3 Unusual events in which the IPL teams played
Here we look at three unusual matches and series in which the IPL teams took part.
1. Kolkata Knight Riders vs Queensland in 2008
The Kolkata Knight Riders set the IPL on fire in the very first match with help of a sensational knock from Brendon McCullum. However, they failed to carry on from there on as they won only five more matches and finished at No.6 in the points table. Former Australian coach John Buchanan was the coach of KKR as well. The Queenslander Buchanan arranged a tour for the Knight Riders as part of Queensland’s pre-season games.
A total of six T20 matches were played in the tour containing three double-headers. Queensland started with a 10-wicket win while KKR won the 2nd game by 1-wicket. Queensland bounced back with victory margins of 9 wickets and 119 runs. Queensland won the series 5-1 as they won the last two games by 48 runs and 3 wickets respectively. All matches of the series were hosted by the Allan Border Field.
Adam Hollioake was KKR’s captain in that tour who was part of KKR support staff in 2008. Buchanan wanted to rope in Hollioake for the 2009 edition as one of the captaincy options in his strategy of using multiple-captains in a season. However, the England player opted out as he was already 37. Buchanan’s son Michael was part of KKR’s 16-player squad for this tour.
Siddarth Kaul was probably the only player who was part of the 2008 edition team. Andrew Symonds represented Queensland after being left out of the national squad as he skipped a team meeting for fishing a month before this series. KKR were due to play BCB XI in February 2010 ahead of the 3rd edition of IPL but the 3-match series didn’t go as planned.
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