First in IPL 2: Things Happened for the First Time!

The IPL 2 started well and is progressing in a nice way, though there were weather threats interruptions. With so many things happening, I have consolidated the interesting things that happened in this edition of IPL:

First Match: April 18, 2009: Mumbai Indians v. Chennai Super Kings
First Toss Captains: April 18, 2009: Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni
First Toss Win: April 18, 2009: Mahendra Singh Dhoni of Chennai Super Kings
First D/L Method: Match 3, KXI v. DD. Delhi won by 10 wickets with 7 balls remaining. Matched started as 12 overs-a-side. KXI scored 104. During DD innings, rain intervened in the 2nd over, target revised to 54 in 6 overs. They won without losing a wicket.
First Man of the Match: Sachin (MI)
First Win: MI beat CSK
First Win by Runs: MI beat CSK by 19 runs
First Win by Wickets: DD beat KXI by 10 wickets
First Bowl Out: Yet to Happen
First Carry Through the Bat: Sachin (MI) against CSK. He opened the innings with Jayasuria and was not out on 59 when the innings ended.
First Ball Faced by: Jayasuria of Mumbai Indians
First Ball Bowled by: Gony of Chennai Super Kings
First Run Scored by: Jayasuria of Mumbai Indians in the first over, first ball
First Dot Ball Bowled by: Gony of CSK to Tendulkar of Mumbai Indians
First Extra: Leg bye by Jayasuria (MI) of Thushara (CSK), 1.1 overs
First Leg Bye: Jayasuria (MI) of Thushara (CSK), 1.1 overs
First Wide: Gony (CSK) bowled the wide to Dhawan at 11.2 overs
First No Ball (height): Bowled by Praveen Kumar (RC) to Henderson (RR) at 4.3 overs. 1 run was scored;
First No Ball: Bowled by Sangwan (DD) to Raina (CSK) at 7.4 overs. Batsmen did not score run.
First Free Hit: Raina (CSK) got the chance against Sangwan (DD) at 7.4 overs. Chasing 190 in 20 overs, Raina missed it as he edged it to Karthik.
First Bye: Dhoni missed to collect Flintoff's delivery to Nayar, 1 run at 15.4 overs
First Four: Jayasuria (MI) of Thushara (CSK), 1.4 overs
First Six: Nayar (MI) hit six of Flintoff (CSK) at 17.2 overs
First Catch: Hayden (CSK). He took Jayasuria's (MI) catch at slip of Thushara (CSK)
First Bowled: Dhoni (CSK) was bowled by Malinga (MI) at 19.4 overs
First LBW: Bopara (KXI) was trapped by Vettori (DD) at 6.1 overs
First Caught Behind: Dhawan was caught behind by Dhoni (CSK) at 11.4 overs
First Outfield Catch: Hayden (CSK). He took Jayasuria's (MI) catch at slip of Thushara (CSK)
First Caught and Bowled: Gony took the catch of Duminy (MI) at 13.3 overs
First Run Out (Batsmen): Harbhajan Singh (MI) at 19.0 overs

First Run Out (Fielders): Jacob Oram (CSK) ran out Harbhajan (MI) through a direct hit
First Stumping: Warne (RR) was stumped by Uthappa (RC) off Kumble at 13.3 overs
First Ball Duck: Taylor (RC) was bowled by Mascarenhas (RR) in 0.3 overs.
First Fifty: Sachin Tendulkar of MI. He scored 59 not out against CSK
First Hundred: AB DeVilliers of DD. He scored 105 not out against CSK in 54 balls with 5 fours and 6 sixes
First Wicket with 0 Score: RC lost the wicket of Ryder in the 2nd ball of first over bowled by Mascarenhas (RR)

First Wicket in First Over: Malinga (MI) took the wicket of Parthiv Patel (CSK) at 0.2 overs.
First Maiden: Anil Kumble (RC) against Rajasthan Royals
First Wicket: Thushara (CSK). He took Jayasuriya's (MI) wicket in 5.5 overs
First 5-Wickets: Anil Kumble (RC) 5 for 5 in 3.1 overs against RR
First Hatrick-Chance: Mascarenhas (RR) in his first over took 2 wickets (Ryder and Tylor) at 0.2 and 0.3 overs
First Hatrick: Yuvaraj Singh (KXI). He removed Uthappa in his 2nd over (11.5) 5th ball, caught by Katich; Next delivery, Kallis was bowled; Since the over ended, he got the hat-trick chance in his third over (13.1) and he removed Boucher through a leb before decision. But his team lost the match.

First Fast Bowler to Take a Wicket: Thushara (CSK) took the wicket of Jayasuria (MI) at 5.5 overs; Caught at slip by Hayden;
First Spinner to Take a Wicket: Harbhajan Singh (MI) took the wicket of Flintoff (CSK) at 9.5 over; caught and bowled

First Drop Catch: Hayden (CSK) dropped Tendukar (MI) of Flintoff (CSK). Tendulkar was on 9 and he scored 59 not out.

Balaji gets Hat-trick!

Lakshmi Pathy Balaji, took a hat-trick in the match against Kings XI Punjab played in Chenni on May 10, 2008.

Playing his 2nd match in the IPL after a gap of more than 2 years, he bowled well in the first match against Delhi Daredevils.

His second match against Kings XI Punjab should be a memorable one for him. He thanked all those who supported him during the stressful injury period.

The History of Hat-Trick:

Last over, 27 required. Balaji to Pathan, Six off a full toss.

21 from 5 balls: Two runs were scored

19 from 4 balls: Pathan was caught by Raina at deep square leg. Pathan did not time it well during his pull and it landed in Raina's hand.

19 from 3 balls: The batsman crossed and Chawla hit the ful toss to long off and Kapugedera takes an easy catch. Two wickets in two balls.

19 from 2 balls: He was on-a-hat-trick. VRV Singh was facing. The ball was pitched short out side the off stump, and he tried to slog it, but it took the outside egde and went just few steps back of Dhoni, who took an easy catch. THAT WAS A HAT-TRICK!! FIRST IN IPL! The last ball was missed by the batsman and it went to keeper.

He picked 5 wickets in the match giving away just 24 runs in his quota of 4 overs. What a match for him? He was given the man of the match award! Who else can get it???

Click here to read match history of Chennai Super Kings v. Kings XI Punjab!

Match 16: Mumbai enters Points Table! Wins at last!

At last, Mumbai Wins!

Mumbai tasted its first victor in the inagural T20 tournament of IPL. They beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 7 wickets.

For Mumbai Indians, Pollock lead it from the front. Once again Sachin did not play the game. With Harbhajan banned from the IPL, it was Pollock who lead the team once again. But, this team, he gave a victory to Mumbai.

Except for the toss, nothing went right for Ganguly. He thought the wicket was good for batting and wanted to put a high score in the board. But that needed a good start and improving the momentum in the middle overs and good sloggin in the final overs.

Pollock bowled the first over and provided two crucial break throughs. He dismissed Ganguly after being hit for a four, caught brilliantly at 2nd slip, the only fielder in the slip region. Then, he dismissed Brendon McCullum, leg before, for 1. It was a dream start, the one Mumbai wanted.

Ponting, playing his last match and is returning to Australia for West Indies tour, was expected to play a big innings. So far, he did not play a big innings and contribute in a big way.

It was Das who played fe good shots and maintained a good run rate. He hit two consecutive fours of Nehra and then huge six of Pollock.

Ricky Ponting was struggling at one end. He was not able to time the ball or go for big shots.

Das was caught at point when he tried to drive the raising delivery of Bravo. When he was out, the score was 40 for 3. Both Ponting and David Hussey found it difficult to move forward. At the end of 10 overs, they were 60 for 3. Mumbai needed some depsarate firing and increase the run rate.

Hussey opened up by hitting a four in cover off Pollock. That over added 11 runs. But, in the 11th over bowled by Jayasuriya, he got David Hussey caught at deep by Nehra.

Two overs later, Jayasuria in addition to striking twice had bowled a maiden over. He got Hussey caught by Nehra. A poor calling by Hafeez, made Ponting run out. He called "yes" initiated the running and suddenly said "no", but ponting couldn't go back on time. He was out on a time when he was just getting momentum. In the same over, Hafeez was caught by Shah. Shukla was the lone fighter, scoring 40 not out off 22 deliveries with 4 fours and 2 sixes. Knight Riders ended their innings at 137.

Chasing an easy target, Mumbai Indians though looked like started well, actually were struggling at 25 for 3. Jayasuriya blasted few fours, but Ishanth Sharma sent his off stump flying through a beautiful inswinger.

Rahane was the first to go caught at deep fine leg by David Hussey for 4 and Pandey was bowled through an inner edge didn't score at all.

But, Bravo and Robin Uthappa played a very sensible innings. They did not take any risk, but ensure that they were scoring runs

Bravo reached his 50 off 42 balls with 7 fours and a six. On the other hand, Uthappa played some good shots.

Both of them ensured that Mumbai Indians to open their account in the points table.

Score:

Match 16
Venue: Kolkata
Date: April 29, 2008
Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders v. Mumbai Indians
Captains: Sourav Ganguly and Shaun Pollock
Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders and decided to bat
Result: Mumbai Indians won by 7 wickets with 8 balls remaining
Man of the Match: Sanath Jayasuria of Mumbai Indians (Sri Lanka)
Points: Mumbai Indians-2; Kolkata Knight Riders-0
Score:
Kolkata Knight Riders 137 for 8 in 20 overs (BB McCullum 1, SC Ganguly 4, RT Ponting 19, DB Das 29, DJ Hussey 17, Mohammad Hafeez 2, LR Shukla 40 not out, AB Agarkar 2, M Kartik 10, I Sharma 0 not out, Extras 13--b 1, lb 5, wide 7, SM Pollock 4-0-27-2, A Nehra 1-0-9-0, CRD Fernando 4-0-41-1, DS Kulkarni 3-0-15-0, DJ Bravo 4-0-25-1, ST Jayasuriya 4-1-14-3) lost to Mumbai Indians 138 fo 3 in 18.4 overs (AM Rahane 4, ST Jayasuriya 18, M Pandey 0, RV Uthappa 37 not out, DJ Bravo 64 not out, Extras 15--lb 5, wide 9, nb 1, AB Agarkar 4-0-23-1, I Sharma 3.4-0-33-1, AB Dinda 4-0-12-1, M Kartik 3-0-24-0, Mohammad Hafeez 1-0-16-0, SC Ganguly 2-0-14-0, LR Shukla 1-0-11-0)