26 runs off two balls and McCullum's 'Lagaan' moment

Believe it or not the 13-run phenomenon took place not once but twice in last night’s IPL fixture between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians and proved to a deciding factor.

Remember those gully cricket days when nothing was impossible? Even getting more than 12 runs off a ball as the bowler may eventually overstep and the batsmen would somehow manage to clear the boundary on both the illegal and legal deliveries. Now what may not be an astonishing moment in backyard cricket is one of the rarest things in first class cricket, let alone international cricket or tournaments of the same standard like the IPL. Believe it or not the 13-run phenomenon took place not once but twice in last night’s IPL fixture between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians and proved to be a deciding factor.

The first instance was in the 10^th over of the RCB innings when McCullum clobbered Hardik Pandya for successive sixes – one off a no ball and the next, off the free hit. Pandya was guilty of bowling a waist-high full toss, McCullum somehow managed to get an outside edge that flew over third man for a six. The following free hit though, made everyone’s jaw drop.

It was not as if McCullum invented an entirely new shot. He just brought out one of his most celebrated shots from yesteryears straight from the closet. He opened up in almost a Chanderpual-like stance and scooped the low full toss straight back over the keeper’s head for a six. There you have it, 13 runs off one ball.

Twitter went crazy seeing the genius of McCullum, some even compared McCullum's shot to Guran's shot in Oscar nominated movie 'Lagaan'.

Little did they know that the last over of the RCB innings had something more extraordinary in store.

Mumbai Indians had staged a stunning comeback led by Pandya and Bumrah to choke RCB to 154 for 7 when McClenaghan stood in his mark preparing for the final ball of the innings. To the worst nightmare of the already battered Mumbai fans, the New Zealand left-arm seamer repeated a Pandya and conceded 13 runs off the last ball.

He too was guilty of bowling a waist-high full toss that was deposited deep into the stands by Colin de Grandhomme and when he changed his line in the free hit, Grandhomee drove him over long-off for another six.

In one of the most rare scenarios, RCB took 26 runs off two legal deliveries, which in the end proved to a decisive factor in their 14-run win over the Mumbai Indians to keep their playoff hopes well and truly alive.