How does one become a hero and villain in the same night? Maybe, Andrew Symonds has an answer to this. During the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League in 2008, Symonds achieved what few cricketers had done for their team. He put his side in a great position with the bat by smashing a century but he undid everything in one horrid over which saw the-then highest successful chase in the IPL at that time. On April 24, 2008, Deccan Chargers thought they had won the match thanks to Symonds but his Australian counterpart had other ideas and he went on to change the course of the match and a result in a dramatic way.
The setting
It was the ninth match of IPL 2008. Deccan Chargers had started the campaign badly when they lost two consecutive games. Deccan Chargers chose to bat but they were in trouble immediately when Shahid Afridi, VVS Laxman and Adam Gilchrist all fell cheaply. It was Symonds and a young Rohit Sharma who stood up and revived Deccan Chargers.
The carnage
Symonds began with three boundaries of Munaf Patel and two fours off Shane Watson as Deccan Chargers staged a revival. The right-hander reached his fifty in grand style off just 29 balls when he blasted Shane Warne for a six and a four. Symonds teed off after that, hitting Dinesh Salunkhe and Yusuf Pathan for sixes. He took on Siddharth Trivedi and smashed him for two fours and a six. He benefited on a drop on 75 and he made Rajasthan Royals pay.
Rohit Sharma looked good at the other end but it was Symonds who stole the show, getting to his hundred off just 47 balls by smashing two sixes off Warne. Symonds blasted three more fours off Munaf and Deccan Chargers ended up on 214/5, with Symonds unbeaten on 117 off 53 balls.
The tragedy
Rajasthan Royals lost Kamran Akmal cheaply but Graeme Smith and Yusuf Pathan took the attack to the Deccan Chargers bowlers. Yusuf began with a four and six off RP Singh but he tore into Chaminda Vaas, hitting him for two sixes and a four. Graeme Smith gave him good company by finding the boundary regularly. Yusuf notched up his fifty off just 21 balls and it became the fastest in the IPL at that time. RP Singh bore some punishment whie Smith targeted Afridi. D Kalyankrishna broke the 98-run stand when he dismissed Yusuf for 61 but Smith kept the game alive.
However, when Afridi struck twice, including the key wicket of Smith for 71, the game was wide open. Rajasthan Royals needed 17 runs off the final over. Symonds was entrusted to bowl the final over and it looked like a mistake as he was hit for three sixes by Mohammad Kaif in the 15th over.
After two good balls, Rajasthan Royals needed 14 off four balls. Warne struck a boundary and 10 were needed off 3 balls. Symonds missed his length and he was deposited for two sixes by Warne as Rajasthan Royals pulled off a sensational win with the highest successful chase. What could have been Symonds’ dream night turned into a nightmare
