IPL 2008- Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) v Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
The first-ever IPL match which began this juggernaut we see today was played on April 18, 2008, between Sourav Ganguly’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rahul Dravid’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the MA Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
This match is remembered mostly for the blitz of Brendon McCullum, who after KKR was put in to bat by RCB who won the toss, smashed 158* in 73 balls with 10 fours and 13 sixes, breaking numerous records on the way. The biggest record was that it was the first individual score of over 150 in T20 cricket.
RCB could never recover from that onslaught as while chasing 223 runs to win, collapsed to 82 all out and lost by 140 runs. This match was the perfect beginning that the Indian Premier League needed to get people excited and interested in the first official franchise-based T20 league in the cricket world.
IPL 2009- Mumbai Indians (MI) v Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
The next edition of the IPL in 2009 had to be moved entirely to South Africa as the tournament clashed with general elections in India. Mumbai Indians of Sachin Tendulkar faced MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in the season opener in Cape Town on April 18, 2009.
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The match was a pretty standard affair as MI made 165/7 after being put in to bat by CSK who won the toss. Sachin Tendulkar top-scored with 59, while Abhishek Nayar made 35. In reply, CSK managed just 146/7 with Matthew Hayden making 44 and captain Dhoni making 36 runs.
Lasith Malinga in his IPL debut, picked 3/15 in his 4 overs, helping MI win by 15 runs. Sachin Tendulkar was named Player of the Match.
