AB's hole-in-one and the broken seat

Aaron Finch was just about getting into his stride, having struck the last two balls he had faced, both from Ashok Dinda, for four and six. When he got on strike for the first time in the next over, the third of the Sunrisers Hyderabad innings, Mitchell Starc banged the ball in. Finch seemed to pick up the length quickly enough, and was back in his crease and in position to hook. The ball came on way quicker than he expected, though, and it was headed for the space framed by his helmet and his left shoulder. Finch therefore had neither time nor space to manouevre his arms through the shot, and ended up popping a simple catch to the wicketkeeper.

David Warner had been in for 41 balls, but had only scored 45 by the end of the 17th over. Sunrisers were still going at less than 7.5 an over. On came Ashok Dinda. Warner ran down the track to the fourth ball of his over, converted it into a full-toss, and sent the ball soaring over the long-off boundary. Off the last ball of the over, Dinda sent down a third straight full-toss. This time, Warner wasn't to be denied. He smacked it over long-on, and straight into the Sunrisers bench. The players scattered to safety, but one of the seats in the dugout came loose in the melee.

In the fifth over of Royal Challengers Bangalore's chase, Chris Gayle swung across the line to a back-of-a-length ball from Ishant Sharma and didn't make the cleanest connection. The ball struck the inside half of Gayle's bat and rolled away in front of deep midwicket. Darren Sammy, running to his left on the boundary, seemed to be making ground comfortably, but he dived a touch too early, and his tall frame got stuck in the turf as the ball rolled past him. The timing of the dive cost Sunrisers three runs. In typical fashion, Gayle had stopped running after completing his first run.

The Sunrisers dugout was a magnet for big hits throughout the game. In the 10th over of the Royal Challengers innings, AB de Villiers got down on his knees and slogged Irfan Pathan high over long-on. Though it didn't carry quite as far as Warner's, and fell short of the dugout, it plopped into a waste bin lying just in front of it. De Villiers, incidentally, is an excellent golfer, and maintains a handicap of two.

When Dale Steyn began the 19th over, Royal Challengers needed 28 off 12 balls. When the over ended, and when de Villiers was done taking him apart, they needed 4 off 6. You could tell de Villiers was batting in a rarefied zone even before the over had begun, but what he did to the last ball proved it beyond doubt. Having walked across the stumps to a length ball, de Villiers went down on one knee and scooped the ball over his left shoulder. This was Dale Steyn, the world's best fast bowler. And de Villiers scooped him over his shoulder, over the fine leg boundary, and into the second tier of the stands. There was only one thing Steyn could do here, and he did it. He stood there, watched the ball sail into the distance, and applauded.