The ongoing second edition of the Indian Premier League has witnessed some of the most amazing facts in the cricketing world. One aspect being that the well known names like Adam Gilchrist, Sanath Jayasuriya etc have got only initial knocks that were limited to just one or a couple of games. While on the other side, batsmen like Abhishek Nayar, Yousuf Pathan and Suresh Raina have displayed rather decent knocks almost in every match that they have played. And no recognized bowler has been able to take a hattrick so far in this tournament. But, lesser known part time bowlers like Rohith Sharma and Yuvraj Singh have done it despite it not being their cup of tea.
And one can imagine the caliber of the team that provided full support for a part time bowler like Rohith Sharma not only take a hattrick but also capture 4 wickets giving away just 6 runs in the two overs he bowled in the match. Even Rohith Sharma would be thinking how stupid was the team against which he had played? There was a rare distinction that the Mumbai Indians had. That was the fact that they are the only team that are gifted with openers in Sanath Jayasuriya & Sachin Tendulkar, who have been doing the job for one and a half decades for their respective teams.
No other team in the IPL has this benefit. The top scorer of the match was J P Duminy but to no avail. He was also the lone half century scorer in the match. The Mumbai Indians side lost 8 wickets at the end of the day. Out of those 8 wickets, 4 were bagged by Rohith Sharma meaning half the wickets were named against Rohith Sharma. From this I recall the group stage match between India and Namibia in the 2003 world cup where Yuvraj Singh ended up with the same figures of 4/6. From this , atleast on that particular day, the Mumbai Indians were like a Namibia team that went through the world cup without even a single win.
If there can be a Yuvraj Singh and Rohith Sharma who can come out successful with the ball and someone like Robin Uttappa who is found to keep wickets for his team despite that not being their cup of tea, it would not be wrong for one to expect someone like Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, R P Singh and other lower order players to come and score a hundred. For that matter, similar for a team not to have had any recognized bowlers to take a hattrick, no well known batsmen if not for A B Devilliars has scored a hundred in this tournament. So, just imagine a team losing 7 to 8 wickets within the first 6 overs and the tail enders scoring a century.Awesome isn't it?
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