The biggest
Cricketing extravaganza – Indian Premier League 2022 (IPL 15) is just
over. From 26th Mar 2022 till
yesterday there were 74 matches – interesting and so many nail-baiting
finishes.
Usain Bolt
put Jamaica on top of the world with his prowess in sprint race .. .. back in
2008 at Beijing – a confident crew of sprinters from Jamaica became the first
nation in Olympic history to sweep the gold, silver and bronze in the event
when Shelly-Ann Fraser finished in 10.78 seconds, followed by teammates Sherone
Simpson and Kerron Stewart, both at 10.98. Speed is always
alluring!
What a match it
turned out to be – and the cynosure of all eyes was GT Captain – who had not delivered a single ball over his last two
seasons at Mumbai Indians. It was remarkable, Hardik Pandya performed at Ahmedabad, in front of a crowd of 104,859 -
possibly the largest ever to watch a game of cricket. He had marshalled his resources extremely
well, led from the front, has been a great fielder and big pinch hitter, this
time – it was he, with the ball – dismissing 3 of the dangerous batters of
RR. In seven seasons for Mumbai in the
IPL, Hardik had scored his runs at a strike rate of 153.91. He had hit a six
every 9.8 balls, and had hit more sixes (98) than fours (97). For Gujarat Titans, as Captains, he was
better and different - 487 runs at an average of 44.27 and a strike
rate of 131.26. He had hit 12 sixes - one every 30.9 balls - and 49 fours.
Hardik
seemed to be knowing everyone in the ground – smiled, waved hands, shook hands,
hugged some .. .. .. and was friendly with everyone – in fact after a caught
and bowl, he ran towards his mates and exchanged a friendly banter with leg
Umpire – and one among the many was Varun Aaron- a man who was bowling so
fast. In ‘what could be the fastest ball in India of
that time ’ @ 153 kmph was delivered by
Varun Aaron from Jharkhand in front of literally empty stadium in a Vijay
Hazare final. The fastest Indian perhaps could be – Kapil Dev, TA Sekhar, Yograj Singh, Varun
Aaron, Javgal Srinath, Jasprit Bumrah,
Navdeep Saini, Ishant Sharma !!! .. and now Umran Malik and couple of new finds. Internationally – Jeff Thomson, Dennis Lillee, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, Michael
Holding, Fidel Edwards, Shane Bond, Shaun Tait, Shoaib Akhtar, Brett Lee, Allan
Donald or the likes of Harold Larwood,
Frank Tyson.. .. .. there is also
another, most of us may not know –
Charles Kortright
Charles Jesse Kortright (1871 – 1952) was an English cricketer, who played for Essex and Free Foresters. In his obituary in the 1953 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, he was described as "probably the fastest bowler in the history of the game", a testimony fervently supported by countless of those who saw and faced him.
Debutant franchise Gujarat
Titans scripted history in the Indian Premier League on Sunday night when they
won IPL 2022 in their inaugural season by seven wickets against Rajasthan
Royals in the final in Ahmedabad. With the victory, came the hefty prize money
of Rs 20 crore during the post-final award ceremony. During
the high-profile encounter, right-arm fast bowler Lockie Ferguson clocked the
fastest ball of this season when he bowled at 157.3 kmph to RR batter Jos Buttler.In
the last ball of the fifth over of RR’s innings, Ferguson bowled a pin-point
yorker outside the off stump to Buttler, leaving him stunned with the speed as
the ball passed him and settled into Wriddhiman Saha’s hands.
With this thunderbolt,
Ferguson not only won the fastest delivery of the match award but also went
past Sunrisers Hyderabad speedster Umran Malik, who had earlier clocked a 157
kmph delivery against the Delhi Capitals during a group stage match this IPL.
Ferguson took home Rs 10 lakh for
registering the fastest delivery of the entire tournament. Lockie Ferguson has
a reputation for bowling fast and also crossed the 150 kmph mark on a number of
occasions this IPL season.
RR, who reached the final
for the first time since winning the tournament in the inaugural IPL edition in
2008got Rs 12.5 crore. Third-placed Royal
Challengers Bangalore, who lost by seven wickets to RR in Qualifier 2, received
a cheque of Rs 7 crore while fourth-placed Lucknow Super Giants received Rs 6.5
crore after going down to RCB in the Eliminator. Royals and Titans also were the
joint winners of the Fairplay Award with both teams having an average of 10
points per match.
RR had more honours to
claim on the night as their star batter of the tournament, Jos Buttler, who
also contributed the team's highest score of the day with a 39-run innings,
claimed the Orange Capwith an aggregate of 863 runs, which was more than 250
runs ahead of second-best KL Rahul (616). The 31-year-old Englishman earned a
cheque of Rs 10 lakh along with the cap. Purple cap, along with a cheque of Rs
10 lakh, went to RR's Yuzvendra Chahal, who finished the season with 27
wickets. Jos Butler backed multiple awards such as the Most Valuable
Player of the Season award, Most sixes in the season award, Game Changer of the
Season award, Most Fours in the Season Award, and Powerplayer of the Season
award. In total, Buttler grabbed Rs 60 lakh in the season's prize money with
each award fetching Rs 10 lakh.
In other individual
awards, LSG' Evin Lewis won the Best Catch of the Season award as his
one-handed blinder against Kolkata Knight Riders booked their play-off spot.
The West Indian received a cheque of Rs 10 lakh. Umran Malik, won the Emerging Player of the
Season award (Rs 10 lakh).RCB's Dinesh Karthik
grabbed the Super Striker Award for finishing the season with a strike rate of
183.33 and won a TATA Punch car in the award ceremony.
We have been
so used to watching IPL matches everyday, and what would the Nation do from
tonight !! – missing IPL !!
30th May 2022.
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