Kohli's cathartic roar

Dinesh Karthik has had a quiet IPL till now but the cameras were all over him after an excellent piece of glovework. We have seen the slip fielders moving as soon as batsmen shape for the paddle in the past, but today it was the turn of the wicketkeeper. As James Faulkner shaped to play the scoop, Karthik started making a move to his left, then dived full length to intercept the ball and complete a fantastic one-handed grab.

Chris Gayle would go on to hit some firm shots in his innings, but his first boundary was easily the best. More so, because it was the least violent of all his shots. After playing out the first over quietly, Gayle just pushed a length delivery from Dhawal Kulkarni towards mid-off, elbows crooked, the bat swing restrained. For a moment it seemed the ball would drop short of mid-off but such was the connection that it not only flew well over the fielder, it raced to the boundary in no time.

Shane Watson's third ball of the match was a slower bouncer from a magician's hat. It pitched halfway like a normal slower bouncer, then rose up around waist high also like a slower bouncer, but it lost so much speed after hitting the pitch that it caught Gayle completely flummoxed. It registered 98.8 kph on the speedo and arrived after Gayle had seemingly adjusted to the change of pace. All he could do, however, was limply ramp it to the wicketkeeper off the leading edge.

As soon as Yuzuvedra Chahal, the legspinner, was introduced, Watson was intent on bullying him. The first ball, a long hop, was duly smashed over wide long-on without a smidgen of care for the deep midwicket fielder placed exactly for that shot. Three balls later, another shorter delivery arrived, except that this one was a little quicker. It doesn't take much to get Virat Kohli pumped up, but this time he had good reason as Watson pulled this one straight into the hands of Mitchell Starc in the deep, who had been moved a touch straighter after the first six.

Kohli made a surprise move when Chahal, bowling the 10th over, left the field with an injured right hand, leaving someone else to bowl the remaining five deliveries. The captain brought himself on. The last time Kohli had bowled in an IPL match was three years ago, against Chennai Super Kings, when he had been taken for 36 runs in two overs. After three good balls on Friday, he did serve up a high full toss that was punched by Steven Smith to deep extra cover, but Harshal Patel's flat throw from the deep meant Kohli was in charge of completing a simple run-out to dismiss Karun Nair. His reaction - ball thrown high in the air, fists clenched, loud roar - was not surprising at all.