Harbhajan goes Gangnam
The Plays of the Day from the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Mumbai
Sidharth Monga
27-Apr-2013
Harbhajan puts a spin on Gangnam-style • BCCI
The celebration
It must not be fun for bowlers world over watching Chirs Gayle hitting their ilk. Harbhajan Singh spoke for them all when he dismissed Gayle, caught at cow corner, and broke into his own version of the Gangnam dance, a celebration Gayle introduced the cricketing world to. His performance might not quite thrill Psy, but Harbhajan kept on with it. It was a mix of Gangnam and the Bhangra. It was oppa Bhangnam-style.
It must not be fun for bowlers world over watching Chirs Gayle hitting their ilk. Harbhajan Singh spoke for them all when he dismissed Gayle, caught at cow corner, and broke into his own version of the Gangnam dance, a celebration Gayle introduced the cricketing world to. His performance might not quite thrill Psy, but Harbhajan kept on with it. It was a mix of Gangnam and the Bhangra. It was oppa Bhangnam-style.
The field position
A regulation slip is one in hand, a wide slip is two in the bush. As with birds so with cricket: two in the bush are likely to fly away. For the third time today - twice in the Royals-Sunrisers match - three different captains paid the price for keeping two in the bush. In the first match, Shane Watson added 82 after edging between the keeper and the wide slip, Amit Mishra added 15, and in this game Sachin Tendulkar got away with one and added 21 off 12 thanks to it. Not worth saving the single, is it?
A regulation slip is one in hand, a wide slip is two in the bush. As with birds so with cricket: two in the bush are likely to fly away. For the third time today - twice in the Royals-Sunrisers match - three different captains paid the price for keeping two in the bush. In the first match, Shane Watson added 82 after edging between the keeper and the wide slip, Amit Mishra added 15, and in this game Sachin Tendulkar got away with one and added 21 off 12 thanks to it. Not worth saving the single, is it?
The slip
Jaydev Unadkat, part of the losing side in the Ranji final a few months ago at Wankhede Stadium, got off to an inauspicious - and a painful - start. Running into bowl his first ball of the night, he landed badly. The back foot slipped along its side, and he ended up on his backside. Coming down when not in control of your body and running at that pace can end up ugly. Luckily, Unadkat didn't cause himself any damage, and continued bowling.
Jaydev Unadkat, part of the losing side in the Ranji final a few months ago at Wankhede Stadium, got off to an inauspicious - and a painful - start. Running into bowl his first ball of the night, he landed badly. The back foot slipped along its side, and he ended up on his backside. Coming down when not in control of your body and running at that pace can end up ugly. Luckily, Unadkat didn't cause himself any damage, and continued bowling.
The run-outs
In the 18th over of a Twenty20 innings, when the ball is hit to the right of extra cover, most fielders are happy to concede the single lest any fancy stunt concedes a second. Not Virat Kohli. When Dinesh Karthik drove to his right, Kohli charged at it, swooped, threw while moving off balance, and hit the stump to catch the batsman short.
In the 18th over of a Twenty20 innings, when the ball is hit to the right of extra cover, most fielders are happy to concede the single lest any fancy stunt concedes a second. Not Virat Kohli. When Dinesh Karthik drove to his right, Kohli charged at it, swooped, threw while moving off balance, and hit the stump to catch the batsman short.
The next ball was hit straight to Kohli, and he hit the stumps again. Ambati Rayudu was sent back by Pollard this time, and would have been in had not the bowler, Vinay Kumar, inadvertently pushed the bat out while backing up for the throw. There are some captains who wouldn't have appealed, but Kohli doesn't ask for a quarter on the field, and wasn't giving one. The replays showed the bat had never landed behind the crease, and Rayudu had to go back.
The top edge
In the eighth over of the match, Karthik top-edged a pull that went for a six. It said a lot about the good bounce in the pitch, about the thickness of the bat's edge, but also about the size of the field. The six was only 64 metres long, 4.57 metres more than the shortest boundary allowed in international cricket.
In the eighth over of the match, Karthik top-edged a pull that went for a six. It said a lot about the good bounce in the pitch, about the thickness of the bat's edge, but also about the size of the field. The six was only 64 metres long, 4.57 metres more than the shortest boundary allowed in international cricket.
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo