Raina's one-handed stunner at slip

Stunning catches at boundary edges have become frequent in the IPL. Andre Russell-Piyush Chawla and Shane Watson- David Wiese had combined for hokey-pokey grabs this season. Stunning slip catches, however, are not as regular. Suresh Raina claimed one on Sunday night.

Dwayne Smith banged a short ball into the ribs of Suryakumar Yadav. The batsman arched his back to ramp the ball over Raina at slip. Cramped for room, he gloved it in the air instead. Raina flew to his left, stretched his right hand out, and plucked a one-handed catch as he tumbled onto the ground. He landed near wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik's feet.

Left-arm chinaman bowler Shivil Kaushik came into the action early - in the third over - when he awkwardly slid to his right at third man to intercept an open-faced dab from Suryakumar Yadav. The next over, Robin Uthappa picked one off his pads behind square. Kaushik moved to his left from fine leg and got his body behind the ball. But it bounced off a practice pitch, brushed Kaushik's fingers, and trickled away for four. He had a puzzled expression on his face, while Dhawal Kulkarni, the bowler, had his hands on his mouth in disbelief.

Shakib Al Hasan, wearing multi-coloured boots, added more flash to the proceedings with scoops off contrasting balls in the penultimate over of Kolkata Knight Riders' innings.

The first came off a slow, 89 kph bouncer off Praveen Kumar. Shakib walked across off, waited for the ball to arrive, leaped, and used his upper-body power to shovel-scoop the ball over his shoulder, to the fine-leg boundary. Three balls later, Praveen bowled a 127 kph full toss. Shakib stepped across again and scooped it over the keeper for another four. Praveen was ready to rip his hair out.

Brendon McCullum's cavalier approach is exemplified by his down-the-track bash. He stepped out to the third ball he faced, lost his shape, and swung wildly at a good-length delivery from Russell. Wicketkeeper Uthappa belted out a caught-behind appeal instantaneously. Seconds later, the bowler went up and Morne Morkel ran towards the keeper from short fine leg. Umpire Rod Tucker shook his head and shot down the appeal, even as ultra edge picked up a spike. McCullum made 29, which included three fours and two sixes, before toe-ending Piyush Chawla to long-on in the eighth over.