IPL 2016 is over - Sunrisers
Hyderabad clinched the IPL 2016 title by beating RCB by 8 runs in the
final. RCB had the best possible line-up
– that of Virat, Gayle, Rahul, de Viliers, Watson – yet they lost in the
finals. Kohli amassed 973 runs in this
edition spending over 1000minutes in the middle, hitting 36 sixes in the
tournament – most by any batsman. Interestingly,
South African speedster Dale Steyn is quoted as saying that sitting out of the IPL games during this
edition had given him time to develop a couple of new tricks in the nets. The
pacer, who had signed for the Gujarat Lions, was overlooked for much of the
tournament held between April 9 and May 29, with Aaron Finch, Brendon McCullum,
Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith getting the nod most of the time. "Unfortunately
this year I had to sit on the sidelines, but that was okay as it gives you a
different perspective. I watched the games from the side, sat back without that
pressure to perform and win games," Steyn was quoted as saying by
cricket.com.au.
SRH had the best bowling
line up – Bhuvneshwar kumar, Ashish Nehra, Trent Bolt, Bipul Sharma, Ben
Cuttings, Brainder Sran, Moises Henriques …. ..and Mustafizur Rahman, whose participation in the English Twenty20
tournament for Sussex is now in doubt ! The 20-year-old bowling sensation,
nicknamed Fizz, returned home this week to a hero’s welcome after helping
Sunrisers Hyderabad win taking 17
wickets from 16 matches. Rahman was named emerging player of the tournament,
the first foreign cricketer to be bestowed with the honour, after conceding
just 6.9 runs per over, the most miserly among those who bowled in at least 10
matches. His possible playing for Sussex seems to have hit a stumbling block
after the Bangladesh Cricket Board said they would first assess his health
before allowing him to join the English side. Bangladesh national team physio
Baizidul Islam said Rahman did not aggravate any of his injuries in the IPL,
but that the board was worried over his recent workload. “He needs some rest to
remove the stress. If he continues like this he may collapse any time. We need
to assess him carefully to see how long he needs to stay away from cricket,” he
added, reports Indian Express.
IPL 2016 registered a consistent wave of activity on
Twitter, with over 10.6 million tweets about its matches this season, according
to figures released by the social media website. Twitter India released data
for the popular Twenty20 tournament in the 60 days between 9 April and 29 May.
The tournament emerged as the fastest growing sports league on Twitter
recording a growth of 300% in the number of followers for its account @IPL,
between 2014 and 2016.
Of the many who played, the
best buy is adjudged to be the short leg-spinner who was earlier bought for the
lowest 10 lakhs reserve price and retained this year. That little paid short
person snared 21 wickets becoming the most under-valued player in the whole
tournament, according to a system devised for valuing players called Estimated
Value.
Today, on Star Sports @ 9
pm, there is football action and all seemed known faces – one cannot be
faulted. It is Celebrity Classico 2016
at Mumbai Football Arena, Andheri Sports Complex with an objective to generate
funds for the foundations' charitable initiatives. Virat leads All Heart
Football Club with so many cricketers playing.
Away in Guayana, Kieron
Pollard and Sunil Narine were controversial inclusions in West Indies' squad
for the ODI tri-series. They had not played international cricket since November
2015, and did not take part in West Indies' domestic 50-over competition, which
was considered to be one of the WICB's criteria for selection. The two of them,
however, proved the match-winners in the opening game of the tournament, with
Narine's 6 for 27, the best ODI figures by a West Indies spinner, helping bowl
South Africa out for 188 and Pollard's unbeaten, run-a-ball 67 sealing a
four-wicket win.
The losing Captain AB
deVilliers identified the last 10 to 12 overs of South Africa's innings as the
period of play that cost his side the match in their tri-series opener against
hosts West Indies in Guyana. South Africa had made 130 for 2 in 30 overs, immediately,
de Villiers got out and thereafter, the innings fell apart, with the last five
wickets falling for 16 runs to leave South Africa 188 all out. Phil Simmons,
West Indies' head coach, praised the pair's contributions, highlighting
Narine's effort to bounce back from a difficult period, in which he has
remodeled his bowling action after it was found to be illegal.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
4th June 2016.
