The IPL's Most Iconic Game-Changing Moments Ever
Into its 18th season, the Indian Premier League can be remembered as a collection of unforgettable episodes. We list our favourites
2014
Break a leg (or three)
A drifting googly darted down leg, a sharp return catch taken off a sucker length and a seal-the-deal yorker. In his second match for the Rajasthan Royals, a 43-year-old Pravin Tambe—an unknown commodity until then—struck thrice in two balls (one was a wide down leg, off which he had Manish Pandey stumped) to leave the Kolkata Knight Riders’ run chase in tatters. They slipped from 121 for none to 123 for 6 and lost the game by 10 runs.
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2018
Bravo, Dwayne
Coming back after a two-year ban, the Chennai Super Kings needed a major fillip. It was 83 with 86 more to get and their top five were back in the hut when Dwayne Bravo walked in and went on a rampage. Seven maximums were soaring into the stands by the Trinidadian allrounder as the men in yellow overcame an attack comprising Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Mustafizur Rahman to etch an iconic win in the annals of CSK lore.
2023
39 runs from 8 balls
With two balls remaining in the 19th over, KKR needed 39 runs from 8 against the Gujarat Titans. It looked like a lost cause, but then, after hitting Josh Little for a six and four in the last two balls of over 19, Rinku Singh dispatched Yash Dayal for five sixes—in a row—in the final over. Disbelief washed over the stadium and commentator Nick Knight was forced to eat his own words after he said Singh’s initial six in the last over would not be for a winning cause. Singh became the only batter to hit five sixes in the last over of a T20 chase, firmly cementing his status as one of the best finishers in white-ball cricket.
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2014
Chris Lynn's boundary screamer
Six runs to get off three balls is hardly a challenge for Abraham Benjamin de Villiers. So, what do you do? Bowl a length ball and hope Chris Lynn at the midwicket boundary will pocket it. R Vinay Kumar banged it in, ABD went for the pull and Lynn, despite having slipped, pulled out a blinder at the ropes. He sprang back to his feet, leaping backward with his eyes on the prize, catching the ball, dropping to the ground on one hand, safe. The stadium erupted as the viewers gasped in disbelief.
2008
Runs galore in Match no 1
It feels like a different era but Brendon McCullum’s 158 not-out (in just 73 balls) in the first-ever IPL match will always remain fresh in memory. This was a stacked Kolkata Knight Riders team—Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting, David Hussey, Ajit Agarkar, Shoaib Akhtar and Ishant Sharma among others—that went up against Rahul Dravid’s Royal Challengers Bangalore. McCullum was a one-man wrecking machine that night. 13 sixes. 10 fours. It set the tone for what the IPL was to become in future editions. McCullum’s Bazball was around all this while.
2008
A Jonty moment
In the 45th match of the IPL’s first season, chaos unfolded as three runouts occurred in the final over while Mumbai Indians chased 190 set by Kings XI Punjab. With 19 needed off the final over, hope remained for Mumbai with Dilhara Fernando and Siddharth Chitnis out in the middle. Chitnis hit a no-ball for six, followed by a dropped catch and a boundary, but was run out on the second delivery; Ashish Nehra followed suit and was dismissed without facing a ball. With two needed off the last ball, tailender Vikrant Yeligati mistimed a shot but ran anyway. Yuvraj Singh dived full stretch to run him out, sealing Punjab’s one-run win in a thrilling finish. Singh’s acrobatics were a show of fine athleticism with shades of Jonty Rhodes.
2016
Ben cuts RCB to size
Everyone who's familiar with the RCB jinx is in on the inside jokes about the IPL side that’s repeatedly choked in its pursuit of the trophy. Ben Cutting delivered what’s arguably the harshest blow of them all—during an IPL final, no less. Bowling first, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru kept the Sunrisers Hyderabad in check for 18 overs, but then Cutting broke free, plundering Shane Watson for 24 in the final over— three huge sixes and a four. Despite Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle putting up 114 for the first wicket in no time, 208 ultimately proved eight runs too many for them.
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2008
A sixer of wickets
In a format where batters are often kings, bowlers have left their own mark. In match 24 of the first season, Pakistan pacer Sohail Tanvir, for Rajasthan Royals, delivered a devastating spell of 6 for 14 against the Chennai Super Kings. Apart from dismissing the opening pair of Parthiv Patel and Stephen Fleming for naught, Tanvir snapped up the all-important wicket of Albie Morkel, on his way to the six-wicket haul. Chennai was sent packing for just 109 and the Royals registered a comfortable 8-wicket victory. They would eventually go on and lift the trophy. Tanvir’s record stood for more than a decade but was ultimately broken by Alzarri Joseph in 2019 when he picked up 6 for 12 in his first game for the Mumbai Indians.
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