The faulty tower, and the Tendulkar five
Plays of the day from the game between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai
Sidharth Monga
07-May-2013
One of Sachin Tendulkar's famous five • BCCI
The over
This might be Twenty20, but if you are going to have Sachin Tendulkar's streaks it is going to be fours and not sixes. He did it to Ryan McLaren in this game, hitting him for five successive fours in the fourth over. First he went over mid-off, then pulled him through midwicket, then picked a slower ball and lofted it over mid-on, and then placed a full toss perfectly between cover and cover-point. Then came the touch of luck, when he looked to cut a ball that wasn't too wide and edged it over slip.
This might be Twenty20, but if you are going to have Sachin Tendulkar's streaks it is going to be fours and not sixes. He did it to Ryan McLaren in this game, hitting him for five successive fours in the fourth over. First he went over mid-off, then pulled him through midwicket, then picked a slower ball and lofted it over mid-on, and then placed a full toss perfectly between cover and cover-point. Then came the touch of luck, when he looked to cut a ball that wasn't too wide and edged it over slip.
The timeout
When the teams took the first break of the evening, one of the flood-light towers at the Wankhede Stadium did too. For about 17 minutes we watched in the dark despite the Tendulkar fireworks that preceded it. Possibly one of the Mumbai cops thought the party had gone on too long, and began to flick switches off.
When the teams took the first break of the evening, one of the flood-light towers at the Wankhede Stadium did too. For about 17 minutes we watched in the dark despite the Tendulkar fireworks that preceded it. Possibly one of the Mumbai cops thought the party had gone on too long, and began to flick switches off.
The catch
It has become so ridiculously common that nobody even exclaims at it anymore. When Rohit Sharma pulled McLaren towards the midwicket boundary in the 18th over, Eoin Morgan set himself under the ball, at the edge of the field, caught it, saw he was going to go over with the momentum, coolly lobbed the ball up in the air, stepped out, came back, took it. The umpires didn't even need to look at the replay.
It has become so ridiculously common that nobody even exclaims at it anymore. When Rohit Sharma pulled McLaren towards the midwicket boundary in the 18th over, Eoin Morgan set himself under the ball, at the edge of the field, caught it, saw he was going to go over with the momentum, coolly lobbed the ball up in the air, stepped out, came back, took it. The umpires didn't even need to look at the replay.
The ducks
Gold is for the helmets nowadays. When it comes to ducks, diamond is all the rage. Jacques Kallis bagged his first ever serious one during this IPL season. Ambati Rayudu is not content with one that he bagged against Royal Challengers Bangalore, and hoarded his second when he went for a non-existent second and was sent back. That was not enough for the night, though. Harbhajan Singh came in, ran off a bottom edge from Dinesh Karthik, but didn't quite put the wheels on and was caught short by a direct hit from short fine leg.
Gold is for the helmets nowadays. When it comes to ducks, diamond is all the rage. Jacques Kallis bagged his first ever serious one during this IPL season. Ambati Rayudu is not content with one that he bagged against Royal Challengers Bangalore, and hoarded his second when he went for a non-existent second and was sent back. That was not enough for the night, though. Harbhajan Singh came in, ran off a bottom edge from Dinesh Karthik, but didn't quite put the wheels on and was caught short by a direct hit from short fine leg.
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo