Heard about Déjà vu? The experience of witnessing a new situation previously encountered; in today's double header Kings XI found themselves in exact same scenario as KKRs found themselves earlier in the day. Both the teams chasing a score of 149 and 146 fell short of 9 and 8 were undone by Malinga’s and Kumble’s penultimate over respectively. Both the overs yielded just 4 runs and wicket, when 23 and 17 were needed of the last two overs. Both the defeats had a common denominator; leaving too much for little people towards the end. Both the teams could take a leaf out of Dilshan’s batting; in exact similar situation Delhi chasing 149 needed 17 of 2 overs. Penultimate over was bowled by over animated Edwards; but was thrashed for 17 in just 4 balls. All the three scores look similar but Punjab’s match was far more exciting and entertaining as it actually went down to the wire.
The day didn't start well for the new skipper Kumble as yet another opening pair fails to get past the first over, Ryder edged it to Jayawardene. Bishnoi pulled every ball he faced and got some handy runs before yielding to Abdulla, soon Goswami decided let me GO swami. Uthappa and Kallis played well until they decided “Its Durban let’s make it Yuvraj's day”. Uthappa mishit one to Katich, Kallis undone by the skidder which crashed into off, Boucher made sure he was part of history, first hatrick of IPL 2.0. Then came Roelof Merwe with his 'looking London hitting Tokyo shots'. Everything is perfect about his technique high elbow, good foot work, body moving in the direction of the shot just that ball travels orthogonally. Swing towards mid on and ball goes to third man, swing towards square leg and ball going towards long off. Can’t call it ugly but scored crucial 35 and took the score to 145 Abdulla’s did pick up 4 for 36, Pathan managed 2 for 19. Kohli's needs to watch "Anger Management" movie, to cool him down. He is always angry with either his bat or shoes, keeps hitting it to the ground.
Three front line spinners and Yuvraj decides to open the innings; fair call!!!, he briskly moved to 50 of just 33 balls with some of his elegant pulls. He then decides to take Kumble to midwicket finds Kallis on the way, 70 for 1 at halfway stage. Call it either the spin of Merwe or the curse of tactical breaks Kings lose Goel, Australian sexy cricketer of the year Simon Katich soon followed him. The two Sinhalese managed to have a decent partnership but the run rate was hitting the roof. 51 required of 30 you got to back the batting team to win from here, Jayawardene yet again proved that he is King when bowling is mediocre. Merve’s bad over left Kings chasing 17 from 12 balls, exactly the same equation Delhi faced a day earlier. Kumble did exactly what Edwards didn’t do other night, kept his cool and got through the defenses of Sangakkara. 4 runs and a wicket of the 19 over, can’t ask for anything better. It was a brave move to bowl PK after he had been hit for 14 of his previous over. Even after been hit for boundary picked up Pathan and Chawla and sealed an important win for RCB.
Not many people pick up a hatrick, score 50 in 34 balls, get a match of the match award and all in the losing cause, Yuvraj found himself in that position. Probably the Déjà vu theory is either overrated or there aren’t too many Dilshan’s to win you a match out of thin air.
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