#iplseason13 : Silences Doubters As It Heads Towards An Exhilarating Finish

Picture : Twitter/ IPL

After initial doubts, the Dream11IPL 2020 in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah is now excitingly poised to have an exhilarating finish . The absence of crowds at venues was not doubt missed. But in these COVID-19 times this was only unfortunate option to play play the tournament. But nevertheless in the absence of ardent fans cricket was the winner.

As the tournament heads towards the finish now there are plenty of memories to remember. Many young players showed their immense talent. And heading the list of impressive stars are likes of – Shubman Gill, Rituraj Gaikwad, Rahul Tewatia, Devdutt Padikkal , Ishan Kishan , Varun Chakravarthy, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Kartik Tyagi, Nitish Rana .

It was really unfortunate that Kings XI Punjab, who aftare a horrendous start won five matches in a row yet could not make it to the play- offs. Three time Champions Chennai Super Kings finished seventh. And despite big names in its ranks and captained by Steve Smith, and having the likes Of Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson, and young talent like unknown Rahul Tewatia Rajasthan Royals finished last in the season.

But take a bow for the players who lit up the season 13 – K L Rahul captained Kings XI Punjab well and batted superbly only to lose out of ideas and steam later on. Mayank Agarwal also excelled so too did the Universe Boss Chris Gayle.  For the Royals Ben Stokes came late and after initial struggle with the wickets and lack of matches scored a breathtaking 59 ball ton of 107. Shikhar Dhawan for Delhi Capitals hit two back to back impressive tons. A B De Villiers showed in some matches why he is the best in business . Virat Kohli , the Indian cricket captain , showed why is terrific in all formats .

The bowlers too had their days with the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Jofra Archer, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah ,Mohammad Shami, Sam Curran, bowling splendidly to name a few . South African speedster Anrich Nortje bowled the fastest ball in IPL history a stunning 155 plus during a match.

The spinners too came to the party with the likes of superstar Rashid Khan, Murugan Ashwin, Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy, Yuzvendra Chahal taking vitals wickets.

There were notable failures as well – Andre Russell , Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch , Rohit Sharma did not set the IPL on fire . KKR skipper Dinesh karthik stepped down as skipper after seven matches and handed over the the captaincy to England’s 2019 ICC World Cup winning skipper Eoin Morgan to concentrate on his batting. But Karthk’s batting flopped. Leaving Morgan little time to settle as skipper. KKR ideally should have made Morgan the skipper moment he was available straight away that would have made difference to their campaign. Having a World Cup winning skipper and asking him to play under Dinseh Karthik made little sense.

one of the biggest stars of the IPL Mahendra Singh Dhoni  and his team CSK went out of the IPL for the first time early but not before winning some matches towards the end . As there was a buzz if this was his last IPL, MSD flatly denied any such talk and insisted he will be back in 2021 and yes with a young team.

As the tournament now reaches the climax – Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and the Sunrisers Hyderabad now battle for the glittering trophy. Play- offs qualifications are the first priority  and with some teams on par with points the run- rate will come into play now . So let the best four qualify and see that the desert sojourn becomes a thriller.