Although Mumbai Indians went on to win the contest, thanks to Jasprit Bumrah's world class Super Over, Gujarat Lions should be mighty proud of Pathan and Jadeja's efforts in the final over of the match.
Irfan Pathan must have felt a severe setback when he wasn't picked by any team during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 auctions a few months ago. The veteran Indian all-rounder, however, got lucky as Dwayne Bravo had to head home due to an injury and the Gujarat Lions decided to replace the West Indian with the experienced Pathan.
Having spent almost three weeks watching IPL 10 at home, Pathan was thrown into the deep end straight away as he was asked to bowl the final over of the match by skipper Suresh Raina against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday.
Defending 11 runs of the final six balls, Pathan showed his class and proved why he was once Team India's premier all-rounder. Not only did he manage to tie the game and take it to a Super Over, he did that after being hit for a six off the first ball of the over. The 32-year-old summoned his wealth of experience to choke the boundaries in the last five balls of the match and give just five runs. A truly remarkable feat considering today's power game and the fact that he was returning after a lengthy layoff.
Pathan's partner in crime and GL's other star performer in the final over was Ravindra Jadeja. The 28-year-old isn't regarded as one of the best fielders in the world for nothing. The left-hander is known to have a deadly arm and he took full advantage of it to produce two stunning run-outs in the last over of the match.
With MI needing four runs to win off four balls, Jadeja pounced on to the ball like a panther, picked up and released the ball in one smooth motion, and knocked the stumps down at the other end to send Jasprit Bumrah back.
Later, with the visitors requiring a single off the final ball, Jaddu produced another moment of magic. As the ball deflected off Lasith Malinga's pad and flew towards Point, both Malinga and Krunal Pandya sprinted to get to the other end and take their team to victory. Jadeja, though, had other ideas. With only one stump at aim at, he grabbed the ball quickly and unleashed a rocket throw to run-out a diving Pandya.
To put things in perspective, GL would have lost the match had Jadeja failed to hit the stump on either of those two occasions.
Although MI went on to win the contest, thanks to Bumrah's world class Super Over, GL should be mighty proud of Pathan and Jadeja's brilliance that gave them a shot at victory.
Here's that nerve-racking final over by Pathan.
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