Caught between the legs

Caught between the legs
This one will surely be one of the top contenders for the bizarre dismissal of the tournament. Upul Tharanga bottom-edged an intended pull, but Mushfiqur Rahim, the Bangladesh wicketkeeper, ingeniously knew exactly when to bring his legs together so that the ball would nestle in nicely between his thighs. Tharanga was aghast, but Bangladesh weren't complaining.

No-ball him, ump
Off the sixth ball of the ninth over, Kumar Sangakkara tried an ungainly reverse-sweep and missed. That should have been the end of the over, but the eagle-eyed Sangakkara had spotted only three fielders in the ring instead of four, and promptly brought it to the notice of the umpires and demanded a no-ball, which he promptly got. Someone pointed out in the media centre that it's a good thing that the free-hit rule is only in place for front-foot no-balls. Otherwise, with the field not allowed to change for the free-hit delivery, we might have seen an endless loop of deliveries with three fielders in the ring, all of which would have been called no-balls as well. Now that wouldn't have been very interesting to watch, would it?

Sweet, but far too short
Aftab Ahmed strode to the crease, and immediately the tempo of the game changed. The first ball he faced, from Chaminda Vaas, was clouted over the bowler's head for three. More frenetic hitting followed in the next over, as he clipped Dilhara Fernando twice through midwicket and then charged down and blasted him through the covers. Seventeen runs in six balls was exciting stuff, but unfortunately it was too exciting to last long.