Stories of IPL 2024
If Cricket is a movie, IPL is the mass scene that the audience craves for. IPL 2024 was nothing short of a spectacle with records tumbling like a pack of cards and stories from different dugouts that demands a special Netflix documentary. Among several stories, I have picked my favorite stories that caught the major attention. Nothing fashionable, just a revisit with a tinge of my opinion on the story.
1. One by two family The championship in the first year, runner up in the second year, a young and hungry youngsters, an Indian coach, what could possibly go wrong for the captain? EVERYTHING. Hardik Pandya is a rare breed of cricketer who bowls pace, bats decently and has good cricketing brains to captain. But, unfortunately he lacked the sense to make his masterplan shift from Gujarat to Mumbai swift and smooth. I was shocked and refused to believe the news when it broke that Hardik is moving to Mumbai, 'cause why would you. Apparently, Humans are insatiable beings and his desire to be the captain of the strongest team in the league led to his downfall. Everyone of us shifts company. I see it similar but what Hardik didn’t predict is the various repercussions he is getting. The shift ensured they let go of one of the promising all rounder in Cameron Green. The stepdown and transition of Rohit Sharma, their most successful captain was sacked with a mere Instagram post. Hardik received the backlash as expected. Neither Rohit nor team management made sure of their intentions clearly.
The boos continued to be heard in every single stadium Hardik stepped in that Sanjay Manjrekar had to step out of his commentary suit and expose his Mumbai love with "Behave". At least the victory for the team or the performance would have saved Hardik. He failed badly with several questionable calls and the piss poor performances, be it bat or ball. Rohit in the last 3 years was very poor with the bat, averaging in 20's and 30's. Hardik stole that infamous record to have an average of around 19. One would feel bad for the state of Hardik but he rubbed salt on his wounds with his attitude that didn't go well with the majority. He was looking to emulate Dhoni with his body language but it only made the audience hate him more. A cricket journalist reported before the start of 2022 IPL that not to be surprised if Mumbai wins several championships in the next few years. Little did he know Mumbai was on a self sabotage mission. Final words, don't move back to your old company.
2. Insane High Scores
The IPL 2024 started off to a normal start with scores around 180-200. It all broke loose when Sunrisers let Travis Head loose. The man of WC and WTC finals took the Mumbai attack to cleaners. As an SRH fan who has traditionally been a bowling heavy team, it was a shocking surprise. I was elated to see this attacking approach from the team. Other teams didn’t shy even one bit to adapt the approach. Suddenly, 250 became the norm. KKR, DC, RCB and MI followed suit with SRH in 250+ totals. Expectedly, this stirred up an argument on if this is enjoyable, Boundary of every other ball with nothing for the bowlers. The impact player rule was made the scape goat. Several players called for scrapping of the rule.
In my opinion, the impact player rule definitely aids in batters playing freely. They can get in an extra batter anytime they need. However, the big reason for this is the change in batters mentality. It’s 120 legal deliveries, we have got 10 batters. There are too many batters to play cautiously. This shift was evident in 50 over WC. The SA team racked up pretty big totals. This mentality is evident in almost all the youngsters and overseas cricketers, refreshing to be frank. If you ask me if this is enjoyable, I would say not really. The pitches and dimensions in Wankhede, Uppal and Delhi were heavily inclined towards batters. A lot of mishits sailed over the ropes and the bowlers got no purchase.
Irrespective of the impact player rule, the scoring is going to go up. But, the only way IPL can make it a level playing field is with pitches that assist bowlers, at least a bit. A special mention to the newly inaugurated Mullanpur stadium where the balance between batters and bowlers were just right.
3. Will he or won’t he
On a sunny afternoon in 2020, Danny Morrison popped the question if this would be the last we see MS Dhoni in IPL for which he gave an iconic reply "Definitely not". Dhoni won 2 trophies after this and the legacy of his career is one to be remembered. The conundrum of this will be his last continues to cause confusion among the fans. Dhoni has had two stellar years with the bat since 2020 and his hitting sure does take us back to his early days. However, his knee has not been the same and his visible discomfort pretty much ensured that this will be his final year. While there are fans who want him to continue, there are sensible fans who wish he hangs his boot with this year. The haters as usual continued to mock his "departure" and find joy in it.
This "will he or won't he" problem have aided TNCA to sky rocket the ticket price for Chepauk Matches selling tickets in the name of "Dhoni's final season" when he clearly hasn't announced anything. With the knee giving up, I am pretty sure this would be his last season. However, Dhoni had mentioned earlier that he will play his last match only at Chepauk. This year was a timid year for CSK outfit as they huffed and puffed with questionable strategy and missed the playoff spot just by a whisker, at the hands of RCB. As per the latest news, Dhoni has traveled to London for knee treatment and his future in IPL will be decided after that. Will he? He won't.
4. RCB’s rejuvenation and RR’s downward spiral
Rajasthan has had good success in the past 3 years. They reached finals in 2022, missed out by a close chance in 2023 and continued the good form winning 8 out of 9. I am not sure if it’s the "nazar" or any self sabotage mission they activated as they went on to lose the next 4 games and have their final game abandoned due to rain. Their 7 wicket win against LSG where Sanju roared literally was their last victory in the league stage. The chinks in the armor were visible with Butler and YBJ failing to score runs and their star spinner Chahal taken for cleaners. Thanks to them clinching those 8 wins in the first half, they made it to the playoffs. Even yesterday in the playoffs against RCB, they looked rusty. Courtesy of some standout performances from Ashwin, Boult and Parag and RCB being RCB, they managed to cross the line.
Speaking of RCB, they had one of the greatest comebacks the league has seen. There’s a fact that Cockroaches live up to two weeks after their head gets chopped off, RCB who lost 7 games in the first 8 denied to die. They kept showing up and pipping the teams game after game. Kohli continued his dream run yet again with 700+ runs in the season. He looked invincible in several innings. There were visible concerns over his strike rate in the early part of the season from ex-cricketers and commentators. As a son who would deny the joy to his dad of heeding to his words right away yet listening to it finally, Kohli upped the ante and excelled even against his weak link, spinners while as well taking a dig at those who criticized him. The team won 6 out of 6, including a knock out punch to the defending champions of the tournament and reached the playoffs. However, RCB did an RCB in the playoffs as they got eliminated by RR in the eliminator. Regardless, suppressing my hate for the franchise, this is an excellent comeback that the team and fans can be very proud of.
5. Honorable mentions
KL Rahul being lashed publicly by Goenka in the field caused speculations of his future at the team, KL Rahul is one of the talented batsmen the country has seen yet him continuing to play the way he plays is more on the mental block than technical deficiency. He will be just as "useful" as he was at Punjab or Lucknow unless someone fixes this mindset. Irrespective of the same, RCB will be licking their lips now that DK has bid adieu to the game.
Umpiring reached a new low as there were several errors in their calls. The reviews for no balls and wides continued to frustrate both the players and the audience as a lot of times it was just the third umpire reaffirming on field umpire's decision with stupid reasons.
Caribbeans bring a flavor to the IPL with their monstrous hitting and all round capabilities with the ball and on the field. Gayle, Pollard, Bravo and Russell have scripted their own legacy in the league but the biggest legacy that Narine will have in this league is that he blatantly chucked yet the teams nor the umpires/officials found it illegal. I as an audience was annoyed but the teams and officials going blind was bizarre.
I guess I have covered all the major stories of this IPL. Hope you read it fully and liked the content as well. See you in another post!
