Mahmood's stunner, Gony's first-baller
The Plays of the day from the IPL match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab
Siddarth Ravindran
19-Apr-2013
Akshath Reddy hung on to David Hussey's catch on the second chance • BCCI
The catch
This IPL has already seen some of the old-timers pull off some astonishing bits of fielding - Ricky Ponting's leaping effort to dismiss Unmukt Chand, Brad Hodge's fast, flow throw to get the crucial run out of David Warner, Adam Gilchrist's athletic catches against Rajasthan Royals and Rahul Dravid's reflex one-handed pluck to send back Robin Uthappa. There was an addition to that list in the eighth over of the chase. Reddy looked to power a ball over mid-off only to see 38-year-old Azhar Mahmood zip across and then stretch out his right hand to snare the ball when it seemed to have almost gone past him.
This IPL has already seen some of the old-timers pull off some astonishing bits of fielding - Ricky Ponting's leaping effort to dismiss Unmukt Chand, Brad Hodge's fast, flow throw to get the crucial run out of David Warner, Adam Gilchrist's athletic catches against Rajasthan Royals and Rahul Dravid's reflex one-handed pluck to send back Robin Uthappa. There was an addition to that list in the eighth over of the chase. Reddy looked to power a ball over mid-off only to see 38-year-old Azhar Mahmood zip across and then stretch out his right hand to snare the ball when it seemed to have almost gone past him.
The diamond duck
Manpreet Gony got his first game of the season three days ago against Kolkata Knight Riders, and surprised everyone with a career-best 18-ball 42 that proved pivotal in a low-scoring shootout. Against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he was promoted ahead of Dimitri Mascarenhas, but there was no repeat of the magic. In fact, Gony didn't even get on strike as he was run-out for a diamond duck, sent back while attempting a suicidal second. Quite the turnaround in fortunes.
Manpreet Gony got his first game of the season three days ago against Kolkata Knight Riders, and surprised everyone with a career-best 18-ball 42 that proved pivotal in a low-scoring shootout. Against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he was promoted ahead of Dimitri Mascarenhas, but there was no repeat of the magic. In fact, Gony didn't even get on strike as he was run-out for a diamond duck, sent back while attempting a suicidal second. Quite the turnaround in fortunes.
The juggle
Towards the end of Kings XI Punjab's innings, they were looking to David Hussey to provide the final push to take the side to a competitive score. Those hopes were dashed, though, when he picked out Akshath Reddy at sweeper cover in the 17th over. Kings XI's hopes were again momentarily raised as the ball bounced off Reddy's shoulder but, to their dismay, the ball popped up nicely to provide Reddy a simple second chance, which he gleefully accepted.
Towards the end of Kings XI Punjab's innings, they were looking to David Hussey to provide the final push to take the side to a competitive score. Those hopes were dashed, though, when he picked out Akshath Reddy at sweeper cover in the 17th over. Kings XI's hopes were again momentarily raised as the ball bounced off Reddy's shoulder but, to their dismay, the ball popped up nicely to provide Reddy a simple second chance, which he gleefully accepted.
The miss
Most legspinners have a decent googly in their armoury, and Amit Mishra is no exception. On a spinning track, he floated one in the 16th over and the batsman, Gurkeerat Singh was completely befuddled by it. Gurkeerat was looking to hammer the ball through the off side, but the ball beat his bat by a long way to strike his pads. There was such a large gap between the ball and bat that even Gurkeerat broke into an apologetic grin.
Most legspinners have a decent googly in their armoury, and Amit Mishra is no exception. On a spinning track, he floated one in the 16th over and the batsman, Gurkeerat Singh was completely befuddled by it. Gurkeerat was looking to hammer the ball through the off side, but the ball beat his bat by a long way to strike his pads. There was such a large gap between the ball and bat that even Gurkeerat broke into an apologetic grin.
The puzzler
In his fifth match of the season, Gilchrist won his first toss and chose to bat. When asked why, he seemed nonplussed, left searching for words as the media training of many years deserted him. He finally managed to say that one of the reasons was that teams have managed to defend low totals this season, something his side couldn't replicate on the day.
Siddarth Ravindran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo