Murali Vijay: 126 runs off 56 balls
Albie Morkel: 62 runs off 34 balls
Naman Ojha: 94 runs off 55 balls
Shane Watson: 60 runs off 25 balls
Albie Morkel: 4 overs, no maidens, 2 wickets for 56 runs
Sudeep Tyagi: 4 overs, no maidens, no wicket for 45 runs
Murali: 4 overs, no maidens, 1 wicket for 52 runs
Yusuf Pathan: 4 overs, no maidens, no wicket for 44 runs
Shaun Tait: 4 overs, no maidens, no wicket for 44 runs
All of the above are remarkable, remarkable in the batsmen's cases for their phenomenal strike rate, to score 127 off 56 balls is some achievement make no mistake, remarkable in the bowlers' cases because of their horrible economy rates. But, and its a big but, the following figures are the most remarkable of all:
Doug Bollinger: 4 overs, no maidens, 2 wickets for 15 runs.
You read that right, Doug Bollinger, he of the most slappable face in cricket, conceded just 15 runs from his four over spell. Fifteen runs given away in a match where 469 runs were conceded in 40 overs, a collective run rate of 11.75 runs per over. 246 plays 223 wouldn't look out of place in a One Day International, but a Twenty20 match?!
Bollinger: Slappable, but bloody good.
Anyway, what is the significance of that? Well, he was shamefully denied the Man of the Match award, that was given to M Vijay for his spectacular hundred. Spectacular it may have been, and on another day entirely worthy of the MoM award, but of all the figures above, which set stands out from the rest? Which set of figures unquestionably won the match for his side? Which set of figures was completely unique among all the others? Bollinger's.
There's a serious point here, if the IPL does not see fit to award the man of the match award to a bowler who bowled fully 10% of the overs in a match but only conceded 3% of the runs, and for good measure took 20% of the wickets to fall, when exactly does a bowler get the man of the match award?! I'm all for big sixes and high strike rates, but the bowlers need to be recognised too, and Bollinger's performance today wasn't just the best of the match, it was in my opinion the best of the tournament so far.
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3 comments:
Batsman's game, as one of the commentators said during the game. He added "rightfully so".
I think Dougie's most important moment was getting Watto out!
Indeed, and I don't dislike there being loads of runs, but I just wish they'd acknowledge the bowlers when they perform like Bollinger did!
I think if he hadn't got Watson when he did, Rajasthan might just have pulled it off - all the more reason to give Bollinger the MoM award!
His entire spell was one big Citi Moment of Success. I think no one sponsors wickets because they know for sure that there can't be more than 20 a match, and that's unlikely too!
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