Double Super Overs – Double Dhamaka!
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is such an important tournament in the cricket calendar that you are hardly surprised when BCCI was desperate to conduct it. The COVID-19 scenario meant that the tournament had to be moved out of India, but that hardly dampened the excitement. Part of the reason is the large presence of Indian diaspora in the UAE. The betting market lapped it up with glee too, because who wouldn’t love to back a winner! Now that the tournament is in full swing, there is no dearth of excitement. There have been so many close matches, no clear favourites, and a regular topping of the odds making favourites look silly on any given day. The fans aren’t complaining, though, as the IPL2020 moves towards the business end.
If there was any match that symbolises the excitement and aura of the IPL, it was the match #36 between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai. There were runs, there were wickets, there was pressure and then there was a tie! All in all, the match was a microcosm of IPL as a product. So, how did it pan out?
Mumbai Indians won the toss and batted first to put up what looked like challenging total. 176/6 on any pitch is a tough target and Mumbai were led by the pyrotechnics of Kieron Pollard at the end of the innings. Mumbai ran into a confident KL Rahul, though, who played a captain’s knock for the Kings XI.
Slamming a 77 off just 51 balls, Rahul looked set to lead Punjab over the line. But, what’s IPL without uncertainty and excitement? Rahul couldn’t lead his side over the line, but so long as he was there Kings XI had a great chance. The odds were swinging like a pendulum as the two sides fought tooth and nail. In the end, it was an apt result that the scores were level!
Mumbai had all the aces in the Powerplay, though – as Jasprit Bumrah stifled the batsman with six perfect deliveries in the ‘Super Over’. However, whatever he did was bettered by Punjab’s Mohammed Shami. With only six runs to defend, he got yorker after yorker on target taking the game to another Super Over! Talk about fortunes oscillating, these two Super Overs had the bookmakers – bet365, Marathonbet, William Hill to name a few – witness a surge in the picks favouring Punjab. To discover odds from these betting sites, it is possible to sign up with them. It could be useful to see how the bonuses work on Wincomparator and start to stay with the action in IPL.
Living to those rising expectations, Kings XI made the second Power Play count with another stellar performance. The icing on the cake was a brilliant ‘save catch’ by Mayank Agarwal at deep mid-wicket. To say that the players were physically and mentally too exhausted to even move would not be an exaggeration.
To have one match that extends to a Super Over is exciting and probably rare. To have two matches on the same day extend to Super Overs – Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders played out one earlier on Sunday – is extremely rare. But to have one match play two Super overs? That’s rarest of rare! The rainbow of emotions that the players encountered and the myriad of swings that the bookmakers witnessed is representative of how good the Indian Premier League 2020 edition has been!