IPL 2020—The 3 Most Interesting Highlights Of The Season So Far

 

IPL 2020 has been one of the unique seasons of the league so far. Scheduled for March, the tournament was postponed by BCCI due to COVID-19. Amidst speculations that IPL 2020 can get cancelled, BCCI found a window to schedule IPL matches when ICC postponed the T20 World Cup to 2022. 

The tournament got shifted to the UAE because of the high number of COVID-19 cases in India. This year’s IPL matches are being played in Sharjah, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi behind closed doors. However, this has led to record viewership numbers at home, making it a great season for advertisers and broadcasters as well. 

IPL highlights that will be remembered for seasons to come 

Despite the COVID-19 restrictions such as players being allowed to play in a strictly controlled bio-bubble environment, IPL 2020 has won many hearts. IPL has been a roller coaster ride so far. 

The 13th version of IPL is seeing many ups and downs. We have witnessed many occasions of tremendous finishes, memorable innings, and unexpected moments this IPL season. The IPL news we see is almost always filled with exciting turning points. 

The latest IPL news is that our favourite team is going home. The deed is done: CSK is the first team to disqualify from IPL 2020. This will be the first time that Chennai Super Kings will be missing a spot in the playoffs. Many other events too became IPL news in this season so far. Let us set apart the 2020 IPL highlights from the IPL news reported until now. 

Here are three of the most interesting highlights of IPL 2020. 

IPL highlight #1 – Chennai Super Kings knocked out of playoffs for the first time 

CSK has failed to qualify for the playoff this year for the first time in IPL history. 

Out of the 13 IPL seasons played so far, Chennai Super Kings has participated in 11 seasons. CSK has qualified for the playoffs on 10/11 occasions. Moreover, CSK has played the IPL final on eight occasions and have won the title three times. How the turntables for the ace team. 

The IPL season started badly for MS Dhoni and CSK and got only worse. The two veteran players of the team, Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh pulled out of the tournament for personal reasons. Also, 13 of the CSK members, including Ruturaj Gaikwad and Deepak Chahar, were tested positive for COVID-19. They had to quarantine for 14 days instead of the usual 6 days. 

CSK lost to Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Delhi Capitals in a row before registering a win. After which, they again had a terrible downfall. They were knocked out of the playoffs on October 25. 

IPL highlight #2 – First-ever historic double super over between MI and KXIP 

KXIP beat MI after the unending T20 match that had for the first time in IPL history, two super overs. 

Super over has certainly made the game of cricket more interesting. We have been seeing super overs in previous IPL seasons as well. After the ICC 2019 World Cup final, ICC tweaked the rules and brought in the dictate of consequent super overs in case of ties over the boundary count rule. 

We never saw more than one super over in a single match, but things changed in a game between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab. MI made 176/6 batting first. KXIP managed to tie the game. In the super over, KXIP batted first and scored 5 runs. However, because of Mohammad Shami’s yorkers, MI couldn’t reach the meagre total. This led to the first-ever tie in super over, which warranted another super over. 

KXIP won in the second super over, and the win put them on the path to playoff qualification. 

IPL highlight #3 – Rahul Tewatia’s hits 5 sixes in one over against Sheldon Cottrell 

Rahul Tewatia's 5 sixes sealed the game for Rajasthan Royals as they were chasing a mammoth total of 224 to win. 

Previously a part of Delhi Capitals, Rahul Tewatia was traded to Rajasthan Royals (RR) ahead of the auction. Tewatia was lucky enough to get to be in the playing XI for the 9th IPL match against Rajasthan Royals. Chasing the 224-run target, Sanju Samson was striking good for RR. Tewatia was promoted in the batting order but was struggling to hit big shots in a pressured run chase. 

His best moment came when 51 runs were needed off 18 balls. Tewatia hit Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over. This 30-run-over proved to be the turning point that led to a record successful run chase in IPL history. 

Thus, IPL 2020 has been no short of exciting occasions. Many other events have also made to IPL news, making IPL 2020 one of the best seasons so far.