By Urvi Shah
Estimated reading time : 5-7 mins.
In the final game of the league before the qualifiers and the finals, we saw glimpses of passion, hunger and determination. In the 56th match of IPL held at Sharjah between MI and SRH, we witnessed a game of thrill and passion. The game was much awaited by the KKR fans specifically as the results of this game was going to decide the fate of KKR in the playoffs. With SRH already having a do or die game, MI was relaxed as they have made it for the playoffs and would be playing with Delhi Capitals on 5th November 2020. Toss was extremely crucial on this ground. Even if the ground is smaller compared to others, the pitch has gone from batsmen friendly to bowler friendly and due to the dew factor, in the past few games at Sharjah, team batting second have won the games. SRH won the toss and chose to field first. With them winning the toss, the fans started speculating the results based on previous game results and that MI had rested two of its key bowlers for this game.
With Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult not playing this match, it was extremely important for the other players to step up and give it a fight. With Rohit Sharma returning after a injury break, the fans were delighted and were looking forward to watch him play. Dhawal Kulkarni was in the playing XI for this game and it was his first game of this season. For SRH, there was only one change which was Priyam Garg coming in for Abhishek Sharma.
In the first innings, we saw some exceptional bowling performance by Sandeep Sharma in the powerplay as he picked up two wickets which changed the momentum of the game. With Rohit Sharma( 4 runs in 7 balls) and Quinton de Kock (25 runs in 13 balls) losing their wickets early on in the game, it was extremely important for Ishan Kishan (33 runs in 30 balls) and Surya Kumar Yadav (36 runs in 29 balls) to build a partnership. With Nadeem (4-0-19-2) and Sandeep Sharma (4-0-34-3) leading the bowling attack, they were successful in restricting MI from scoring big. We also saw some good bowling spells from Jason Holder (4-0-25-2), Rashid Khan (4-0-32-1) and T Natrajan (4-0-38-0). With such great bowling efforts, SRH dominated the middle overs and MI’s batting unit did not seem to stand up to it. They lost wickets back to back which meant that the bowling unit was successful in executing their plans. However, Pollard (41 runs in 25 balls) stepped in and scored some crucial runs leading to putting up a decent score of 149/8 in 20 overs (150 to win ) for the opponent.
In the second innings, MI’s bowling unit was at test as they had to defend 149 runs and their key bowlers were not there on the field. It was a different game plan that we saw. With the dew coming in, having David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha on the crease, MI was in for a challenge. With a score of 149 in Sharjah, it was looking quite difficult for the bowling unit to defend that. David Warner (85*) and Wriddhiman Saha (58*) looked in good form and were quite comfortable while batting. The bowlers from MI were seen feeling the pressure as they could not get anyone out. Their performances were not that great but was good enough to take the match to 17.1 overs. With SRH’s opening batsmen doing phenomenal job, it seemed like they would end the game around 13-15 overs. However, SRH sealed the game with a win with 10 wickets in hand. It was one of their best performances. With this win, SRH qualified for the playoffs at 3rd position and would be facing RCB in the Eliminators. With a loss right before the playoffs, MI’s momentum is at stake and we could get a glimpse of how much their key bowlers played a role in their performances.
Watch the highlights of the last game of the league here
At the end of the league stage we learnt a lot about how even after losing games, building up the momentum, being determined and motivated paid off for some teams and did not pay off for the others.
At times, when we talk about how someone did not put enough efforts, they put in way too much of efforts, and so on. Constantly, we are in the loop of making a judgement on how much effort is enough because somewhere we also want to know whether what we are doing is going to need the effort we are putting in. We often fear the uncertainty of our respective fields. We are unsure of how much effort and passion we need to have in order to achieve what we want. We don’t know how much the other person has given into this. And that keeps us off the track as we don’t think and believe in our own interest and efforts. We don’t really engage in case we get to know that someone else is doing better than us. We may find excuses on how they were favoured more and how everyone supported them. While some of us may engage in self doubt. It is okay if you relate to this because it happens to the best of us. We either project the feelings outwards or inwards.
One thing that these games have taught us is that it is important to look inwards, see what is not working out and work through it. You cannot blame the other person for putting in more efforts but see how much more you need to work and put in that effort. It is important that we give our best but sometimes we are a little less than or best and only by watching, observing and doing out bit, we realise how much more we need to improve and push ourselves. We have to keep improving and keep believing in ourselves. To have an approach which is positive, we have to acknowledge the areas that need the work, be focused on our process, keep striving to do better and keep learning from every opportunity.
Some of our favourite thoughts from the tournament :
“We have seen this a lot of time. we need to keep our chin up. We did a lot of things right, but you have to give it to them. The game keeps you humble all the time”
– K.L. Rahul ( RR vs KXIP | Match 9)
“We wish to learn from our mistakes and build as a team. I’d gladly take it as a captain, most important is the effort. We made a few mistakes, but that’s a learning for the group”
– K.L. Rahul (DC vs KXIP | Match 2)
“You’d see the shoulders dropping but the guys kept believing, kept attacking”
-Virat Kohli ( SRH vs RCB | Match 3)
“When you don’t get too far ahead of the game, it rewards you”
– Virat Kohli ( CSK vs RCB | Match 25)
“I always told the players to focus more on the process – when you start thinking about results of the previous game, you put a burden”.
– Mahendra Singh Dhoni ( CSK vs RCB | Match 25)
“I won’t say I am a gifted player because I know the hard work and smart work I put into it”
– Shreyas Iyer (DC vs KKR | Match 16)
“We have to be consistent with our approach. That should be our mindset, and not take anything lightly.”
– Shreyas Iyer (RR vs DC | Match 23)
“I know you want to remember those two wins against DC but you have to stay in the present and keep doing the small things and keep ticking the boxes. You want to leave tonight behind you as quickly as possible.”
– Rohit Sharma (SRH vs MI | Match 56)