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'Sheer madness': Cricket world in disbelief over 37-run over

Andrew Reid
·5-min read
Pictured here, Ravindra Jadeja reacts after hitting 37 runs off one over.
Ravindra Jadeja's 37-run over equalled Chris Gayle's IPL record. Pic: IPL

Ravindra Jadeja has left the cricketing world scrambling for superlatives after delivering one of the most extraordinary all-round displays in recent memory.

The India allrounder smashed a record-equalling 37 runs off the final over, before claiming 3-13 to lead Chennai Super Kings to a 69-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.

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Incredibly, he also affected a run-out with a direct hit to cap off an extraordinary individual display that snapped Bangalore's unbeaten start to the season.

Jadeja's 37 runs off the final over saw him equal a record set by Chris Gayle when the West Indies great was playing for Bangalore in 2011.

Gayle's record came against the Kochi Tuskers' Prasanth Parameswaran during the 2011 edition of the IPL, but Jadeja's Sunday best was one of the most astonishing all-round feats the competition has ever witnessed.

Aussie Dan Christian would be kicking himself after dropping Jadeja on zero, with the Chennai star making the Challengers pay in devastating fashion.

rocketed his team's total from 4-154 at the end of the 19th over to 4-191 at the end of the 20th.

He hit five sixes and a four in Harshal Patel's 20th over - with one of the sixes coming off a no ball - for his 28-ball 62.

Jadeja's amazing sequence of hitting in that over was: 6,6,6 (off the no-ball) 6,2,6,4.

The 32-year-old's jaw-dropping exploits left viewers in a frenzy on social media.

In reply, Bangalore scored 9-122, mainly due to Jadeja's brilliance with the ball.

Jadeja, a seasoned allrounder with left-arm spin, took the heart out of Bangalore's run chase by clean bowling in-form Australian Glenn Maxwell (22) and AB de Villiers (4).

Jadeja a one-man army

Between those two vital blows, Jadeja also ran out Christian off a direct throw which reduced Bangalore to 5-81 in the 10th over with the chase falling apart for Virat Kohli's team.

"It's good to get a performance like this out of the way early in the season," said Kohli, who scored only eight. "You can probably say one guy beat us."

Jadeja's skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni echoed those sentiments after hailing his match-winning allrounder.

"Jaddu (Jadeja) is somebody who can change the game on his own," Dhoni said after the match.

Seen here, Ravindra Jadeja belts a ball to the on-side boundary for Chennai.
Ravindra Jadeja smashed Banglaore's bowlers all over the ground. Pic: IPL

In Sunday's other game at Chennai, Delhi Capitals joined Chennai Super Kings and Bangalore at the top of the leaderboard on eight points after beating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the competition's first Super Over this season.

Kane Williamson nearly pulled off victory for Hyderabad but his unbeaten 66 off 51 balls took his team to 7-159, only equalling Delhi's 4-159.

Left-arm spinner Axar Patel, playing his first IPL game after recovering from the coronavirus, gave away only seven runs in his Super Over against Hyderabad's Australian skipper David Warner and Williamson.

Delhi skipper Rishabh Pant hit a boundary against leg-spinner Rashid Khan and then ran a leg bye off the last ball to hand Hyderabad their fourth loss this season in five games.

with AAP

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