#ThrowbackThursday - 10 most expensive spells in the IPL

In our first article of this throwback series, we'll look at 10 bowlers who went the distance in an IPL match

10. Marco Jansen vs GT, Wankhede 2022, 4-0-63-0 

              On an unforgiving pitch at the batting friendly Wankhede, SRH scored 195 runs batting first.  By the 20th over of the GT innings, Umran Malik had bowled what was arguably the greatest bowling spell in IPL history to single handedly bring SRH back into the contest, picking each of the 5 wickets to have fallen. Kane Williamson had bowled out Umran, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Natarajan leaving previous match's POTM Marco Jansen to bowl the last over. At the crease were Tewatia and Rashid Khan needing 22 of the last 6 balls, with GT seemingly pulling off heists almost every other match in the tournament. Jansen, though already expensive having leaked 38 runs in his first 3 overs, wouldn't have anticipated the carnage that awaited him. Tewatia hit the 1st ball for a six and turned over the strike to Rashid, who hit 3 sixes of the last 4 balls to not only send Jansen into the top 10 most expensive spells, but also steal a win for GT in a finish for the ages. This is also the only spell in this list which was in the second innings of the match.

9. Ashok Dinda vs MI, Wankhede 2013, 4-0-63-0

                        2013 was the season when Ashok Dinda became unfortunately associated with the notion of expensive spells. In a season with more troughs than crests, Dinda hit rock bottom vs MI. Sachin Tendulkar hit 4 successive fours after Dinda started off with a wide leading to Mathews taking him off the attack. Rohit Sharma didn't spare him when he was brought back into the attack thrashing him for 4 sixes and Ashok Dinda ended up conceding the then joint-worst bowling spell in the IPL.

8. Varun Aaron vs CSK, Chepauk 2012, 4-0-63-2

                Unlike the other spells so far, this wasn't a doomed spell from the beginning. Varun Aaron had picked up the wickets of Michael Hussey and MSD after an expensive first over. M Vijay, who was playing a great innings carted him for consecutive fours in his third over leaving him with figures of 2 for 38. But, things fell apart in the last over when Dwayne Bravo smacked 20 off his last 4 balls taking Varun Aaron to the most expensive IPL spell till then. 

7. Josh Hazlewood vs PBKS, Brabourne 2022, 4-0-64-0

               

                    Punjab Kings were a team transformed in 2022. Filling their team with hitters and going uber aggressive, they successfully chased down 200+ in their first game. Pundits called it the future of T20 batting. But Punjab batting couldn't keep up, partly because of their long tail. They didn't top 200 again until this game. Bairstow and Livingstone bookended the innings with such blitzkreigs that it's unbelievable to see Hasaranga concede just 15 runs off his 4 overs. Hazlewood bore the brunt of the attack as he conceded 22 of his first over and 24 of his last. He ended up becoming only 7th player to concede 16 RPO in the IPL.

6. Siddharth Kaul vs MI, Sharjah 2020, 4-0-64-2

               Siddharth Kaul had conceded runs at 9.75 runs an over in the powerplay since IPL 2015 - the worst for any bowler to have bowled at least 30 overs. He did worse in this match as De Kock and SKY laid into him as he conceded 28 runs in his 2 powerplay overs. But his nightmare was just beginning. He conceded a further 15 runs in his 3rd over which now seems better than his final over which Krunal Pandya carted for 21 runs as Kaul ended with 64 runs in his spell. 

5. Sandeep Sharma vs SRH, Hyderabad 2014, 4-0-65-1

                   Sandeep Sharma is an oddity in this list. He's the only player in this list to end up on the winning side. He's the only player on this list to concede less than 7 runs in two of his overs in the match. As such it was less a bad day for him than a bad couple of overs. It was Dhawan who tore into his 3rd over as hit four fours and a six. Then it was Naman Ojha hitting a couple of sixes and fours each. Sandeep Sharma became only the 3rd bowler to concede 65 runs in an IPL match. 

4. Umesh Yadav vs RCB, Delhi 2013, 4-0-65-0

    

                   In one of the earliest Kohli-AB duo specials, RCB overcame a slow start to finish with 183 runs after scoring 84 runs in their last 5 overs. The victim was none other than Umesh Yadav, who had already conceded 18 runs of his first 2 overs. But Umesh went to experience the helplessness that countless other bowlers experienced against the RCB buddies. He conceded 24 and 23 of his next 2 overs to become the 2nd bowler to concede 65 runs in an IPL match. 

3. Mujeeb Ur Rahman vs SRH, Hyderabad 2019, 4-0-66-0

                            

                            Mujeeb became the first spinner to concede more than 60 runs in an IPL match. Usually known for his miserliness in the powerplay, Warner and Saha took him apart in his two powerplay overs for 28 runs. But the night got worse for Mujeeb as he ended up conceding more than 10 runs in each of his 4 overs with his final over going for a whopping 26 runs as Kane Williamson and country-mate Nabi slammed him for three sixes and a four. Mujeeb was bowled for a duck in the chase making it a night to forget for the young Afghan spinner.

2. Ishant Sharma vs CSK, Hyderabad 2013, 4-0-66-0

                                               

                                         Ishant Sharma transformed himself into a match winning Test bowler in the 2013-14 season. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about his white ball game. Even though he has had his highs in the IPL - he remains the only player till date to have a taken a 5-fer inside the powerplay in an IPL game, he has had more than his share of lows. Nothing matches the mauling he got at the hands of CSK batters in this game. When Ishant Sharma conceded 11 runs in his first over, sandwiched between a maiden and a 2 run over for Steyn, he wouldn't have imagined it was going to be his least expensive over. M Vijay began the carnage by hitting him for 3 consecutive sixes in his 2nd over, before Mr. IPL Suresh Raina took him for a whopping 25 runs in his fourth over as Ishant Sharma became the first player to concede more than 63 runs in an IPL match.                  

1. Basil Thampi vs RCB, Bengaluru 2018, 4-0-70-0

    

                                Basil Thampi, the 4th SRH bowler in this list, burst onto the IPL scene for the Gujarat Lions as a bowler who could consistently hit the blockhole. He was then picked by SRH and was consistently benched as SRH had a strong group of Indian seamers. Unfortunately for him, of the few times he got a game, he endured the worst possible nightmare for a bowler - playing RCB at their home ground with their batters clicking. He is the only player on this list who didn't bowl a single over in the powerplay. Moeen Ali carted him for 19 runs in the 8th over before he got AB'd in the 13th over for 18 runs. Colin de Grandhomme joined the fun in 16th over before Sarfaraz Khan made his name in the 19th over. RCB finished with 218 and Thampi with scarcely believable 4-0-70-0.