IPL (Indian Premier League) is India’s as well as world’s most popular league cricket contest. Tournament was kicked, in mid April. All the teams were reshuffled as some new players got into team and some were released on auction.
RCB began the 2014 season with Virat Kohli as the new skipper of the team. Alongside, the team made a series of great purchases, such as Albie Morkel, Ravi Rampaul, Mitchell Starc, Nic Maddinson, Muttiah Muralitharan, Parthiv Patel and so on. And of course, the team also got Yuvraj Singh- the costliest for the season. Kohli’s boys commenced the 7th season of the Indian Premier League with two back-to-back wins against Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians. But, they lost out to Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab in the next 3 matches. The team, however, managed to secure a win against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 6th match but again started to lose. Of the 14 matches played, the team could only manage to win in 5 and ended up on the 8th position on the points table.
The 2014 season of the Indian Premier League was one of the most remarkable League editions for Punjab Kings. It was the first and only IPL season till date when the team could reach the finals. The team commenced the season on a grand note with wins in the first 5 matches. The most important player for the squad was Glenn Maxwell who scored more than 90 in three innings and boasted a strike rate of 200. Thanks to able support from Manan Vohra and Virender Sehwag, the team could secure a place in the Playoffs. They lost at the first qualifier against Kolkata Knight Riders but won against Chennai Super Kings in the second qualifier which catapulted them to the final. Unfortunately, Preity Zinta’s team lost to Shah Rukh Khan’s team in the final.
IPL 2014 Teams: Apart from Kochi Taskers and Pune Warriors, all the team (Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings, Sun Risers Hyderabad, Delhi Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians took part here and contested hard.
IPL 2014 Champion:Kolkata Knight Rider won the title for second time in three years. Before this they won it in 2012 under the same captain-Goutom Gambhir. Though they started with difficulties but were amazing in last 9 matches which they won in a row. In final they chased down astronomical total of 200.
Runners-up: Kings XI Punjab, supposedly the best batting line up in this IPL, lost to Kolkata Knight Riders in final by 3 wickets. Statistics shows that in this season, they lost at every meet with Kolkata Knight Riders in India.
Third Position:“Whistle Poodo”, Chennai Super Kings lost to Kings XI Punjab in semi final, eliminator and stood the third place in IPL 2014.
Statistics of Batting in IPL 2014
Top Scorer; Orange cap: The opener of Kolkata Knight Riders, Robin Uthappa won the orange cap as he scored 660 runs in 16 matches with an average of 44 and strike rate of 137. He hit five fifties.
Highest score by a player in single innings: Virender Shewag is the man who appeared as the giant hitter against Mumbai Indians, scored 122 runs in just 58 balls. And the strike rate was 210.34!
Most Sixes hit by a player: Australian devastator, Glenn Maxwell hit maximum number of sixes in this season. He dispatched the balls for 36 times in 16 matches for over boundary.
Most Fours hit by a player: Again, KKR’s Robin Uthappa. He packed the balls for 73 times for boundary in 15 matches.
Maximum sixes hit by a player in single match: Glenn Maxwell of Kings XI Punjab hit 9 sixes against Sun Risers Hyderabad in Sharjah.
Fastest Fifty: Power hitter Yusuf Pathan scored fastest fifty of the season against Sun Risers Hyderabad, in just 15 balls. He played like a storm hitter and finished with 72 runs in just 22 balls.
Fastest Century: Kings XI Punjab’s Wriddiman Saha, pull the fastest century not only in 49 balls but also in the final against KKR!
Maximum fifties in IPL by a single player: David Warner of Sun Risers Hyderabad played some impressive innings and scored 6 fifties in just 14 matches.
Centuries: Only three batsmen managed to get century in this limited over format. Kings XI Punjab’s Wriddiman Saha, Virender Shewag and Lendi Simmons of Mumbai Indians got single century each.
Most Ducks by a single player: Royal Challenger’s Virat Kohli and KKR’s Goutom Gambhir both scored nothing in 3 matches.
Bowling Statistics in IPL 2014
Highest wicket takers; purple cap: MM Sharma of Chennai Super Kings, got the title of “highest wicket taker” and won purple cap for his 23 wickets in 16 matches with an economy rate of 8.39.
Most run conceded by a player in single match: Sandeep Sharma of Kings XI Punjab conceded 65 runs in just 4 over against Sun Risers Hyderabad.
Best economy rate: Rajasthan Royals Ankit Sharma had the best economy rate of just 5.37 per over.
Hat-tricks: Praveen Tambe and Shane Watson of Rajasthan Royals got a hat-trick each against KKR and SRH respectively.
Highest wicket taker in a single match: Ravindra Jadeja of Chennai Super Kings got 4 wickets against Kolkata Knight Riders at Ranchi.
Statistics of catches and dismissal in IPL 2014
Maximum catches by a single player: David Miller of Kings XI Punjab caught 14 catches in 16 matches.
Most Catches by a player in a single match: KW Richardson of Rajasthan Royals caught 3 catches in the match against Sun Risers Hyderabad in Abu Dhabi.
Best catch of IPL 2014: Kieron Pollard of Mumbai Indians awarded for taking best catch against Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2014. He took the difficult catch at the boundary line.
Most dismissal by wicket Keepers: Parthiv Patel of Royal Challengers Bangalore dismissed maximum number of batsmen- 12 in 12 matches, including 11 catches and 1 stumping.
Other Statistics of IPL 2014
Largest win by balls: Rajasthan Royals set the big win by balls when opponent Royal Challengers Bangalore put a tiny target of 71 only. RR finished the game with 42 balls remaining.
Largest win by runs: In Abu Dhabi, Chennai Super Kings achieved a win over Delhi Daredevils with a margin of 93 runs.
Largest win by wickets: KKR finished the target of 150 set by the Kings XI Punjab in Cuttack, just losing single wicket, and got a victory by 9 wickets.
Highest team total: Kings XI Punjab scored the highest team total of 231 by losing just four wickets against Chennai Super Kings in Cuttack.
Lowest Team total: Royal Challengers could manage to get 70 runs in Abu Dhabi against Rajasthan Royals. Rajasthan Royals won the match with minimum balls.
Some Amazing Moments of IPL 2014
Chris Lynn’s extraordinary catch: Chris Lynn's aerobatic exertion at the extent limit of boundary in the match against Royal Challengers bailed Knight Riders’ escape a two-run win must be the wow moment. It was a get that one can't rehearse throughout practice and is prone to remain part of cricket's oddity minutes show reel. As Lynn moved left, he slipped, after that he steadied himself on his left knee, kept eyes on the ball, plunged rearward and figured out how to keep the composure to stay inside the boundary limit.
Best counter Strike by Raina: After Kings XI Punjab posted a astronomical figure of 226 on the board, Suresh Raina of Chennai Super Kings started counter and scored a stormy 87 in just 27 deliveries but unfortunately got out by a superb throw of Bailey when he was running between the wicket to get a single.
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