The 18th version of the Indian Premier League (IPL) commences on Saturday, March 22, with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) taking over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. By the way, these two groups had locked horns within the first-ever match within the IPL in its inaugural season in 2008.
CricTracker seems to be again in any respect the firsts that cricket fanatics must know in regards to the opening encounter within the cash-rich league which was held nearly 17 years in the past.
First Ball:
Rahul Dravid gained the toss for RCB and he determined to bowl first. Uttar Pradesh seamer Praveen Kumar bowled the primary ball in IPL historical past to KKR captain Sourav Ganguly. The ball pitched on the stumps and swung again in in the direction of the pads of the southpaw, who didn’t get his bat onto the ball. The ball rolled off the thigh pad to sq. leg and Brendon McCullum raced to the non-striker’s finish to finish a fast single.
First 4:
After Praveen bowled a tidy first over, conceding simply three runs, Zaheer Khan was launched into the assault within the second. McCullum missed a lower shot off the primary supply from the left-arm seamer. Nonetheless, he thumped the second ball over mid-wicket to report the primary boundary within the IPL.
First Six:
McCullum hit the next supply nearly in the identical area to register back-to-back boundaries. The New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter cleared the ropes off the fourth supply of the over. McCullum took a few steps in the direction of the off-side and tried to chip Zaheer over mid-on. Nonetheless, the supply bowled at 125.8 kph took a thick outside-edge and sailed over third man for the primary six within the IPL.
First Wicket:
KKR raced to 60/0 on the finish of the primary 5 overs as McCullum was taking the RCB bowlers to the cleaners. Zaheer was introduced again into the assault to bowl the ultimate over of the powerplay. He dismissed Ganguly off the second supply. Zaheer bowled a phenomenal out-swinger that took the outside-edge after Ganguly tried to position it via the on-side. Jacques Kallis, who was stationed at huge slip, took the catch to finish the primary dismissal in IPL historical past.
First Fifty:
McCullum slammed the primary half-century in IPL historical past when he reached the milestone within the ninth over. The proper-handed batter took simply 32 balls to get to the 50-run mark. He hit Kallis for a few runs in the direction of backward sq. leg to succeed in his fifty.
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First Century:
McCullum accelarated the scoring fee after reaching his half-century. He took simply 53 balls to deliver up the maiden century within the IPL. McCullum bought to the landmark within the sixteenth over by choosing up a few runs off Ashley Noffke.
First Win:
KKR scored a staggering 222/3 of their 20 overs on the again of McCullum’s blistering 158 not out off 73 balls. It was sheer dominance from the Kiwi cricketer because the second-highest run-scorer within the innings was Ricky Ponting, who made a run-a-ball 20.
Chasing the mammoth goal, RCB had been bowled out for simply 82 in 15.1 overs. Ajit Agarkar was the decide of the bowlers for KKR as he completed with figures of three/25 in 4 overs. In the meantime, Ashok Dinda and Sourav chipped in with two wickets apiece. The away aspect gained by a large margin of 140 runs.
First Participant of the Match Award Winner
McCullum was fittingly adjudged Participant of the Match after his heroics with the bat set the stage ablaze. The Dunedin-born hit 10 fours and 13 sixes in his match-winning innings.
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