When Yusuf Pathan unleashed terror with a 22 ball 72

Pathan unleashed terror with a 22 ball 72

Dec 27, 2014

Yusuf Pathan is the kind of player who can totally demoralise, batter and stomp out the opposition bowlers on his day. On days like that, no bowling plan can impede him, no bowler can overcome the beast. It was on one such day that a quality Sunrisers Hyderabad had to face the man. The Sunrisers Hyderabad attack boasted names like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Dale Steyn but even they looked helpless as Yusuf Pathan smashed his way to a match-defining 22 ball 72.

Pathan came out to bat in a high-pressure situation. His team, Kolkata Knight Riders were struggling at 55/2 in eight overs in chase of 161 in 15.2 overs to be able to qualify to the playoffs round. Add to that, Pathan wasn’t in his best of form throughout the tournament. But with the required run rate mounting captain Gautam Gambhir decided to promote Pathan up the order to try and bring down the asking rate with a few lusty blows.

What Pathan delivered was more than what Gambhir or anyone probably hoped or expected. He went on to smash the fastest IPL half century and in doing so brought his team to the brink of qualification. With a few more monstrous blows he took his score to 72 off 21 before getting out. By then it was too late for Sunrisers anyway. The damage had been done and KKR chased down the target in 14.2 overs.