The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) finally kicked-off with defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) taking on the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and put MI into bat. Chasing 163 runs, CSK were in trouble at one stage when they lost both its openers by the second over. However, the partnership between Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis and some late runs from Sam Curran helped them get over the line in the last over.
A total of 14 wickets fell in the match while 31 fours and 9 sixes were hit in the match with a couple of fifties to end with.
Here we look at the firsts of this IPL:
1. First Four
Mumbai Indians’ skipper Rohit Sharma scored the first boundary of IPL 2020, off the first ball of the tournament.
Deepak Chahar bowled a short ball outside the off-stump, on which Sharma sat back and slapped through the covers towards the boundary for first runs for him and the team.
2. First Wicket
Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, playing his first game for the Chennai Super Kings, took the opposition skipper’s wicket when Sharma mistimed a lofted shot towards mid-off.
Chawla came to bowl in the fifth over of the innings and gave his team the much-needed breakthrough after Mumbai’s openers had taken the team to 45/0 in 4 overs.
3. First Catch
The first catch took place with the first wicket of the tournament.
Sam Curran, standing at mid-off, took an easy catch off the bowling of Piyush Chawla when the ball took the toe-end of Rohit Sharma’s bat.
4. First Six
Saurabh Tiwary came into bat at number four for Mumbai Indians and hit the first six of the tournament in the ninth over of the innings.
Ravindra Jadeja, bowling his second over, bowled in Tiwary’s arc and he cleared the long-on boundary with ease.
5. First Three-Wicket Haul
Chennai Super Kings’ fast bowler Lungi Ngidi went for 27 runs in his first two overs after his countryman Quinton de Kock smashed him in the powerplay. He came back in the 17th over and scalped for Krunal Pandya, giving away just 4 runs. And, in the next over, the penultimate of the innings, he took wickets of Kieron Pollard and James Pattinson to end up with the figures of 3-38.
6. First Debut
Australian fast bowler James Pattinson was the first debutant of the IPL 2020 edition. Given a chance ahead of Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pattinson proved his worth with both bat and the ball. He scored two boundaries coming in at 8, took Murali Vijay’s wicket giving away 27 runs in his four overs and also took a running catch to send Sam Curran back.
7. First No-Ball
No-balls have been Jasprit Bumrah’s friendly foe.
The rule of the third umpire calling no-balls came to hurt Jasprit Bumrah, as after he was done with his over, the on-field umpire called him back and the replays showed that his foot was well over the line.
8. First Fifty
Ambati Rayudu of Chennai Super Kings scored the first fifty of this IPL. Coming in at 6-2, Rayudu paced his innings of 71 runs beautifully while scoring boundaries at regular intervals and taking pressure off Faf du Plessis, at the other end.
9. First Run-Out
Shikhar Dhawan in an attempt to hook a bouncer from Mohammed Shami edged it towards KL Rahul. Rahul dropped the catch but he directed a throw towards Dhawan’s end when he had reached halfway, not knowing where the ball was and eventually got run out.
10. First Super Over
Delhi Capitals managed to score 157-8 after Marcus Stoinis’ quickfire fifty. Kings XI Punjab were 55-5 at one stage, but Mayank Agarwal’s 89 helped them almost win the game before they needed 1 run off 3 balls. Marcus Stoinis bowled a bouncer which Agarwal missed, and then on the next two balls, both full tosses, he took wickets of Mayank Agarwal and Chris Jordan to tie the match.
Kagiso Rabada bowled the super over for Delhi, giving just 2 runs and his side chased that down with ease.
11. First Team to Get All Out
Chasing 164, Sunrisers Hyderabad were cruising at one stage with opener Jonny Bairstow playing at 61. They needed 43 runs in the last five overs with two set batsmen at the crease. Yuzvendra Chahal came on to bowl the 16th over and bowled out Bairstow and Vijay Shankar on consecutive deliveries.
This set on a major collapse for SRH as the whole team was skittled out for 153, losing the last 8 wickets for just 32 runs.
12. First 200+ Team Total
After losing Yashaswi Jaiswal in the 3rd over of the innings, Sanju Samson came to bat and started going hell for leather from the start. His 74 (32) and some late striking from Jofra Archer, including 30 runs in the last over took Rajasthan Royals’ score to 216 in the stipulated 20 overs of their innings.
13. First Stumping
Rajasthan Royals’ Sanju Samson effected the first stumping of the IPL 2020 after almost three and a half innings. But, it was like the state buses, you wait for them for ages; when they come, two come together.
Sam Curran after hitting a couple of sixes off leg-spinner Rahul Tewatia, came down the track again and missed the ball completely and Samson had ample time to stump him out. The same was repeated the next delivery, when Ruturaj Gaikwad tried to do the same.
14. First Maiden Over
Bowling the second over of the innings against Mumbai Indians in Match 5 of the IPL, the 21-year-old pacer Shivam Mavi bowled the first maiden over against Mumbai Indians. Removing Quinton de Kock on the second ball of the over, Mavi didn’t give the MI skipper Rohit Sharma room to free his hands in the remaining four balls of the over.
15. First Century
Kings XI Punjab skipper KL Rahul scored the first century of the ongoing IPL season. With some help from his opposition number (Virat Kohli dropped two catches when Rahul was on 83 and 89) and some outstanding counter-attack at the end, Rahul finished with an unbeaten 132 – with the last 49 runs off it coming in just 14 balls.
His 132 is also the most runs scored by an IPL captain in one innings, surpassing David Warner and the highest by an Indian, leaving Rishabh Pant’s 128 behind, in an IPL innings.
16. First Completed Innings Without Loss of Any Wickets
Chennai Super Kings’ opening pair of Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis smashed every Kings XI Punjab bowler in an exhibition of hitting prowess to ensure they won the game comfortably without losing any wickets. The 181* runs partnership between was the highest ever partnership for CSK in the IPL.
Chasing 179, CSK were under enormous pressure after three unsuccessful chases, but the duo ensured that there were no hiccups and won the game by 10 wickets for their side.
17. First Four-Wicket Haul
Defending 196 against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals got three wickets in the powerplay, but still, RCB had Virat Kohli in the middle. Coming back for his 2nd over in the 14th over of the innings, Kagiso Rabada scalped out the prized wicket of the RCB skipper.
He didn’t just stop at that. In his next over, he took Washington Sundar. In his next, the 18th over of the innings, he bowled out Shivam Dube and troubled Isuru Udana with a short ball and ended up with figures of 4-24, the best till now in this year’s IPL.
18. First 5-Wicket Haul
Defending 194 against the Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders came out all guns blazing with the ball and took early wickets in the powerplay. Those wickets helped increase the pressure on DC’s middle-order which resulted in the batsmen getting out while attempting to play the big shots.
Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Shimron Hetmyer all went the same way, trying to slog against Varun Chakravarthy. He came back to take the wickets of Marcus Stoinis and Axar Patel to complete his five-wicket haul, for which he also received the Player of the Match award for his figures of 5/20.
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