The heat shows no signs of slowing down and nor does the IPL. Now that the Lok Sabha elections are also in full swing, the IPL commands even more attention, lest Indians waste time on things they cannot help. To add fuel to the IPL fire and provoke people in a way no election campaign speech can, it is time to welcome back the Wrong ’Uns.
For our second instalment of 2024, we inaugurate a new category that is unlikely to please anyone in the Tendulkar household while handing over the White Cap to the IPL’s most self-conscious player. Without any further ado, here are our winners for all things brilliant and bizarre (often one and the same thing) from the last two weeks of the IPL.
The Socrates Award for the Best On-Field Dialogue
After making one bowling attack after another look like club bowlers, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma got together following the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) convincing win over the Delhi Capitals (DC) to discuss their devastating partnership through… emojis! The pick of the lot for us was Sharma using the cowboy emoji to describe Head, who suddenly feels a lot more Texan than South Australian! The duo also announced that their next target is helping SRH post 300, something that should get their upcoming opponents to resort to the crying emoji.
The Kalbaisakhi Award for the Most Pleasant Surprise
Named like an aristocrat from Victorian England (or a cyberpunk antagonist!), Jake Fraser-McGurk is the latest Australian pocket rocket to get the IPL buzzing. At just 22 years, DC’s Fraser-McGurk stands at a little more than five-and-a-half-feet, but has enough power to send the ball beyond the ropes with ease. With an idiosyncratic baseball-esque swing, Fraser-McGurk has already plundered 163 runs in three innings since his IPL debut against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). With 11 fours and 16 sixes to his name so far, Fraser-McGurk has generated a storm that may well see him break down the doors to the Australian national team for this summer’s T20 World Cup.
Most Outlandish Kit
Just because we know that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are going to repeat it every year does not mean it gets any easier to accept. No, we do not mean RCB snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as they did against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday at the Eden Gardens. We mean the green strip they sported while doing so. Part of RCB’s annual homage to the environment (or whatever remains of it), this year’s alternative kit for Virat Kohli and Co. looked even more outlandish thanks to its pairing with blue instead of black. To make matters worse, the bright green resulted in awkward reflections under lights near the sightscreen at the Pavilion End at Eden, making one RCB batter (no prizes for guessing who) particularly furious.
The ‘I Know Better’ Award for Peak Uncle Behaviour
Sunil Gavaskar is not enjoying the dominance of the bat in the IPL TT Archives
It is easy to sympathise with Sunil Gavaskar these days. For he is being asked to call a sport he can barely recognise. Having spent the first half of his life resisting airborne strokes as fiercely as a helmet, Gavaskar is now expected to lavish adjectives on batters who do not want the ball to touch the grass. No wonder then that Gavaskar recently lashed out at the big hitting in the IPL, comparing it to batters slogging the ball during the “last round” at net practice with all the disdain of an uncle rebuking situationships. Unfortunately for Gavaskar, his point failed to make much impact, since “last round” at nets is very much last decade.
The Easter Award for Remarkable Resurrection
Jaiswal roared into form for RR against MI TT Archives
Before the Rajasthan Royals (RR) met the Mumbai Indians (MI) in Jaipur, RR’s golden boy, Yashasvi Jaiswal, had only scored 121 runs in seven games at an average of 17.28. A big knock was a must for the 22-year-old in a bid to retain his place in the team. With the pressure creeping up, Jaiswal slipped into the sort of effortless run-accumulating mode that he had been in for much of the past year, notching up a brilliant 104 not out off 60 balls to make a chase of 180 seem like a walk in the park.
The Oops Award for Most Awkward Viral Moment
Was Ana de Armas in attendance during the Gujarat Titans (GT) vs DC game at the Narendra Modi Stadium? Probably not. Was Shubman Gill caught on camera staring at a woman in the crowd who looked like a spitting image of the Cuban-Spanish actress? Definitely. What made it an oops moment for Gill was not so much that he was captured looking at the giant screen that showed the woman in question, but that he gave the sort of reaction that most boys would be able to relate to. For Gill’s sake, we hope that Sara Tendulkar was watching something else that evening!
The White Cap
In the easiest award to hand out this week, Glenn Maxwell takes over the ownership of our White Cap from his RCB skipper Faf du Plessis. Having scored just 32 runs in six games for RCB, Maxwell has taken an indefinite break from IPL action, citing “mental and physical fatigue”. While we commend the practice of dropping yourself before the team management can drop you, Maxwell’s decision has not necessarily made life any easier for RCB, who still need a middle-order basher to give their characteristically fragile bowling something to work with. Maybe once RCB are mathematically out of the playoffs, a refreshed Maxwell can come back to give them what they had been waiting for. Until then, he has our cherished White Cap to give him (and his head) company.
