In a game that saw many twists and turns, Rajasthan Royals sneaked past defending champions Mumbai Indians, who lost their fourth match in the final over this season. The equation. a reasonable 44 off four overs required with seven wickets in hand, came down to 43 off 17 when Krishnappa Gowtham walked into bat at number eight. In the mayhem that followed, the Karnataka all-rounder smashed six boundaries including two over the rope which ensured his team's victory with two balls to spare.
BEST OF IPL
From Morkel to Rohit: The best of IPL's final flourishes
Albie Morkel plundered 28 runs off a Virat Kohli to mastermind CSK's win over RCB in 2012. © AFP
Given the format's propensity to provide for such late heists, the IPL is replete with acts of 11th hour adventurism. Here's a look into five other cameos in IPL that led to wins from near-hopeless situations.
CSK were set a steep 206 to win against RCB and the chase looked completely derailed when MS Dhoni departed after a 24-ball 41. 43 were still required off the final two overs when the Albie Morkel walked out to the middle. Zaheer Khan, Daniel Vettori and Muttiah Muralitharan had all finished their allotted overs and Vinay Kumar had bowled the 18th over which meant the 19th had to be bowled by either part-timer Virat Kohli or by Karnataka medium pacer Raju Bhatkal. With Bhatkal conceding 35 off his first two overs, Kohli was entrusted the responsibility of bowling the penultimate over. Even a 15-16 run over would have left CSK with too much to get in the final. Morkel mayhem ensued and the 19th over read: 4, 6, 4, 6, 2 and 6; The ball went to all parts of Chepauk and Kohli was almost in tears when the 28-run over ended. Morkel got out to Vinay early in the 20th but Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja took CSK home in the final over, which included a waist high no-ball, a six from Bravo and a winning hit from Jadeja (deja vu in 2018?).
Rohit Sharma - 32* off 13 (SR 246.15) vs KKR, Johannesburg, 2009
In a season where almost everything went wrong for KKR, things finally appeared to be falling in place for the Knight Riders in a clash against Deccan Chargers. Mashrafe Mortaza making his IPL debut had 21 to defend off the final over. Rohit Sharma was batting on 10 off 7 and had barely got his eye in. A good first couple of balls would have all but sealed the deal for KKR. Unfortunately things started off on the wrong note when Mortaza was no-balled for having just three fielders inside the circle instead of four off the first delivery, which was dispatched for a boundary to square leg by Rohit. He was back on strike after singles off the next two balls and 14 were required off four. A six over midwicket was followed by a four to wide long-off and the last ball was duly smashed over square leg to seal a thrilling win for the Deccan Chargers.
The equation was slightly different in this match - MI had enough time to cruise to a comfortable win but they needed to chase down 190 inside 14.3 overs to pip RR on Net Run Rate and qualify for the playoffs. Corey Anderson was batting like a dream at one end when Ambati Rayudu made his way out to the middle with 82 needed off 31 balls. He struck four fours off the first five deliveries he faced and was on strike to James Faulkner, who then wore his 'death-overs specialist' tag with pride. With eight needed off two balls for MI to go through, Rayudu carted a six to long leg off a leg-stump full toss to bring the equation down to two off one. However, he was run out off the next ball attempting a second run off the overthrow. Aditya Tare's six off the next ball ensured MI's net run rate stayed one decimal point ahead of RR and they sealed a spot in the final four.
Ravindra Jadeja - 36* off 14 (SR 257.14) vs KKR, Kolkata, 2013
In a low scoring humdinger at the Eden Gardens, CSK restricted KKR to 119 for nine off their allotted 20 overs. To counter the spin threat of Sachita Senanayake, R Ashwin opened the innings for the first and only time in his T20 career alongside Michael Hussey. CSK lost wickets off regular intervals with none of Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni or S Badrinath reaching double figures. Hussey bade his time and had scored a 51-ball 40 by the time he was dismissed off the second last ball of the 17th over, the scoreboard reading 89 for 6. Jadeja quickly hit a six and four off L Balaji and brought the equation down to 27 off three before once again clearing the fence off the parsimonious Sunil Narine in the 18th over. With 17 off the last two, Jadeja cracked the first two balls of the 19th for boundaries to bring things under control. He finished with an unbeaten 36 off just 14 balls to go along with his 3 for 20 off his four overs to win Man of the Match award.
AB de Villiers - 33* off 14 (SR 235.71) vs PWI, Bengaluru, 2012
Despite needing 66 off the last five overs, RCB looked in control of the proceedings with Chris Gayle batting on 74. A yorker from Asish Nehra castled Gayle in the 16th over bringing AB de Villiers to the middle. He managed to only a six and a four off the first ten deliveries he faced as the equation came down to 21 off the final over to be bowled by Nehra. Saurabh Tiwary took a single off the first ball to bring De Villiers on strike, who duly scooped a delivery past short fine for a boundary off the second ball. The next two balls were smacked for sixes over long off and long leg respectively to bring the equation down to four off two. De Villiers couldn't hit the full toss past midwicket but a last ball six from Tiwary helped RCB to go past the line with six wickets in hand.
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