The biggest sporting extravaganza of Indian cricket, the IPL, has come to an end and it has not disappointed at all. It was full of colour, drama, skill and lovely fans who elevate this game to a religion. IPL started somewhat earlier this year on March 23, 2019, due to the looming general elections.
Chennai Super Kings, the defending champions this season, opened their season by defeating Virat Kohli’s RCB. RCB had a disastrous start to their campaign, losing their first 6 games on the trot. SRH had the best opening combination going on. The duo of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow became the first pair in the history of IPL to post three consecutive opening 100 partnerships. Andre Russell was the wrecker-in-chief with a strike rate of 204.81 throughout the season.
There were two super over finishes: Imran Tahir defied age as he became the first player aged 40 and above to feature in an IPL final. He was the purple cap holder as well with 26 wickets. The orange cap went to David Warner of SRH with a total of 692 runs from 12 games. He had to leave the campaign early to prepare for the forthcoming ICC World Cup. There were two hat tricks in this IPL, the first one by Sam Curran playing for Kings XI Punjab against Delhi Capitals. The other one was taken by Shreyas Gopal where he dismissed Virat Kohli, AB Devilliers and Marcus Stoinis off consecutive deliveries.
Mumbai Indians topped the league phase, with CSK ending second and Delhi Capitals at the third place. SRH became the first team in the history of IPL to qualify with 12 points. All the top three teams had 18 points after the group stage. Mumbai Indians defeated CSK in the first qualifier and booked their slot in the finals. Delhi Capitals put it across SRH in the eliminator to face Chennai for the second spot in the finals. Delhi’s campaign came to an end in the second qualifier where they were defeated by Chennai Super Kings. Delhi had a brilliant season under their young skipper Shreyas Iyer and an experienced think tank that had Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting.
The final had all the drama you can ask for, it went right down to the wire. Two runs were needed off the last ball, and the old fox Lasith Malinga prized out Shardul Thakur in style to hand Mumbai their 4th IPL title.
Some enthralling numbers from the tournament are as follows:
| Purple Cap | Imran Tahir – 26 wickets |
| Orange Cap | David Warner – 692 runs |
| Emerging Player of the IPL | Shubman Gill |
| Most Sixes | Andre Russell – 52 |
| Most Fours | Shikhar Dhawan – 64 |
| Best Bowling figures | Alzarri Joseph – 6/12 |
| Best Strike Rate | Andre Russell – 204.8 |
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