Sometimes the battle in the Indian Premier League (IPL) can be so nerve crunching that even the greats and cool players become angry. Such are the dynamics of IPL that no one wants to lose a close match in pressure situations. Yesterday at Wankhede stadium, we witnessed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) bowling coach Muttiah Muralitharan lose his temper in the last over of the match when Marco Jansen was bowling.
Gujarat Titans needed 22 runs to win in the last over with Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia in the middle. Nobody expected these two batsmen to score 22 runs in the last over against Jansen. The South African pacer couldn’t handle the pressure of defending in the last over and bowled full deliveries in the arc of the batsman which annoyed Muralitharan.
Sri Lankan legend had no explanation for the poor bowling of Jansen. Muralitharan was seen standing and shouting in anger, ” Why the hell is he bowling so full”. This caught the attention of so many cricket fans. Nobody thought that a day would come where we would see this side of Muttiah Muralitharan.
Many cricket fans also compared this incident with the moment when Rahul Dravid too lost his cool as coach of Rajasthan Royals in a match against Mumbai Indians. In that match, Dravid threw his cap in frustration when James Faulkner couldn’t defend 4 runs against Aditya Tare on the penultimate ball.
https://twitter.com/superking1814/status/1519380101065965568?s=20&t=s0QGbeERttkVqLjfjCdyzA
Only tournament in the world that can make Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni and Muttiah Muralitharan lose their calm.
IPL the great 🔥#SRHvsGT #SRHvGT pic.twitter.com/TV8YXHkbd0— Rohit.Bishnoi (@The_kafir_boy_2) April 27, 2022
https://twitter.com/its_Sagar003/status/1519392519548993536?s=20&t=s0QGbeERttkVqLjfjCdyzA
When legends like Rahul Dravid and Muttiah Muralitharan loose their shit …you know IPL has peaked!
— Little Gimp (@iNotoriousGimp) April 27, 2022
Some people can continue to live in denial but the truth is that there is no other tournament/series that's more valuable than the IPL in world cricket.
We have seen Dravid and Dhoni lose their cool in the past. Tonight, we saw Muttiah Muralitharan joining that list.
— Narbavi (@Narbavi) April 27, 2022
I fear we may run out of luck in knockouts : Hardik Pandya
Earlier in the match, Gujarat Titans won the toss and decided to field first. Sunrisers Hyderabad after being invited to bat first set up a total of 195 runs. In reply to it, Wriddhiman Saha played an impactful knock of 68 runs. Later, Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan played amazing knocks in pressure situations to secure two more points for Gujarat.
With this win, Gujarat reached top of the points table. With the Titans closing in on another close victory, Hardik Pandya jokingly said that he sometimes fear that they will run out of luck in the playoff matches.
“I keep joking in the dressing room that God is telling us ‘You guys are good, I’ll help you’. It’s happening so often that I fear we may run out of luck in the knockout games. We keep a very chilled atmosphere and everyone is stepping up. We’re ensuring that the players are backed well,” said Hardik Pandya in post match presentation.
Written by Harsh Gupta
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