. Then Rajasthan Royals chased down a mammoth 224-run target in Sharjah and KXIP went on a losing spree that saw them at the bottom of the points table with 6 losses in 7 matches.

However, something clicked in the KL Rahul-led team during their encounter against Royal Challengers Bangalore, a game which they won by 8 wickets. Then they next defeated Mumbai Indians in a match, which was also tied, twice (much about that later in the article).

This victory saw them rise like a phoenix from ashes and they defeated Delhi Capitals next as well. However, in their latest match, which was against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Dubai, KXIP batting failed badly as they could only muster 126 runs in 20 overs.

IPL 2020: David Warner's fuming face goes viral after SRH's loss to KXIP by 12 runs

All seemed over for them as SRH openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow added 56 runs in the powerplay overs. However, their spinners Ashwin and Bishnoi proceeded to choke the life out of SRH’s chase in the middle overs, as Manish Pandey made 15 in 29 balls and Vijay Shankar made 26 in 27 balls. But when these two got out, the remaining batsmen folded like nine pins.

KXIP bowlers Chris Jordan and Arshdeep Singh, who took three wickets each, displayed amazing skills in the death overs and SRH were bundled out for 114 runs in the last over, as KXIP won the match by 12 runs in an amazing fashion out of nowhere.

This win also kept their playoffs qualification hopes alive, as they moved to no.5 spot on the points table.

Chennai Super Kings knocked out of playoffs for the first time ever

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has appeared in the Indian Premier League for 11 seasons including the current one and has qualified for the playoffs on 10 previous occasions. They have also played the final eight times and have won the IPL trophy thrice-2010,2011 and 2018.

However, the IPL 2020 season started off on the wrong foot for the MS Dhoni-led franchise and it has only gotten worse for them.

It started with two of the veteran players Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh pulling out of the tournament owing to personal reasons. 13 CSK members including Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaikwad tested positive for COVID-19 extending their 6-day quarantine to 14 days.

Though CSK started off well, defeating Mumbai Indians in the first match of the tournament, they went on a losing spree so bad that they found themselves at the bottom of the points table for the first time ever.

IPL 2020: MS Dhoni wants his players to enjoy their game after CSK's early elimination

MS Dhoni-led team lost straight to Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, before beating Kings XI Punjab to break the streak. But then they managed just one more win in their next five matches and were knocked out of the playoffs race after Rajasthan Royals defeated Mumbai Indians on October 25.

The CSK team couldn’t manage to find the right combination with their batting and the age-related fitness issues of their players finally came to the fore as Dwayne Bravo was ruled out due to injury and other players on the wrong side of 30 proved to be liabilities on the field for MS Dhoni.

Many decisions made by team management, like Dhoni batting lower down the order, benching Imran Tahir and a few more begged answers. Dhoni’s own form and the overall low morale of the team proved to be too much for them as the yellow army will not be playing in the playoffs for the first time ever in the IPL.  

Mohammed Siraj’s GOAT performance restricts KKR to 84/8

Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj has been the butt of jokes for the previous few editions of the IPL. The biggest reason is his economy in the tournament which is above 9, which is termed too much for a frontline fast bowler, who actually bowls decently fast.

Siraj, son of an auto-rickshaw driver, has a very heartwarming story given that Sunrisers Hyderabad bought him for INR 2.60 cr in IPL 2017 auction and he picked 10 wickets from 6 games. From there, he moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and picked 18 wickets in two editions of IPL prior to IPL 13.

But his economy and tendency to go for runs in death overs always gave fodder to social media trolls to make fun of him.

IPL 2020: Twitterati applaud and tip their hat to Mohammed Siraj after his 3/8 v KKR

However, the tide turned in Siraj’s favor when RCB battled Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 39^th match of the IPL 2020 in Abu Dhabi. Eoin Morgan, KKR captain won the toss and chose to bat first, a decision Mohammed Siraj made him regret later on.

Siraj blew away KKR top order with figures of 3/8 in four overs. He removed Rahul Tripathi, Tom Banton, and Nitish Rana in a fiery spell, giving the edge to RCB early on. He also became the first bowler ever to bowl two maidens in a single match of IPL and helped RCB restrict KKR to 84/8, their lowest ever score, and won the match by 8 wickets.

Siraj was named the Man of the Match for his performance and it was his redemption from his below-average performances in previous years and shut down the trolls effectively as well.

First-ever historic double super over between MI and KXIP

The concept of super over has made the limited-overs game interesting and we have seen our share of super overs in the IPL as well. After the ICC 2019 World Cup final fiasco, the cricketing body tweaked the rules to ensure that consequent super overs are played in case of ties and matches are not decided on boundary count.

We were yet to see more than one super over in a match, but that all changed when Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) clashed in the 36^th match of the ongoing IPL 2020 in Dubai. Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bat first. Thanks to Quinton de Kock’s fifty and valuable knocks from Krunal, Pollard, and Coulter-Nile, MI managed 176/6 in their 20 overs.

In reply, KL Rahul made 77, while Pooran and Gayle hit 24 runs each. When the game got close, Deepak Hooda’s 23* and Chris Jordan’s 13* enabled KXIP to tie the match, as Jordan got run out going for two in order to win the match.

KXIP batted first in the super over and scored 5 runs, as Jasprit Bumrah dismissed KL Rahul and Nicholas Pooran, ending their innings. However, a spirited Mohammad Shami took it upon himself to defend five runs and decided to bowl only yorkers.

IPL 2020: WATCH- "It has to go down in history," says Mayank Agarwal on KXIP's double super over win

The plan worked as Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock found it hard to get the full balls away and in the end, De Kock got run out trying to take a double to win the super over. This resulted in the first-ever tie in the super over and warranted another one in order to decide the winner.

The second super over saw Kieron Pollard hitting a four and making 11 runs with MI losing Hardik Pandya’s wicket to Chris Jordan. Defending 12 runs was not a huge task, but MI had Trent Boult bowling, who doesn’t have a good record in death overs. Facing him were Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal.

Gayle hit the first ball from Boult for a six and then Mayank hit two fours to ensure KXIP won the second super over of the day and pocketed the two very important points. This win was one of the four on the trot that KXIP have achieved and which has put them on the path of playoff qualification.