Edged, not attempted, repeat
Plays of the Day from the IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai
Sidharth Monga
28-Apr-2015
Smith scored many a run off his edge, but McCullum was given out lbw the first time he edged the ball • BCCI
The replay
It is one of the more legendary youtube clips. Shahid Afridi is on a rampage, Ashish Nehra creates his edge, and MS Dhoni and Rahul Dravid - keeper and slip - watch it fly between them. Nehra lets rip: "Can't take a simple catch, $%^&* *&^%$." These are his current captain and future captain.
It is one of the more legendary youtube clips. Shahid Afridi is on a rampage, Ashish Nehra creates his edge, and MS Dhoni and Rahul Dravid - keeper and slip - watch it fly between them. Nehra lets rip: "Can't take a simple catch, $%^&* *&^%$." These are his current captain and future captain.
Dhoni just doesn't go for that catch between himself and first slip. Anyone with basic knowledge of the game knows it is the keeper's catch, and Dhoni just doesn't go for it. Dhoni and Nehra have won a World Cup since then, but Dhoni still doesn't go for those catches. In a similarly rampant start by Kolkata Knight Riders, Nehra produced an edge in the fifth over, and Dhoni and first slip again didn't move. It's 10 years on, Dhoni hasn't changed much, but Nehra has matured and has learnt to keep the lid on. Or perhaps the reason for restraint is that Dhoni is no longer the future captain.
The edge
Dwayne Smith raced away to 20 off 14, but he did so almost exclusively through edges. First he looked to force Pat Cummins through the off side, and edged over slip. Then, after struggling against Umesh Yadav's pace, he finally went for a desperate pull, this time sending the top edge all the way for a six. A bona fide leg glance later, he was late on another Yadav full ball. This time the edge died and rolled between keeper and slip. Brendon McCullum, on the other hand, played three incredible shots to reach 19 off 13 when he inside-edged a straight delivery from Piyush Chawla. Given out lbw. IPL at its most typical.
Dwayne Smith raced away to 20 off 14, but he did so almost exclusively through edges. First he looked to force Pat Cummins through the off side, and edged over slip. Then, after struggling against Umesh Yadav's pace, he finally went for a desperate pull, this time sending the top edge all the way for a six. A bona fide leg glance later, he was late on another Yadav full ball. This time the edge died and rolled between keeper and slip. Brendon McCullum, on the other hand, played three incredible shots to reach 19 off 13 when he inside-edged a straight delivery from Piyush Chawla. Given out lbw. IPL at its most typical.
The leave
Robin Uthappa is not a specialist wicketkeeper, but coming to the land of the most street-smart limited-overs wicketkeeper of our time, he showed he had learnt a thing or two. Smith, as he tends to at times, was lazy with his running as a handcuffed Suresh Raina went for a single to short third man. Yusuf Pathan let rip a full throw, Uthappa looked to collect it in front of the stumps, but at the last moment he pulled his gloves out because he had figured out this was going to hit the stumps. Smith was caught short by that split second.
Robin Uthappa is not a specialist wicketkeeper, but coming to the land of the most street-smart limited-overs wicketkeeper of our time, he showed he had learnt a thing or two. Smith, as he tends to at times, was lazy with his running as a handcuffed Suresh Raina went for a single to short third man. Yusuf Pathan let rip a full throw, Uthappa looked to collect it in front of the stumps, but at the last moment he pulled his gloves out because he had figured out this was going to hit the stumps. Smith was caught short by that split second.
The ping
It looked like a quick pitch or the Chennai Super Kings batsmen were generally late against the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers, with Smith looking completely out of place against Yadav and Ravinda Jadeja wearing one flush in the head from Andre Russell, but the most telling body blow came from a slower delivery. Mind you, when Yadav bowls a slower short ball, it is still hard leather coming at you at close to 130ks. And this one, in the final over to Faf du Plessis, was aimed perfectly: at the chest, and way after du Plessis has swung the bat for the pull. It winded du Plessis so badly he didn't even look up to take the easy leg-bye on offer.
It looked like a quick pitch or the Chennai Super Kings batsmen were generally late against the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers, with Smith looking completely out of place against Yadav and Ravinda Jadeja wearing one flush in the head from Andre Russell, but the most telling body blow came from a slower delivery. Mind you, when Yadav bowls a slower short ball, it is still hard leather coming at you at close to 130ks. And this one, in the final over to Faf du Plessis, was aimed perfectly: at the chest, and way after du Plessis has swung the bat for the pull. It winded du Plessis so badly he didn't even look up to take the easy leg-bye on offer.
The running forehand
Cricket commentators abuse the term "forehand" when batsmen pull a ball over mid-on with both hands on the handle - only Fabrice Santoro can do that - but McCullum showed a proper forehand in the field. Uthappa tapped the first ball of the chase softly towards point and set off for a run. McCullum charged in, wound up with his right hand as if with an invisible racket in hand, and slapped the ball onto the stumps. He hit them direct, but Gautam Gambhir had made the run by then.
Cricket commentators abuse the term "forehand" when batsmen pull a ball over mid-on with both hands on the handle - only Fabrice Santoro can do that - but McCullum showed a proper forehand in the field. Uthappa tapped the first ball of the chase softly towards point and set off for a run. McCullum charged in, wound up with his right hand as if with an invisible racket in hand, and slapped the ball onto the stumps. He hit them direct, but Gautam Gambhir had made the run by then.
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo