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The IPL 2019 kicked off on 23rd of March at Chennai with a match between two of India's favorite teams Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The MS Dhoni-led CSK defeated the Virat Kohli-led RCB by 7 wickets in the opening match of the tournament.
It's been only ten days of this cash-rich cricket tournament and we have already experienced all sort of things. Some high scoring thrilling encounters, great catches, vintage performances from the legends and some controversies. There has been enough flavor already in the IPL to make it a must-see tournament. Let's go through by some of the talking points of the IPL so far.
#1 RCB's horrible start
RCB started their campaign in a miserable way and that got social media buzzing. Virat Kohli's RCB were roasted on social media for getting all-out on just 70 runs in the first match of IPL 2019. With the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Shimron Hetmyer in their batting line-up, they were still bamboozled at the slow pitch of MA Chidambaram stadium. The main strength of RCB always has been their batting and when their strength was demolished in the first match itself then it grabbed a lot of eyeballs. Let's see how people reacted on Twitter.
#2 Ravichandran Ashwin got things buzzing
IPL 2019 needed some flavor and Ashwin just provided that in the 4th match of the tournament. He "Mankaded" Jos Butler in the match against Rajasthan Royals. In this controversial match between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, India's no.1 off-spinner Ashwin was the centre of attraction.
Punjab batted first in the match and set a target of 185 to chase for Rajasthan. Jos Buttler set the run-chase on fire with some blazing shots and it was looking like he was going to take Rajasthan home. But in the 13th over, Ashwin runout Buttler at the non-striker end as he was backing up a little ahead. In cricketing terms, we use the word "Mankading" for such dismissals.
According to the cricketing laws if the non-striker is out of his ground before the bowler releases the ball, then the bowler is permitted to attempt to run him out. But still, cricketers stay away from claiming such kind of dismissals for the sake of "the spirit of the game" as cricket is a "gentleman's game."
At that time Buttler was batting beautifully at 69 off 43 balls and it looked like Ashwin stopped in his bowling stride and waited for Butler to get out of his crease. The cricketing community was divided into halves about the issue. Some criticized Ashwin for his behavior and some supported him saying that he has done something that's within the rule. All in all, R Ashwin set the IPL 2019 buzzing with his act.
#3 RCB lost again but this time because of a "no-ball" which wasn't called
Yes, captain Kohli lost his cool when RCB lose the match in the last ball which turned out to be a no-ball that the umpire missed. "Umpires should keep their eyes open, this is not club cricket," said a fuming Virat Kohli in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Mumbai Indians batted first in the match and posted a total of 187 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Chasing the score, RCB came so close but ended up short. AB de Villiers batted superbly and scored 70.. But the real deal was in the last ball of the match where RCB needed 7 runs and Malinga was the bowler.
Shivam Dube was the batsman on strike and he managed to score just a single off the last ball. Everyone was content with the result until the replay on the giant screen at the stadium showed that Malinga had overstepped.
So technically, it was a no-ball and had it been called, then RCB would have got two runs of that ball and a free hit with ABD on strike. But umpire S Ravi missed it and so the result remained intact. Both the captains, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma agreed that it was a poor umpiring decision that affected the result of the match. Let's have a look at what people said about it on Twitter.
#4 Sanju Samson scored the first century of IPL 2019
Rajasthan Royals took on the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad in the 8th match of the tournament where Sanju Samson scored a brilliant 102 not out off just 55 balls.
With the help of his ton, the Royals posted a total of 198 runs but the Sunrisers chased the total down in the 19th over, thanks to some brutal hitting by David Warner and Vijay Shankar. Nonetheless, IPL 2019 got its first centurion in the form of Sanju Samson. Let's see what people said about the knock.
#5 IPL 2019 gets the first super over
Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders played the first super over of IPL 2019. On Saturday, Delhi took on Kolkata in their home ground. Thanks to some brutal hitting by Andre Russell, KKR posted a total of 185 runs and chasing the score, Delhi managed the exact amount with the help of a brilliant 99 from young Prithvi Shaw.
The match then went on to a super-over. Delhi batted first and managed to score just 10 runs in the over, with Prasidh Krishna bowling superbly. For Delhi, Kagiso Rabada was the bowler to bowl in the super-over and he just nailed it.
After being hit for a boundary on the first ball, he came back well and knocked the middle stump of the in-form Andre Russell. KKR managed to score just 7 runs of the super-over and thus DC won the first super-over of IPL 2019 and also the match. Here's what people had to say on twitter.
#6 IPL 2019 got its first hattrick hero in the form of Sam Curran
In a match at Mohali between Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Capitals, England's all-rounder Sam Curran turned the match around in a dramatic way. Chasing a target of 167 runs DC were at 144 for 3 in the 17th over but then Mohammed Shami and Sam Curran did the unthinkable. Delhi lost next 7 wickets in just 8 runs and were bundled out for 152, handing Punjab a victory by 14 runs.
But the hero of the show was Curran who was playing in the second match of his IPL career. Curran took the wickets of Harshal Patel on the last ball of his 2nd over and in the first two balls of the 3rd over, he picked up the wickets of Rabada and Lamichane consecutively. Before that, he had already picked the wicket of Colin Ingram.
In the post-match interview, Curran said that he was unaware of the hattrick as he was not even able to hear himself since the crowd got very loud. He was the Man of the Match for his bowling figures of 4/11 in 2.2 overs. Let's see what people had to say about it.
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