Overview:
The Indian Premier League is quite popular among its fans for the explosive powerplay batting and mammoth totals that are posted by the teams batting first, however, it can’t be denied that the bowlers have their moments and on multiple occasions have even outshined the batters. RCB’s debacle against KKR where they were dismissed for a meagre 49 runs pops straight into the mind when one thinks about such moments.
However, one has to agree that the occasions when bowlers have been able to get the better of the batters are quite rare. If you think hard enough you would be able to recall multiple matches when a boundary was scored in the first ball of those matches however it would be really difficult for you to recall a single match when a batter got dismissed on the very first ball
There are only a handful of bowlers who have ever got a breakthrough on their very first ball of an IPL match but to specific there is only one bowler who holds the record of being the only player in IPL history to have clean bowled a batter on the first ball of an IPL season
KKR vs DD IPL 2013 Match No.1 Eden Gardens:
Brett Lee
In the very first of IPL 2013, defending champions KKR were up against the mighty Delhi Daredevils in the former’s home ground. KKR won the toss and invited Delhi to bat first. The stage was set for history to be created, Gambhir handed the new ball to Brett Lee hoping for the ball to swing and Brett Lee did not disappoint and bowled the perfect inswinger, Delhi’s opener and the then Indian U-19 Captain had no clue where the ball and got clean bowled.
Unmukt ended up as the only player in the history of the league to have been clean bowled on first ball of an IPL edition.
There is only one bowler barring Brett Lee who ever took a wicket on the first ball of an IPL season and it was way back in 2010 when Chaminda Vaas from Sri Lanka playing for Deccan Chargers took the wicket of Manoj Tiwari the then KKR opening batter. It was a soft dismissal as Tiwari flicked the ball straight into the hands of Rohit Sharma, the man who went on to be the most successful captain in the history of IPL.
But Brett Lee’s record of being the only player in IPL history to have clean bowled a batter on the first ball of an IPL season continues to be unbroken. Let’s watchout if any bowler from CSK or RCB is able to make their name to this list in the first match of IPL 2024 scheduled on the 22nd of March.