IPL: When bowlers flexed muscles at death

On the sidelines of the ongoing edition of the IPL, Sportstar takes a look at some of the best last overs — from the bowler’s point of view — in the history of the tournament.

The left-arm pacer, sitting on nine wickets in six games, conceded only four runs in the last over against Kings XI Punjab to restrict them to 143/8 when a 150 looked inevitable.

Last over, 14 to get, three wickets in hand and one attacking batsman on strike with tail-enders is a regular sight in the Indian Premier League. On most occasions, batters have an upper hand in the T20 format. But there have been games where the bowlers have also bossed around.

On the sidelines of the ongoing edition of the IPL, Sportstar takes a look at some of the best last overs — from the bowler’s point of view — in the history of the tournament.

Trent Boult (Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab)

This season, Boult has been exceptional in the IPL. The left-arm pacer, sitting on nine wickets in six games, conceded only four runs in the last over against Kings XI Punjab to restrict them to 143/8 when a 150 looked inevitable. He also dismissed Ravichandran Ashwin (caught by Rahul Tewatia off a wide yorker) and Andrew Tye (bowled) to return with impressive figures — 3-0-21-2. Delhi, however, lost by four runs.

Jordan (0/52), while defending 17 in the last over against Marcus Stoinis and Farhaan Behardien in 2016, needed two good balls to make it square.

 

Chris Jordan (Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab)

Low full-tosses and yorkers wide off the stump are IPL special templates. Jordan (0/52), while defending 17 in the last over against Marcus Stoinis and Farhaan Behardien in 2016, needed two good balls to make it square. The right-arm pacer was hit for a four and a six but he came back with a lazy slower on the off side and followed it up with a low full toss when the scoreboard read, “4 off 1”. RCB won the game by a run.

Ashish Nehra finished his spell with another wicket, that off Adam Zampa, to guide SRH to a four-run victory.

 

Ashish Nehra (Rising Pune Supergiant vs Sunrisers Hyderabad)

In 2016, RPS (now defunct) needed 14 off the last over and when Dhoni got strike — with 13 needed off five balls —  Nehra (3/29) bowled the perfect yorker to contain him for just a single. He removed Thisara Perera in the next ball, only to be hit for a six by Dhoni in the next. The plot thickened with six needed off two. A short ball surprised Dhoni, he ran for two but Yuvraj Singh ran him out. Nehra finished his spell with another wicket, that off Adam Zampa, to guide SRH to a four-run victory.

Jaydev Unadkat helped RPS win an away leg in 2017 by claiming a hat-trick.

 

Jaydev Unadkat (Rising Pune Supergiant vs Sunrisers Hyderabad)

The youngster helped RPS win an away leg in 2017 by claiming a hat-trick. It was the 17th hat-trick in the history of the IPL and the first by an RPS player. SRH needed 13 off 5 when Unadkat picked up the first wicket, Bipul Sharma, caught by Ben Stokes. He dismissed Rashid Khan (caught and bowled) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (caught by Manoj Tiwary) to finish with a fifer (5/30). RPS won by 12 runs.