Rajasthan Royals never quite emulated the highs of 2008, when they overcame odds stacked against them with flying colours to lay hand on the IPL trophy. The journey since then, however, has not been quite adventurous; and eight years after that moment of glory, like a derelict vehicle, they were thrown out of the league for two years.
But they were not alone. Chennai Super Kings too faced similar wrath. The RM Lodha Committee suspended both teams for a period of two years in the wake of spot-fixing charges. Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants replaced them for IPL 2016 and 2017.
Gujarat Lions went into the auction with a simple strategy: they relied on the blueprint that had made the Super Kings the most successful franchise. Four of their five draft picks were former CSK stars, and they appointed Suresh Raina as captain.
It was a near-perfect introduction from the Lions, who won six of their first seven matches. Then they hit a lean patch, and could only win four of their next seven, but it was more than enough to seal a Playoffs spot.
Raina led from the front, amassing 399 runs from 15 matches. Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch and Dinesh Karthik crossed the 300-mark as well. Dhawal Kulkarni (18) was their leading wicket-taker. However, defeats in Qualifiers 1 and 2 saw them crash out of the tournament.
Rising Pune Supergiants’ campaign were ravaged by injuries of their star players – Steven Smith, Kevin Pietersen and Faf du Plessis. With five victories and nine defeats, they finished seventh, just above Kings XI Punjab.
For the second time in a row, Punjab were the cellar dwellers. Glenn Maxwell and David Miller had a shambolic season with the bat, while Shaun Marsh’s injury made things worse for them. They replaced David Miller with M Vijay as captain, but that did not change their fortune.
Reigning champions Mumbai Indians were hit by a couple of high-profile injuries in Lasith Malinga and Lendl Simmons. They had their moments here and there but lacked the consistency to grab the Playoff spots. Rohit Sharma did a brilliant job as an opener, but lack of support from the other end hurt his cause. There was only one fifty-plus partnership for the opening wicket in fourteen attempts.
Kolkata Knight Riders pipped Mumbai to become the fourth team to qualify for the Playoffs. Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir were a dominant force at the top, aggregated 566 runs as a pair, exceeded only by David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan of Sunrisers Hyderabad. Diagnosed with chickenpox, Manish Pandey was ruled out early in the season. His absence left a gaping void, and the Knight Riders tried as many as eight batters for the first down.
Their journey ended with a crushing 22-run defeat by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator. On a slow, stodgy surface, Hyderabad successfully defended 162, courtesy Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 3-19. Warner then hammered an unbeaten 58-ball 93 against Gujarat in the qualifier to steer his team to the first ever IPL final.
Warner was a dominating force in the Sunrisers’ race to the final. He was well assisted by another southpaw, Dhawan. The duo fired on all cylinders, and their exploits shielded the brittle middle-order that followed them. On the bowling front, Bhuvneshwar was at his fluent best, bagging the Purple Cap.
IPL 2016 was when Mustafizur Rahman broke into the scene, becoming the first ever foreigner to win the Emerging Player of the Season award. His off-cutter bamboozled even the best in the business, and batters had a terrible time picking his variations.
In the final, the Sunrisers was pitted against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Virat Kohli’s men got off to an ordinary start, winning just two of their first seven games. However, seven wins in the second half of the season saw them finish second in the league stage. Kohli led from the front, registered his first century of the IPL career, and then added three more in the space of nine innings. He aggregated 973 runs in 16 matches, a record that still stands.
The final was the high-octane affair where sides scored in excess of 200. A fifty from Warner and a late surge from Ben Cutting (39 in 15 balls) propelled Hyderabad to an imposing 208. In reply, RCB got off a rollicking start as their openers, Chris Gayle and Kohli, combined 114 runs in 10.3 overs. However, Kohli and AB de Villiers’ dismissal in successive overs proved too big a setback to overcome for the rest of their batters.